First Planting

We planted the first seeds today!

We started out by moving 4 wheelbarrows worth of compost from one of the paddocks into the greenhouse and out the back for our garden. When the landlord came by later he was surprised that we hadn't waited for him to help us with his tractor...

Then we watered the beds. Today Abby and Ryan finally realized that they could relax outside while we worked in the greenhouse and they lay down in the grass...for a few minutes. They are so used to "outside of the yard" meaning "run like crazy" that the farm freedom is taking some getting used to. They both ignore the horses and cows which is good.

Nathan built a trellis for the peas in the outdoor garden and then we planted (Nathan and I have a slight issue where he thinks in metric and I think in imperial. My american roots are making it very difficult to picture centimeters and meters! We each have our own tape measure...)

Peas (1 x 8' row)
White onions (sets, 2 x 4' row)
Red onions (sets, 2 x 4' row)
Green onions (seedlings - 8)
Manoa lettuce (half of one 4' row, will stagger planting)
Mizuna mustard greens (half of one 4' row, will stagger planting)
Spinach (1 x 4' row)
Mesclun salad blend (half of one 4' row, will stagger planting)
Arugula (seedlings - 9)
Broccoli (seedlings - 3)
Kale (seedlings - 3)
Carrots (2 x 4' rows)







Transplanting some kale.

In the greenhouse we planted:

Herbs:

Basil (9 seedlings)
Cilantro (3 bunches of seedlings)
Parsley (6 ish seedlings)
Dill (1 x 4' row)
Oregano (3 bunches of seedlings)

Broccoli (seedlings - 6)
Kale (seedlings - 3)
Red onions (sets, 3 x 3' rows)
Bush beans (2 x 3' rows)
Eggplant (1 x 4' rows)
Carrots (2 x 4' rows)
Zucchini (1 x 4' row - 2 plants hopefully)

There is supposed to be one more frost so we might have to try and cover the stuff in the greenhouse to protect it. It's hard to know if we have to worry about it - the greenhouse is so hot during the day (10 degrees outside and 30 degrees in the greenhouse - and for some reason temperature is Celcius in my head) that it's hard to imagine it freezing in there at night.

Nathan levelling a path between the two beds.

He also levelled the section on the other side of the greenhouse where he'll set up aquaponics. 

Before:

 After:

This morning I turned Ryan's crate into a chick mega mansion. As far as I know none of them have gone up to the second level yet. 

You can see the two new little red chicks fitting right in.

Ready to Plant (and 2 new chicks)

 Another busy day today! 

The poultry swap turned out to be a handful of trucks in a parking lot with some chickens, rabbits and ducks. It wasn't too exciting...but we did come back with 2 Rhode Island Red cross chicks that were born April 4th. They are supposed to be sex linked, so a 97% chance of being hens. I don't really understand the 97% part - I'll have to google that. They seem to have fit in with the other chicks. We gave them all worms from the garden this afternoon and the little ones were right in there stealing bits of worms and running away to eat them. 

When we got back we got to work in the greenhouse. First I unrolled the row covers

and raked through and watered the soil. It needs some compost on top before we plant in it tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Nathan installed the drip irrigation. He dug a trench across the greenhouse for the main hose since the pump is on the opposite side from our beds.

There will be 6 lines of drip hoses. The two that aren't in yet will be longer and will go right out the back of the greenhouse to water our outside garden bed.

This is what we started with for the outside bed.

We moved it into place behind the greenhouse and Nathan screwed it all back together and levelled it. I recycled some of our moving boxes to cover the grass under the bed.

We then spent the next half hour filling the bed with soil from piles near it. All it needs now is some compost on the top and it should be good for planting tomorrow! It will have peas, lettuce, arugula, kale and spinach.