The Great Blizzard of 2013

All,

 We have been super busy here on the MiniFarm. Here is the evidence:

 

Here are 50 pounds of planted Yukon Gold potatoes

Here are the planted Chinese Pea Pods seeds with their trellises

Here is a completely tilled garden with onions already planted

 Can you tell we have been hard at work?

 Seriously though, in the days leading up to the snow we had to make some quick decisions. This has been a cold, wet, end of winter. So much for listening to a rodent, we are firing the groundhog. Days that the soil has been dry enough to handle without creating totally unworkable clods have been rare. On the other hand we want our crops to be ready in a timely manner. We knew that after this storm passed, whether we got rain or snow, the soil would be too wet to work for at least another week. So we decided to work like crazy and get as much done as possible before the storm hit. Like most decisions in farming this is a gamble. Will the peas, onions, and potatoes rot in the cool, wet soil before it warms up and dries out? Only time will tell. But there are some precautions we can take to mitigate any problems.

 First we decided not to cut up our potatoes. As long as a seed potatoes is at least the size of an egg and has 2 eyes (the part that sprouts) it is usable. Most farmers cut up the large potatoes to get more plants. But the cut area is more susceptible to rot. We sacrificed a little bit of quantity to give the plant a better chance.

Many peas are coated with an anti-fungal treatment to prevent them from rotting. This is not an organic practice, and we don’t want to kill off our soil’s beneficial fungi along with the harmful type. Kind of the same principal as when a person takes an antibiotic and it kills off the good gut flora, and then something really bad can move in!  So we use untreated pea seeds and plant them in raised beds to facilitate water drainage. The snow will act as insulation preventing the ground from freezing.

 As for the onions? Aside from also putting them in raised beds they are on their own. Onions are tough. As a gardening author once wrote “You can't kill an onion with a stick". Anyone who has wild onions in their lawn knows this!

 Along with our subscribers to the west (who were hit harder than us) we are going on 1 2 3 4 days without power (this is being dictated on a smartphone to be mailed when the power returns). Since we've already started the heat loving plants like eggplant and peppers from seeds we cannot leave them in the cold, unheated, seedling area. So we brought the lights out next to the wood stove and a large window. Yes we burn a fire for their welfare.

 

They survived fine

 We are pleased to announce that the hoop house performed outstandingly well during the storm.

 

Next up, hardening off the spring greens in the hoop house. And waiting for the power to return so we can transfer this onto the computer and mail off.

How much snow did you get?

Until next time,

Jeff and Sandra