I popped these beets out of the cooler and into the ground about 10 days ago.
Boro, foreground, has low oxalates and sizes up quickly, very popular at market.
Badger Flame, background, has incredible flavor, beloved by chefs, and resistance to foliar disease.
Let’s see what happens!
84 days for fresh seeds to germinate, welcome to my world of C.rabenii x C.tovarii F2s 🫠🌶️🌱 Started on 14th Dec 2025
Mind-boggling!
A field of cover crops.
We just got an inch of rain in 30 minutes, but no topsoil losses here! We’re still in what’s considered a severe drought, though soil moisture hasn’t been too bad. But this will give the cover crops a huge boost!
I did buy a lot of French marigold for nematode control, I’ll start sowing it soon!
They are putting on rapid growth, so I think I’ll just pinch the buds for now. There are only 30 left after I replaced the unhealthy ones. Now I just need to bathe them in neem to take care of my ant/aphid problem lol
🌱 January-planted sprouting broccoli is bolting. Trying to decide whether to pull it and replant with the starts I already have, or leave it and hope it continues sizing up. Maybe pull all but the largest ones?
That sounds like a fantastic way to unwind. Taskmaster is my go-to unwind show right now.
Admittedly it’s always fun to use my old design programs. Editorial layout and typography were always my favorite subsets of graphic design. And I’m even using the fonts I designed myself! Wish I could do a bit more of this sometimes.
We’re applying for a grant this week, so I’ve somehow managed to write a whole damn 10 page business plan while also parenting and gardening over the last several days. Lots of work, but hopefully there’s a high tunnel… at the end of the tunnel.
Today we had the SC Forestry Commission come out and burn the other field we’re leasing. Hopefully we’ll have the equipment and funds to manage it better next year. Meanwhile, this is a decent management technique as long as you don’t burn every year. Also improves the soil pH.
Research and variety trials, folks. They make starting up harder, but they pay off.
Finding a crop like this is a big part of making regenerative ag work in our region. Example: our frost date is 4/15, so that’s when I’d like to plant first tomatoes. But most December-planted cover crops beside rye won’t even germinate, and a typical rye couldn’t be crimped until maybe mid May.
A rye plant with the second node visible on a stem
Insane! This Florida 401 rye is already two stages ahead of the standard rye despite being planted 6 weeks later, 11/29! Invaluable because it can follow my fall crops, thus 30% more winter cover and weed suppression, proper crop rotations, less winter tarping, and earlier planting for summer crops.
A shallow wooden crate with hand holds cut into the ends
Making some stackable crates this weekend, here’s the first one about done. We’ll use these for tomatoes and produce displays at markets. I used my favorite natural finish on these – a tung oil blend from www.skinboats.com. Looks like the shop is closed right now, but check them out!
How do you breed tomatoes with both the disease resistance organic production requires and the superior flavor organic consumers expect? Three experienced breeders will describe their approach in this eOrganic webinar on March 24 eorganic.org/node/36450
Jim Myers, Julie Dawson and Jared Zystro
Weather apps I’m using currently:
Apple Weather: kinda sucks but the wind forecast is useful
EverythingwX: no algorithms, just the NOAA data
RainDrop: tracking rainfall accumulations
New app on the block is ACME Weather, from the same ppl who made Dark Sky. Looks pretty good, think I’ll subscribe!
Today we are prepping everything for the coming cold front. Spring always has the widest temperature swings in our region. We are going from high around 80F to lows around 23F in two days. We just invested in a lot of heavyweight row cover to help protect our earliest crops.
A coupe thin spots in the cover crop with some weeds. Most will be smothered in a month before they can go to seed (hopefully).
Onions recovering too, growing very quickly thanks to the sun and longer days. Some of the short day onions didn’t survive the lows of 10F (-12C). Now it will be interesting to see how many bolt over the next couple months. That will help determine how much space I devote to them this coming season.
A field of green cover crops with some brown spots visible from cold damage.
Cover crops are recovering from the cold and cattle damage. The rye was fine, but crimson clover recovery is spotty. It’s been a warm week, so quite a bit of growth visible.
What a specimen!
And remember, allium fistulosum, often called green/bunching onions or scallions, can be grown like leeks. They take longer to size up, but can get 2 ft long and over an inch thick. They seem hardier than most leeks though. This one was sown in September, so it’s small, but still growing!
🌱 I prefer to direct sow green onions, but to have them size up by market season I have to do transplants, 5 seeds per cell. Interplanting with butterheads just like @royandtanyaorganic.bsky.social!
Haha! I want to upgrade to cords with slip knots for raising and lowering lights. If I ever get around to it.
8 shelves of grow lights can grow enough starts for a 1 acre market garden!
🌱 Thought I’d show my seed starting setup again. This is much cheaper than the kits I’ve seen.
- 4ft wide wire shelving, ~$100
- 3 LED grow lights per shelf, $50
- Mylar blankets on all four sides, $2
Put heat loving seeds on the top shelf. No need for a fan, convection keeps air moving.
I never had any luck with epsom salts myself, always seemed like I was overdoing it and worsening issues. Dolomitic lime is pretty safe, just need to watch the pH.
Yes, I struggled with watering my potted peppers regularly too. A little dolomitic lime can also help (it contains magnesium, which helps the plants with calcium uptake). Gotta go easy on it though.
I usually add a little gypsum at planting too. Fantastic for stress management and preventing BER. You can’t really use too much of it, since it doesn’t alter pH. But I definitely can tell which plants I forgot to add it to.
