I spend the bulk of today transplanting the very first tomatoes I grew from seeds this year into the ground. Here’s the step by step process of what I did to give them a little boost and ensure they’ll have a happy, productive life. I hope?

1. I took a soil test. Soil tests are important. I know this because everyone says so, so in my struggle to please everyone, I always make sure to do this. Rarely do the results cause me to do anything other than what I was planning to do anyway, but sometimes it will point out a glaring deficiency that can be easily corrected. They are easy to collect and inexpensive. Contact your Extension service for info on where to send your test. Most tests come with recommendations, so be sure to tell them you’re growing organically (you are, right?)

2. I mixed in manure. We live nearby a race horse stable so this is easy. There’s a literal mountain of old horse manure that I can take as much as I want from. It isn’t pure manure (oxymoron?), rather stable bedding, so the majority of the mix is wood shavings from the stable floor. I would usually lime at this point, but my soil test showed my soil ph to be optimum

3. I used Symbex, a liquid ground-applied  product that claims to increase microbial activity. I think it’s sugar water. I bought some a few years ago, while planting blueberries, from a persistent salesman who thought it was awesome. I disagree, but am a sucker for confident salespeople. Why don’t you skip this step?

4. Make sure your plants are hardened off properly. Introduce them slowly to the outdoors, a few hours a day, increasing the time each day until they get a handle on things. I…heh…had some problems with this recently.

5. I planned for a cloudy day. Keep an eye on weather forecasts and shoot for an overcast day to transplant. Ideally a few overcast days in a row. When you transplant something from a container into garden soil, the root system will become damaged no matter how gentle you are, and the plant will have trouble taking up water till the adapt to their new environment.  Cloudy skies will ensure less water loss by transpiration. Yes, transpiration. Google it.

Also, you want to avoid any hard rain shortly after setting them out….DUHZ!!!

6. Mulch, Mulch, Mulch…I used red plastic, you use whatever you want to use. Wood chips, hay or grass clippings, newspaper, plastic mulch, corncobs, bagasse, whatever agricultural or yard wastes you can get you hands on. I can’t stress mulching tomato plants enough. Even moisture is essential and mulch helps you not have to water every five minutes.

7. I gave them a little pick-me-up in the planting hole. We have a can-o-worms, which is exactly what it sounds like, and although our worms are particularlly lazy in the excrement department, I was able to scrape together almost a five gallon bucket of worm castings (weirdest euphemism ever). I put a handful in each hole.

8. I dug the tansplants deep. Tomatoes have the abiliy to grow roots along their stem when it comes in contact with the ground. I clipped all the leaves of the plant except the top two (or four, due to my whimsicality on pruning decisions) and planting each plant all the way so that only the top leaves were showing. This ensures a good root system.

9. I mixed a few gallons on water with concentrated fish emulsion, which can be acquired at most garden centers, and poured about 3 and a half ounces on each plant, letting it hit the leaves and soak into the soil for a shot of nitrogen.

10. I gave them each a collar for cutworms. Cutworms are a big problem here (albiet not this time of year, still old habits die hard, and I know the minute my back is turned…) and I hate the stupid buggers. Without a collar of some kind around the base of the plant (cut up toilet paper rolls work best) they hew your price plants down like a freaking beaver. I lost a third of my tomatoes in one night due to these uncivilized and disrespectful caterpillars.

Yup, Yup, that’s what I did. Now to keep an eye on the weather. Both eyes. A cold snap could be my undoing, even in the high tunnel. I have plenty of row cover on hand, so hopefully…….

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted. Things have been very busy. We are working on building a new barn, and getting land cleared, aside from the day-to-day workings on the farm and all the seeds that need to be sown. Still, it’s quieter than the spring and summer, so I suppose I should be grateful.

We went through some insanely cold weather a week ago. The temperature dropped into the teens one night. Everything in the high tunnel managed just fine,  and I brought the tomato seedlings (now nearly ready to transplant) inside for a few days to keep warm.

High tunnel harvest began a few weeks ago; meager as it was, having planted as late as I did. We’ve harvested arugula, mizuna, and various lettuces. Mesclun was a total fail-bot. I bought a seed mix from Johnny’s, and everything germinated, but by the time the lettuce in the mix was ready to harvest the mizuna and mustard were freaking huge. So much for baby salad greens, next time I’ll sow the ingredients separately at different times.

The tomato seedlings had a rough time of it due to my utter stupidity. Hardening them off completely slipped my mind, and they got sunburned their first day in the great outdoors. One week later and they are recovering nicely, but still look like they’ve been through hell and back. A few times.

I planted a row of muscadine grapes! I got the plants from Just Fruits and Exotics nursery in Flordia, and was impressed with the quality of the plants and  the customer service. I planted them in a freshly tilled row mixed with manure, and built a very simple single wire trellis across some metal t-posts. The row is nearly 200ft long, but that only translates to a  handful of plants as muscadines are spaced 20 feet apart in the row. I bought a variety of varieties (hehe), spanning the muscadine color and size spectrum.

I love mushrooms! I want so badly to grow them, especially after visiting a local commercial mushroom farm- Red Hill Farm in Independence, La. A friend of mine is working there, and took me over to scope the place out. It’s a very old mushroom farm that was abandoned years ago, and when the current owners inherited the property they decided to get it started again. The growing house was a spooky place in some respects, very dark and industrial, made of cinder blocks. The individual grow rooms were awesome. Trays upon trays stacked on top of each other from the floor to over head height; filled with compost and, depending on the stage of the room in question, mushrooms in various stages of development. The compost they shipped in from out of state, already inoculated with the mushroom spawn. They simply open the bags, place them in racks in the temperature and moisture controlled rooms, and wait. They had a room dedicated to a large steamer that had pipes going to all the grow rooms. After each batch of mushrooms was picked, the room was steamed cleaned to kill any molds or contaminants. Here’s a few pictures:

I’m trying again to grow mushrooms inside.  The sawdust/hydrogen peroxide method was a a complete fail and they all became contaminated after a few days. This time I’m trying to grow them on straw sterilized in our chicken scalder. I stuffed as much straw as I could into a laundry bag and steeped it in 150F water for an hour. I then mixed the spawn into it on a clean table and bagged the result. The spawn has started to run in the bags, so hopefully I’ll have some oyster mushrooms in a few weeks! Pics:

I want to grow heirloom melons this year. The wildest possible. I found a variety from Seed Savers Exchange called Ford Prescott Blanc that looked very interesting. It’s a warty melon, looking almost like some kind of winter squash, but with a crisp orange flesh. I’m also looking to grow Charantais, which is the tastiest French melon I’ve ever had. It’s small, and has an annoying tendency to split at the slightest change in moisture. That’s why I want to grow it in the high tunnel, so I can control the watering myself.

If anyone knows any good melon varieties I haven’t tried, I’d love to hear from you!