Farm Notes
Hot dang y’all… the Farmbelly 2022 growing season has officially begun! Yesterday was as good a weather day as we’ll ever get in mid-February (70 degrees, dry and overcast), so you better believe we hustled to get beds prepped and plants + seeds in the soil. There was rain in the forecast overnight and we have lots more rain coming next week, so it was important to work the ground yesterday before the soil got too wet to work in.
It was an exciting moment to finally pull back the tarps – which have been sitting over the beds since November – and see how beautiful the soil looked underneath! The tarps did their job – no weeds in sight, and the soil was light, fluffy, filled with organic matter, and wasn’t too wet. Covering the soil with tarps all winter makes spring bed prep a breeze – our broadforks (the tool we use to loosen the soil when prepping beds… basically a giant pitchfork) practically sank into the soft soil with ease as we prepped the beds (see photo below for our future carrot beds after removing the tarp and going through with a broadfork).
Future carrot beds after removing the tarp and a quick broadfork to loosen the soil.
Another crop we planted yesterday was our sugar snap peas, which will slowly but surely grow up a trellis all spring until they are close to 8 feet tall, and if all goes according to plan they’ll be ready to pick in mid May. Sugar snap peas are pretty easy to grow, though I do have some helpful tips…
Peas getting seeded!
Most varieties of sugar snap peas get pretty tall, so you’ll want to use a trellis! We use 10 ft tall t-posts and stake them in the ground every 8-10 feet down the row, and then we tie up this trellis netting and attach it to the t-posts using zip ties. The trellis netting is 4-feet tall, so we just tie up two layers – one below and one above – so that in all the peas have 8 feet of netting to grow up.
To prep the seeds for planting and help with better germination, I soak our pea seeds in water for about 4-6 hours before planting. Another step that isn’t required, but certainly helps ensure that your peas will fix nitrogen in your soil is to coat the seeds with an inoculant just before planting. Inoculants are basically a powdered form of a beneficial bacteria, which encourages the formation of high-nitrogen nodules on plant roots for richer soil, bigger plants, and better yields. Here is a source from Johnny’s Seeds.
When it’s time to plant, I make two long furrows in the soil spaced about 4-6 inches apart from each other (in the space between each furrow is where your trellis will go), and in each furrow I plant the seeds by hand, about 1-inch apart. Once you’ve placed the seeds, just cover them back up with soil, water in well, and let the magic happen!
Our beloved Jang Seeder, which makes seeding a breeze.
We also seeded our carrots yesterday! Our first season here, we did ALL our direct seeding by hand, which is fine if you’re a home gardener, but was totally crazy considering the amount of seeds we were planting. So now, most all of our direct seeding is made a million times easier/faster thanks to our Jang Seeder. This nifty tool can be calibrated to directly seed a multitude of different sized seeds at whatever spacing you need, and it takes a job that would have taken hours by hand and gets it done in about 15 minutes. It’s been a game changer for sure!
One thing to note if you’re using the Jang Seeder to plant carrots – you need to buy pelleted carrot seeds. Super small seeds (like carrots, onions and lettuce) are often “pelleted” – meaning that each seed is coated with a layer of clay to increase its size for easier handling and for use in seeding tools. Even if you plan to plant carrot seeds by hand, I recommend getting pelleted seeds, as you are able to see and place the seeds MUCH better!
Last but not least, yesterday I also got some sweet pansies in the ground… pansies are one of my favorite edible flowers for spring, because they are so easy to grow and they don’t mind the cold! So if you want to add some color to your dishes right about now, go pick up some pansies from your local garden store and pop them in a pot or garden bed, and you’ll be glad you did.
Kitchen Notes
It’s been a busy, farm-focused week around here – which means there hasn’t been a ton of cooking going on. So when I really needed some inspiration on a Tuesday night this week, I dug into our Farmbelly Club Recipes page and remembered how much I loved this Sheet Pan Harissa Chicken with Potatoes, Leeks & Herby Yogurt. It’s a perfect weeknight meal that all fits on one pan in the oven, and it’s filled with flavor from the harissa, bright lemon, tangy yogurt, and fresh herbs.
So don’t forget there are a ton of recipes on our Farmbelly Club Recipes page, with more getting added every week, so go check them out when you need some inspiration for eating like a farmer!
Today’s Stats
Low temp: 26F
High temp: 62F
Sunrise: 7:01am
Sunset: 6:01pm
Moon phase: Waxing Gibbous
Additional notes: Rainy and warm