Wild Turkeys and Seedlings

This morning started with shooing a couple of wild turkeys away from the veg garden and the hoophouse (which stood wide-open). Luckily it was just the two of them, not a whole flock.

I brought the seedlings up from the basement and watered and fed them seaweed emulsion to get those root systems nice and strong. It takes ages to do this: sixteen trips up and down the stairs, the feeding of sixteen trays of seedlings in two watering trays, sixteen trips down and up the stairs again when the air gets too nippy… Let’s just say a lot of other stuff gets done while they sit and drink.

The tomato seedlings are looking nice and sturdy, much better than they did last year. I credit the early potting up. I potted up many of the herbs as well, so now my “bank” downstairs is truly full. There is no room for new seeds, and I want to start squash and zucchini, and a slew of other things. I’d transplant some out but the weather is too variable – 90F yesterday, 34F tomorrow night.

Tomorrow there’s 90% chance of rain. I hope there will be a dry spell when I can run out and plant more peas, and favas, and some flower seeds. But mostly I’ll be designing the earth oven and the herb spiral and making the final drafts of the new hoop house.

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2 Comments

  1. Hi Karl,
    Fish emulsion is milder than other fertilizers, but it still, relatively, has a lot of nitrogen, which stimulates top and leaf growth. At the seedling stage it’s better to stimulate root growth, and for this liquid seaweed is better, since it has growth hormones and trace minerals and micronutrients.
    I use Neptunes, which is a bit pricey in those smaller bottles, but I think it’s worth it (on my small scale).

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