Spring is SO close and the yard is here to prove it.
Over the last week, we’ve been taking inventory of the earliest sprouts pushing out of the ground. The farm’s previous owners really did some work on bulbs and blooms from the look of things so far.
While we’ve been busy trying to wrap up the never-ending greenhouse remodel – the outdoors perennials and bulbs are apparently taking care of themselves. Fresh green is popping up in droves along the East side of the barn and next to the garage. There’s even a cute patch next to the driveway, too!
While we’re itching to see what blooms, we’re also scrambling to get the last of our starts started, prep the garden soil and prepare for our big planting in April.
I’ve been staggering the starts in the greenhouse with hopes to have a staggered harvest through the Spring, Summer and Fall. If we’re lucky, this will help to extend the availability of our produce and prevent a harvest-it-all-now moment.
We invested in some Winstrip trays after watching quite a few videos from Neversink Farms. They’re supposed to be wonderful for long-term use, healthy starts and efficient planting – but we seem to be struggling a bit with how quickly the soil dries out. Even in the greenhouse (which, to note, is currently lacking its full insulation) – the soil seems extremely dry despite daily watering.
Our earliest starts from Feb 8 haven’t shown any signs of sprouting sadly. Because of the remodel – they spent about a week and a half indoors without much (if any) sunlight. Totally not ideal. We’ll keep on keeping on with them – but our start situation seems to be on the struggle bus. So far, we’ve started seeds for:
- Onions
- Bell peppers
- Cabbage
- Some early flowers
We have a pretty significant collection of seeds to start in short order this month as well. Once the Winstrip trays are full, I think I’ll switch to some of the cheaper and more accessible options from Menards or Home Depot to test how they perform in comparison.