As is becoming tradition, we planted our onion seeds on March 1. Four trays with 100+ seeds in each. We are starting 3 types of onions from seed this year – a white (white wing), a red (red marble), and a yellow (utah spanish). We will also be planting a couple other varieties of onion sets directly in the garden closer to May. By planting onions from seed means they will take quite a bit longer to reach harvest stage, but these onions tend to hold better in storage for months after they are harvested.
Also hitting the dirt this week was our celeriac seeds. Last year was our first for planting celeriac. It was a big hit with our members and family, so this year we are tripling the amount planted. Not only do we need to plant more because we like it so much, but our CSA is growing! Our first year for the CSA (2011) we had 6 members. In our 2nd year we had 12 members. This year we are trying to reach 20 members. Thanks to our existing members for encouraging others to join and for the promotional work done from Buy Fresh Buy Local we are very close to achieving that goal.
Due to the growth of our still very small farm, we no longer are able to handle starting all of the seeds ourselves. Ray, the owner of Pharo Garden Centre, will be handling quite a bit of this work. In the past, we started things like the tomatoes, peppers, okra, eggplant, etc in our house under the lights of two grow carts. From there, the plants would then occupy the space in front of our windows. Thankfully our house has ALOT of south facing windows. This really grew to be quite rediculous though. Our house had quite the garden soil aroma going for it in the spring! I know Heather is relieved, I am relieved, and for that we are very thankful Ray!
Thank you all for your support! The anticipation of the 2013 season is “growing” every day!
Greg