The farm has been busy this spring. The first crop of lambs has sold, we had a road pushed around our woods and now the garden season is upon us.
Early in the winter, the sheep shed was cleaned and the spent bedding was spread over the garden plot. Boone turned over the ground in early spring. When it was time to plant he did the tilling while I got all the supplies together – the seed planter, seeds, eggshells I had been saving, and a few plants that I had bought. Boone had started tomato plants under a row cover a month previous so they were ready to transplant.
This is a seeder that an gentleman in our neighborhood gifted us with when he gave up gardening a few years back. He enjoyed much produce from us in return for his kindness. The seeder is the handiest thing ever as it saves our backs from bending over to plant.
There are different discs sized for beans, carrots, peas, spinach, etc. The only kind of seeds it does not handle are melon seeds due to their shape I suppose.
First, you select the disc you need then pour in the seeds. See those little cups along the edge? They pick up the seed, then there is a little plow down behind the front wheel that digs a trench, the seed drops out and a chain drags soil to cover it up. So nifty. Son Josh came out to help so we made short work of the planting. The eggshells were scattered around the tomato and pepper plants to keep slugs and cutworms from getting to the plants.
What we have planted so far:
- Cantaloupe – eat fresh
- Crimson Sweet watermelon – eat fresh and for beverages
- Green, red, and yellow bell peppers – eat fresh, freeze
- Kandy corn – – eat fresh, freeze
- Onions – eat fresh, dry
- Pole beans – eat fresh, freeze
- Red and yellow potatoes – eat fresh, store
- Straightneck yellow squash – eat fresh, freeze
- Beauregard Sweet potatoes – eat fresh, freeze
- Tomatoes – eat fresh, freeze
I still have to plant:
- Banana peppers – eat fresh, freeze, refrigerator pickles
- Collards – eat fresh, freeze
- Herbs – I am revamping my herb garden and am not sure what I will be planting yet
- Lima beans – eat fresh, freeze
- More tomatoes including cherry (I make and freeze marinara and pizza sauce, whole tomatoes for chili, tomato paste, and tomato sauce so I need quite a lot of tomatoes!)
- Strawberries – eat fresh, freeze, jam