Chores and Experiments

My Crop Lifecycle Record is working well, you can see the
tag that corresponds to the log entry

My feelings towards my micro farm have been a little blue lately.  I've noticed that tasks that should be enjoyable were instead irritating me!  Now I can be pretty tightly wound sometimes, so "getting annoyed" isn't a shocker, but farming?  Farming is annoying?  No, it's not but trying to do too much with too little time is and I suspect that's the real issue lately; my day job is demanding extra from me, it's my priority so I oblige while simultaneously being pulled to the garden to keep things going.

I'm not complaining, just talkin' it out, makes me feel better.  I made a conscious effort Today to let go of my regular work baggage, relax and get my mind into the farm, into the dirt and the plants.  It worked and I accomplished quite a bit in the few precious hours I was able to commit, singly to my gardening and without distractions.

I picked up some more fish and kelp fertilizer for my tomatoes. I have bone meal which would have been a good phosphorous source but I didn't want to hit them with a combo of things, I'll wait and see how the fish emulsion does first.  While at Orange County Farm Supply I also picked up some 1/4" micro irrigation plugs and a single tine cultivator that I've wanted for months!

1 mo. old carrots recently mulched with
straw.  I used a real think layer because I
also sowed rows of green onions between
the carrots Today and I want them to push through

I've said in the past that I'm an excessive waterer (nice!) and it's true, I am but I also tend to be negligent and FORGET to water sometimes.  Same ol' deal with not having the time to focus on gardening enough, too be consistent with things.  I thought I'd try out some straw mulch on various crops, it should buy me some time when I forget to water or a heat spell comes through.  I mulched around existing crops (beans, onions) and also mulched over some newly sown seeds - this is the experiment, to see if the seedlings will push through the mulch.  I mulched a couple of newly sown rows of carrots as well, it's a risky experiment because it could be that the seedlings never push through and I'll have wasted the seed and time.

Oh yeah, Chui got shaved ;)

I've really go to be consistent about keeping Chui out of the growing area.  90% of the time he's a good boy and just lays down, but if something gets him excited he will run right across the beds, smashing whatever happens to be under his paws.  Then I get pissed off, he gets bummed, thinks he's in big trouble - it's all very unfortunate and better avoided.  No dogs allowed.

My new favorite tool, the single tine cultivator

Quick List:

• Mulched beans in EW4
• Pulled Chard from West end of EW1 due to damping off and weak seedlings
• Sowed (2) 7' rows of :Purple Haze" carrots in place of the chard
• Weeded around the beds, pulled sod clumps
• Installed crop tags with "Crop ID" (CID) on them
• Supplement-sowed "Provider" bush beans in the East end of EW1 where I had poor germination and some pest issues.  Hopefully the supplemental sowings will see 100% germination
• Sowed "Red Orach" in the North end of NS2, (3) 3' rows
• Set out 10 buckets and a trash can to collect the rain water from the storm(s) that should be coming Tonight through Wednesday