Tunnel Seeding Begins!
The Ides of March Blizzard has just passed and I can’t think of a stronger juxtaposition between a blizzard and planting spring crops inside our tunnels. It looks more like the dead of winter than the cusp of spring outside but the season is shifting. You can feel it in the power of the sun, the length of daylight and the sounds of migrating birds returning for summer.
Seeders, seeds and supplies
In the past few weeks I’ve prepped about half of the beds inside our tunnels and planted carrots, radish, beets, salad turnips & cilantro in the tunnels. Bed prepping is an important part of our growing process inside our tunnels. We broad fork each bed to loosen and fracture the soil and to provide nooks and crannies for fertilizer to fall into. Then we apply organic, pasteurized, pelletized chicken manure fertilizer to provide safe nutrients for our crops. Next, we till the beds to provide a soft, “fluffy” soil that’s easy to work with. Finally, we rake the beds so they are even. All of these steps are very labor-intensive but the results they provide are worth it.
Once the bed prep is done the bed is ready for planting. The first crops to be direct seeded are beets and carrots. Direct seeded refers to directly planting the seeds into the bed as opposed to transplanting where we take a live plant and transplant it into the bed. Planting this early comes with some risks but also offers plenty of rewards when things work out. Fresh beets and carrots available in mid to late May being the main reward. This is over a month ahead of when a outdoor, field planted beet or carrot would be ready!
That little red speck is a beet!