Wendalane Farms » Soil

Leaning Towards Sunflowers

Bob — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:53:50 +0000

It’s always neat to watch Sunflowers track the sun. After they’ve established themselves and get to a certain size you’ll see the heads always pointing towards the sun. Here the sun is going down and you can see the sunflower head dipping down as it goes.

Before and After

Bob — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 12:24:24 +0000

I’ve been meaning to take more of these types of shots to show just how much things can change in two months. Yep, that’s the same bed from almost the same angle.

More Bed Prep

Bob — Sat, 30 May 2009 12:25:25 +0000

More and more manure. More and more tilling. There isn’t a whole lot to look at that isn’t brown at this time of year unless you walk up real close to the beds. Here we prep one of the few remaining beds for this season. Just a few more to go after this one and all the dirt is done!

Fertilization

Bob — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:25:12 +0000

All of our nutrient inputs come in the form of composted cow, sheep, and goat manure. Each year in April we have a number of loads of cow manure delivered from the neighbour, and we mix that with our pile of sheep and goat manure. That pile gets flipped about 3 times over 12 months, and the following year we have some really nice compost. Now we’re in the process of tilling in a liberal amount on the beds we’ll be seeding into first.

Plants Galore

Bob — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:05:39 +0000

We continue to transplant daily. The time of year is changing however, and it is easy to work in the greenhouse for a while and then feel “done” for the day. In the next week we’ll turn our attention to spring clean up of the entire property. The winter wind has a habit of blowing things into the strangest places.

Transplanting

Bob — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 09:46:45 +0000

Transplanting is in full swing. We pull the baby plants from their plugs and put them into larger plug sheets or pots. This will be their last artificial home for the next few weeks and then they’ll go right into the ground.

First Rows

Bob — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:25:24 +0000

The first rows of the year have been planted. Some seeds actually require it to be quite cool in order to germinate, and conditions were right to get two rows seeded this past Saturday. Sunday morning an early rain moistened the soil and the seeds and we’ll see plants peeking out in a couple weeks.

Seagulls and Spring Plowing

Bob — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:03:10 +0000

On the other side of the shed is the non-flower part of our farm. Last fall things got so busy that a small piece of ground didn’t get plowed. Conditions were pretty good Saturday morning so the last of the wheat stubble was plowed under. Seagulls must have amazing hearing. It only took about an hour for this group to show up and follow the plow. I always wonder where they come from.

Frozen Anticipation

Bob — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:44:34 +0000

In the fall we decided to change up a little how our flower rows were organized. Using the small tractor with the tiller I put under some sections of sod to expand our 5 row system into two large beds, and a single row down the middle. We’re not sure how well this will work, but it gives us the growing space we’ll need for the upcoming season.

Itty Bitty Plants

Bob — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:22:21 +0000

Seeds are quite amazing. In the middle of a Canadian winter you can take a little seed, push it into some soil in a plug tray, put it under grow lights, and a few days later green life springs up. These little statice are especially cute.