Plant-a-Thon

Since the Forest Park Village Council voted to approve the Mini Farm project on May 14th, I've been rushing to get plants and seeds in the ground.  Most other small market growers probably have their main crops planted and growing by now, so I'm already behind.

The Mini Farm is approximately 1/4 acre in size and is a long and narrow space.  I decided to position my rows long-ways in the space, so the longest rows are approximately 250 feet in length.  The shortest rows are about 60 feet.  There's a bit of shade in the center of the plot, shade that starts just after lunchtime, so I'll save that area for leafy greens that will appreciate that setting.

I'm mostly direct sowing seeds, since a) its cheaper to do it that way and b) I didn't have time to start much in the greenhouse since this has been a last minute project.  I did purchase several dozen pepper, eggplant, and tomato seedlings that will help get things jump-started.  I also have several hundred baby tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers that I sowed just as I was writing the proposal for the project "just in case" I needed them.  Well, I need them now!  They are still pretty small--just got their first set of real leaves--so I"ll probably give them a couple more weeks in the greenhouse before I move them to the farm.

I've created a diagram showing my rows, my planting progress, and what crops are planted where.  I'll update it as my progress moves forward.  The green rows are ones I've already planted.  The yellow rows are yet to be done.  I've bot about half way to go at this point.  (If you right click and view the image in a new tab, should be big enough to read, if you so desire.)



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