Radish Update

A fair amount of the Pink Beauty radishes are splitting where they are exposed. I looked into the issue and found that this often happens with inconsistent watering. Because they are on an irrigation system, it seems unlikely that this would be the cause. It could very well be that they are just growing too quickly and we waited too long to harvest. Definitely still edible!

Transplanting!

This past week we put the transplants in the ground.  (see below)

Pre-transplant

post-transplant no clover

Post-transplant with clover

 Field setup:               

Back to Hull Rd. facing the field from right to left

Mammoth Red Clover intercropped:

(Pink beauty x 18 with Alpine Daikon x 12) (Crispino Iceberg lettuce x 24 with Nancy Butterhead lettuce x 24) (Oakleaf lettuce x 24 with Tatsoi x 24)

(Buffer row of nothing)

No Clover intercropped:

 (Crispino Iceberg lettuce x 24 with Nancy Butterhead lettuce x 24) (Oakleaf lettuce x 24 with Tatsoi x 24) (Pink beauty x 18, Alpine Daikon x 12)

With clover

Without clover

 For fertility we used PHC Organic Plant Feed (9 - 0 - 1) right after we finished transplanting and we plan to continue application about once a week. 
 

We haven’t had any issues with disease and insects thus far, but weeds have been annoying.  Once our transplants get established we will lay down hay around them which should help lighten the burden. 

Cody weeding

 Lastly...

Just look at that beauty

This past week we decided to give our seedling trays a little boost. Fish and seaweed emulsion was watered in. Next week, we plan to plant our seedlings into the garden.

First Field Day (Oct. 1, 2014)

Today, after about two weeks of waiting for cooler weather, we decided to go ahead and inoculate our Mammoth Red Clover and get it sown! Along with the clover, we sowed our Daikon and Pink Beauty radishes.

The clover inoculant treated 50 pounds of seed! Since we only had one pound, we had to seriously portion our quantity to be used. Once portioned, Brent mixed the inoculant and a small amount of water with the seed. 

Brent mixing inoculant into clover seed.

Every test row will have two different cultivars of crop on each side, and a row of clover in the middle and on the outsides of the row. 

Center row of clover shown.

Here we are pulling weeds from the rows before seed is sown.

(L to R: Joe, Brent, Rebecca)

    Joe covers the newly sown clover seed.

Day 1 down!

The transplants are looking great and will be ready to move into the field in a few weeks!

(Tatsoi)

(Crispino Iceberg Lettuce)