Saturday, June 14, 2014

Seed Farm Update

Not much has happened at the seed farm lately, but I'm flattered to know that readers want to hear about it. So here it goes.......

We've been getting a bit of rain, but all the benefit has been blowing away with the tradewinds. Is been constantly windy during the day the past several weeks. So this is when the mulch is proving its value. When I water, the moisture is staying in what little soil is there. Thus the plants are surviving. But the soil fertility is real poor, so plants don't thrive. Well, guinea grass excluded. That stuff can survive really poor soil and drought. 

But I'm actually getting seed harvested. Not lots, but at least a good enough return for starters, considering the conditions. Today I harvested the first of the Black Knight limas, the Christmas limas, and the purple podded yard long bean seed. 
Not much, but these were the first pods mature and dry. Much more are yet to come. 

I saw that the sweet potatoes are spreading, the taro is holding its own and starting to produce lots of oha (side shoots). The newly seeded pumpkins, peas, and limas are starting to sprout. Only small plantings of each, but it's a start. 

Carting a truck load of water and compost tea to the seed farm, everything got a good drink. I see that  the rows could use a couple of truckloads of mulch, something that will have to wait until the end of next week. Shame that I couldn't have done that this weekend, since I just watered everything well. But such is life on a homestead. Simply not enough time to get everything done at once. I guess that's why some people resort to hiring employees. But I'd rather not. I prefer to just accept what I can do and leave it at that. 

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