Tomato Transplanting

So far we have started around 800 tomato plants which will eventually take up the majority of our greenhouse space (we have 6 of them). After germinating the seeds in wet paper towels they were transplanted into rows in 6x4in trays. Once they were pinky size we transplanted them into 4 inch pots (4x4). Needless to say, 800 plants took forever! Several days worth of work. But we made it enjoyable with warm tea, a space heater in the potting shed, good music, and lots of laughs. We finally finished today...but only to start more tomato seeds for seedlings to sell at market. Ahhhh!!!

This past Saturday, Gavin, Colin, and I did our last Seedy Saturday in Cobble Hill (a little ways up the island) and made $700...on seeds! This is nothing compared to the Victoria Seedy Sat. where we made $3,000. That's 1,000 packages! And guess who packaged all those seeds!

What else...last week we planted Warba potatoes. Just so you know...you don't grow potatoes from seed...you actually grow them from another potato, called the "mother" potato. I'm sure you have all seen potatoes with "eyes" on them which could potentially produce long leafy shoots! We could grow potatoes from ones we harvested last season, but this practice has the potential for building up disease in the potatoes (not totally sure how and why...would be interesting to learn). So we get our seed potatoes from and organic supplier in Pemberton, BC (known for being good seed potato farming...not as much potential for disease there or something).

We also direct seeded (meaning you don't start them in trays and transplant them) peas and broad beans (fava beans)!

Mmm...today, I thinned the my carrots seedlings so that there would be about an inch between them. I also weeded them a bit. Carrots are very finicky in that they can't tolerate weeds very well. It is very helpful to plant radishes in between the carrot rows to take up space where weeds would otherwise take root...plus they germinate really fast and are out before the carrots get too big. I also spent some time weeding the beds around the trailer. I can't wait to plant flowers there. Once there are things in bloom I'll post some before and after photos.

Let's see...oh! We had a rat killing fest last week. Or I should say, Gavin, Angela, and Colin had a rat catching fest. A couple Saturdays ago we were eating dinner when someone saw a rat dash under the sofa in the living room. Since our traps had been unsuccessful we of course felt the need to trap this one and drown the sucker. Turns out they had been making a nest in our couch with potato peels, squash seeds, walnuts. Tres gross! I'll try to post pictures of the whole ordeal...it pretty much involved tearing the house apart trying to catch them (there ended up being two) and me screaming the whole time. I didn't realize I was that girlie until I saw them run UP the wall! Too much. I decided to take the job of photo documentation. We ended up catching one and drowning it, but the other got away. Gavin has since trapped 4 more, as we are getting a better sense of where they roam.

In the past few days I've had two bad chicken experiences. One, I went to collect the eggs one night, taking a deep breath before entering the coop. As soon as I stepped in I could sense something was not right. A rat scurried away from this dark shadow in the corner. As I got closer, I saw that it was a chicken lying on its side with it's neck curled under. Sure enough the thing was dead. Ugh. That was not something I wanted to deal with before going to bed...or anytime for that matter. Colin was kind enough to come down and remove it, while I screeched and did the squeamish dance (refer to November's post on eggs for the last time I did the squeamish dance). Again, tres gross. I think dealing with dead chickens is at the top of my list of things I don't like to deal with. Followed by live chickens.

The second incident occurred the next night when I stepped out of the movable coop and my foot slipped off the trailer hitch. I landed flat on my face, wrenched my knee, and smashed and entire dozen of eggs. I guess it was bound to happen at some point. I then had to carry the oozing egg carton back up the hill. Tres...you got it...gross.

Well, that's it for now! I have a couple of friends coming to visit. Stay tuned to find out who!

I've stolen the following photos from Colin. Check out his blog too for more photos.

Soil blocking in the greenhouse...me, Marika and Gavin


Seedy Saturday


Keep checking for rat catching photos!