Big Greenhouse=Big Work

  Bay one of five being prepared for spring planting.  This will be the first year that this greenhouse will be used for season extension.  There is alot of prep work to be done to each bay before it can be seeded.  We broadfork not till our greenhouses.  It means more physical labour but the soil improvement is great.  After broadforking we pick sods and rocks,  string off the beds, ammend the beds, rake off the beds and then seed the beds and water the seeds in.  It took three of us to completely finish one bay yesterday.  We will start transplanting this weekend and put mini-hoops over the transplants to give extra protection from the cold nights.

Link to an Article on Our CSA

http://www.atlanticfarmer.com/article.php?id=3382

Root Washer

There has been some interest in the design of our root washer so I have taken a few pictures which show how it was constructed. We did not manufacture this washer ourselves but bought it used from another vegetable farmer. It would be easy to reproduce.

Getting small greenhouse ready for spring.

Small greenhouse after being broadforked. 

500 feet of carrots sown February 21st.

Homemade Infrared Flame Weeder

Here are a few pictures of a prototype flame weeder I constructed to aid in weed control this summer. Although the model worked satisfactory in trials, I am already planning small changes to make it work even better. Changes will include larger tires, rear bumper and side heat shields to protect plants.

Soil Improvements by Broadforking

Broadforking loosens and aerates the soil to a depth of 11 inches while maintaining soil structure. After broadforking a hole can easily be dug by hand to the full 11 inch depth.

Broadforking the Small Greenhouse

This is a short video showing the use of a broadfork in preparing our greenhouse for spring planting. This tool loosens and aerates the soil to a depth of 11 inches allowing plant roots to more easily access nutrients at lower levels. The broad fork preserves natural soil structure by not mixing soil stratum. We have found this method of "tillage" to be far superior to our walk behind rototiller which; only works to a depth of 5 inches, damages soil structure, destroys earthworms and other soil creatures, and spreads perennial weeds(by chopping up rhizomes).