Salad Mix

I'm really excited because this week we have the first (small) harvest of new stuff that was planted on borrowed land after the July floods. Salad mix is probably the fastest crop on the farm, only about four weeks from seed to harvest (there's a big range but most crops are more in the range of two to four months). Only days after the flooding, our neighbor Ray Young at Next Barn Over offered us the use of some of their fields that were in cover crop, meaning those fields weren't planted with crops for harvest but were resting for the season.

I had to start right away, because there are several steps to get the land ready for new seeds. The cover crop growing there was oats and peas, so the first step was to plow those in (this basically means flipping over the top foot or so of soil, so the plants that were on top can start decomposing underground, and the surface is bare and ready for new plants). The next step was a harrow, which breaks up the chunky clods, makes a flat(ish) surface, and gets rid of remaining weeds. Then after granular organic fertilizer is broadcast, the final preparation is a bedformer to get a raised, even seedbed that can be easily weeded and harvested.

Normally this whole process takes a few weeks but I had to compress it and get it all seeded within a week or so of plowing (see attached pics for the same field just after seeding, and how it looks now four weeks later). Over the next two months the slower crops will mature, like chard, cabbage, collards, broccoli, carrots, spinach, and radishes. Lots to look forward to!