Greenhouse #1 is filling up fast with trays of plants.  The peppers nearly all germinated last week and it looks like we got really good germination.  We had saved some seed from the bhut jolokia last year and planted it two weeks ago and it all germinated.  So we should have a good supply of the “world’s hottest pepper”.  Many of the nasturtiums are 3 to 4 inches tall.  The onions have been slow to germinate this year but we are seeing a high percentage of germination.  We are trying to determine why they are slower this year  versus previous years and suspect a couple of reasons.  To save on heating, we may have kept the temperature a little cooler at the first part of the season.  Also, we experimented with covering the seeds with vermiculite which is a white substance that is also used in our potting mix.  It is a common practice among growers to use vermiculite in order to hold the moisture on the seed.  We noticed on one tray where a few cells had not been covered with vermiculite that the germination was much faster.  Perhaps it keeps the soil cooler resulting in slower germination so we will not be using it any more for covering the seeds.  We had our organic fertilizer and gypsum delivered on Friday and the company that delivered it was also going to spread it on the fields.  They use a truck with large flotation tires to spread the fertilizer.  We got about 1000 lbs spread on two fields but when they tried to drive on our biggest field, the snow was still too deep so they were getting stuck.  They decided to take the fertilizer back to their place and the gypsum was dumped in our field.  We will have to wait until the snow goes down some more to get the fertilizer and gypsum spread.  We are especially interested in getting the gypsum spread because it is high in calcium which helps plants take up other essential nutrients.  Gypsum also helps break up our heavy clay soil which, while it is rich in nutrients, can also be easily compacted.  Compacted soil can lead to weed problems such as foxtail grasses.  We have noticed over the several years that we have organically worked the soil at the farm that the soil is much looser, the soil tests show more balanced nutrients, there is more biological life in the soil such as earthworms, and the yields are improving every year.  We look forward to an even better year at the farm this year.   

 George

West Star Farm