Market Garden Update, March 20, 2020

Despite so many disruptions in the world right now, the Market Garden is planting on schedule. 

We got our first -- and largest -- week of seeding done on time in early March. In the greenhouse, we seeded all our onions, leeks, shallots, scallions, and a bunch of early crops to transplant into the tunnels later. This year’s early crops include snap peas, beets, salad turnips, fennel, kale, chard, and leaf broccoli. We also seeded a lot of herbs, cut flowers, and celeriac into channel flats. These will be potted into bigger trays in a few weeks.

Soon we will be prepping the tunnels by broadforking, fertilizing, and tilling the soil in them, so that they will be ready for us to plant in them at the end of March.

This past week, we seeded a second succession of outdoor kale, chard, spinach, and beets. We also potted our dahlia bulbs in potting soil in bulb crates so we can plant them by mid-April in a tunnel. We are pruning brambles and blueberries this week and fruit trees next week.  

We will seed carrots in the tunnel this week and maybe radishes. We usually seed these crops now to be ready for the first week in May, but we may push that date back depending on the inn’s schedule. This is the first change we’ve made in our production plan since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

It's been nice to get our hands in the soil after the long winter, and planting seeds for the future is keeping us grounded in the seasonal rhythms of the earth.

NOTE: To protect the health of our staff in these critical areas of the Farm, the Market Garden is currently closed to the public.