April 20, 2011

We have a break in the weather. There are no cold days forecast for the next two weeks so we are putting in all our spring plants. We anticipate the frosty days are over. Let's hope so.

Over the last two days we planted 150 tomato plants, 100 sweet peppers, and 150 hot peppers. We were in the process of planting the last 100 tomato plants when the rain started.

We also planted summer squash, cucumbers and speckled butter beans. The rattlesnake pole beans are peeking their heads out of the ground. I'm still looking for the green beans to start. This slow rain today will be good for all.

The Candy sweet onions are looking good. They should start bulbing in two weeks and then be ready by June 1.




The High Tunnel tomatoes are all trelissed and blooming. A beautiful sight for me. We should have ripe tomatoes by late May.



The lettuce has grown beyond expectations. I planted it between the tomato plants. It is called double cropping. Pretty neat stuff can be done in these tunnels. I'm learning new things all the time. The spinach and cucumbers are looking good also. Sounds like salads are going to be good around here soon.

Update - March 8, 2011

The tunnel was starting to get hot so I decided to put the shade cloth on. It lowers the temps by about 12 degrees. Tomatoes do best between 60 and 80 degrees so if I keep the sides down it get pretty hot inside. The other day it was 100 inside.



It's a little hard to see them now, but Debbie planted 1800 onion plants in two days into the raised beds. They will produce 'Candy' sweet onions around June 1. We hope this year's crop will be better than last when we lost the first planting due to a cold and rainy spring. This year I'll cover them if it gets into the low 20's.

Tomato Update:

Our new plastic mulch layer did a fine job of creating the raised beds for the tomatoes. Each bed is 30" across and about 8" high. It took getting used to and was a little difficult inside the tunnel but after several attempts the beds were made.

Here comes a delivery from the basement.

The chief planter is taking a short break.

Completion for day one. 104 plants are in.

The tomatoes are in! After 9 weeks of watering, worrying, and pampering, the plants made it into the ground. The first row is covered for the upcoming freeze on Friday am. The material is called Agribon and gives 2 - 4 degrees of protection. The tunnel itself also contributes to heat retention as does the black plastic. Tomorrow we'll cover the rest of the plants. After all the rows are covered I'm going to add 1 more layer to the top of the rows as insurance. Don't want to lose the tomatoes now. Here is a picture of a nice one!

This has been the month for rain! Last weekend we had almost 2 inches of rain and today we had 2.8". Here are a few pictures of our planting areas during the storms.

This is a good example of one advantage of a high tunnel. Even if the temperature co-operated, there is no way anything can be planted until at least a week of dry weather. Inside the tunnel we have full control of the water using drip irrigation.

February 11, 2011 Update

After 5 weeks, here are the tomato plants getting ready for the High Tunnel (HT). It is 19 here this morning so the weather has to improve some. I'm looking at March 13 or so for planting. The HT is supposed to allow 6-8 weeks earlier planting so we'll see. In the meantime I'm starting peppers and more tomatoes for the outside field.

Today I'm working on my trellising system for the HT tomatoes. I'll post a progress picture later.

January 29, 2011

Another year has passed and a new one is upon us. I'm trying a new seed vendor this year and things are going well. This year I've selected a new tomato variety, BHN 961,that grows well in high tunnels. Here are a few pictures of the recently transplanted seedlings.











There are 210 BHN 961 plants here that I will transplant into 3" pots in a few weeks. So far I'm very pleased with the size and stockiness of the transplants. These plants will go in the tunnel around mid-March giving me a 5-6 week headstart on the season. I could probably start them sooner but I'm still learning about high tunnel growing so I'm a little cautious.


I have about 200 pepper plants also under the lights. They will go outside about May 1st. In addition there are 100 Sunshine tomato transplants getting ready for the outside in late April. These are an early variety that is new for us this year.

I'm now germinating some beefsteak tomatoes. I plan to sell the transplants around the end of April.


In about two weeks I'll start the main season tomato crop of Celebrity, Mountain Fresh, Mariana Plum, and Big Boys. I'm trying to space out my plantings this year to provide consistent availability.

My son Jeffrey came to visit this week and was a great help in re-engineering the high tunnel North end panel and roll-up sides. We also installed a 30" vent on the end panel for ventilation. The vent has a solar powered opener that can be set to open at a predetermined temperature so on the days I 'forget' to roll up the sides there will be some outlet for the heat. I'll see how this works to cool the tunnel in summer and may do the same to the South end.

After much deliberation, 4x4 posts were concreted into the ground at two end panel zipper locations. This will provide much needed stability. The original end panel had so much mobility in the wind that it literally swayed back and forth. This caused screws to pop out or break and the door to become frequently forced open leading to loss of warm air. The middle post is removable for the summer months and the tractor conveniently passes under the opening with six inches to spare.


Extra sections of plastic were added to the corners to stop the cold air from entering where the side and end panels meet. This will make the tunnel warmer in the late fall and extend our season a few weeks.
Today the temperatures will rise to 67 degrees. Finally we will be above average!

My next priority is to remove the brush pile from the side of the tunnel for burning. Maybe I'll get started today :)

December 26, 2010

A Christmas snow has come to help us end the season with a flair. Although it's only an inch or two, it is the first on Christmas since 1989.

The collards and cabbage, our last products of the season, are covered with snow and probably done for the season. Our last sale was on December 23rd this year and I'm happy to say that we exceeded last year's sales by a modest amount.

Overall the season has been challenging with the cold and wet spring followed by the dry and very hot summer. We are taking a few steps to help us with the weather variations next year. For the high tunnel a shade cover has been purchased. This will moderate the temps by about 8 degrees. In addition we will be installing some vents on the end panels. In the spirit of sustainable agriculture, the vents will be non-powered and vent by convection. Additionally a new tomato variety more suited to high tunnels will be used.

The seeds for next year have been ordered and are starting to arrive. I plan to start the pepper seeds in mid January and the tomatoes shortly after that. If all goes according to plan, the tomato transplants will be planted in the high tunnel mid March.

We have ordered 1800 onion plants for arrival mid February. This year I plan to cover them with a low tunnel frame covered with vented plastic. Last year the first onions planted died from the cold wet spring. The long range forecast is for similar weather so next year we'll cover them for the first two months.

Now it's time to take a few weeks off and get ready for next season. Hope everyone has a great new year.

October 16, 2010

Had a nice visit from my sister Eleanor and her husband Ralph. Ralph and I worked on the farm while Eleanor and Debbie went shopping. Here is our project protecting us from the frost we had last night.


Our fall crops are coming in slowly and we are starting to sell collards and turnip greens. We even had a few red tomatoes. For now we are selling green tomatoes, a southern favorite. The squash is doing well and it is a big seller at the Rockmart Farmer's Market.

The high tunnel continues to frustrate us. Temperature control is an issue and that is affecting the ripening of the tomatoes. Red tomatoes are peeking thru here and there though.

The low tunnel is rocking with nice size green tomatoes. Should be ready (red) by month end. So far the three light frosts have caused only minor damage to the tomatoes.

The farm stand continues to operate three days a week. Squash, tomatoes, pickles and muscadine jelly are the main attractions for now.


Here are the collards and cabbage. The cabbage will be a while yet.

September 13, 2010

Where did the time go? The summer has flown by and most of our vegetable production went with it. Now it's time for the Fall crop. Here are a few pictures of the garden now and the latest on the high tunnel.

The frame on the left will function as a low tunnel to protect the fall tomatoes. I plan to use row covers drapped over the frame to protect the plants from frost. Usually we get a series of frosts around Oct 25th that last for three days and then it turns nice again. This is my attempt at protecting the plants. The squash on the right will just have row covers over it without a frame. The squash is almost ready to pick now so we should get a minimum of 6 weeks production before a frost.

This is a closeup of the squash plants.They are very healthy now. They seem to like the raised beds with cypress mulch and drip irrigation.

This is a longer view of the low tunnel. These tomato plants and the ones in the high tunnel were all propagated at the same time. The low tunnel plants are about 32"-36" high with 1/2" stalks and were planted on August 4th. The high tunnel plants are up to 6 feet tall with 1/4" stalks and were planted on July 4th.

This is the collard and cabbage patch. When it cools a bit we'll plant the broccoli.

In the background below is the turnip patch, a local favorite. We will harvest the tops for greens and then the roots later on for purple top turnips.

The tomato plants in the high tunnel are looking kind of spindly. The heat in the high tunnel has been a big problem. At times it reached 118 even with the ends open and sides rolled up. As I found out this year, tomato plants will not set fruit when the temperature is over 90 degrees. The blooms form and then they die. We have had record heat this year. During July the daily temperature was 4.6 degrees higher than the historical average. We had so many days over 90 during June, July and August I quit counting. I recently found a new weapon I'm trying - Purshade. It is a chemical coating of a calcium product that is harmless to humans and provides an SPF 45 when sprayed on tomato plants (and others). You can see the coating in the pictures below. It washes off easily.

The eggplant is doing well in the tunnel. In a few weeks it'll be ready.

Our recent activities have included canning Muscadine jelly and pickled okra. Both are quick sellers at our farm stand. If the cucumbers hold up in the tunnel, we'll be making bread and butter pickles real soon. Right now the cucumbers are fighting off powdery mildew. I hope they make it. Today I'm going to remove some old squash plants from the tunnnel and plant more cucumbers. These cucumbers are in high demand.

We are hopeful that by October 1st we will be selling tomatoes again. The weather is starting to cool down but it will still hit 93 today. Tomatoes are a definite draw for the farm stand. By next week we will be covered up in squash as the 80 or so plants we have start producing heavy yields.