Fall Crops

Back in July I ordered this fun gardening tool:

I've been wanting to try it out since it arrived back in July. Actually, I did try out the mini one. The blocks were so tiny that they dried out too quickly - especially in the heat of the hoop house during what had to be the hottest time of the year.

The weather started to get less hot and I decided to try starting some stuff for our fall garden. It's a little on the late side, but then that's how everything has been in our garden all year anyway, so why not continue the trend?

On Labor Day I got out the trays that Tom built for me and got to work. Got a total of 84 2" blocks formed and we sowed all sorts of cool weather friendly veggies - purple broccoli, a variety of greens, some beets, flower sprouts, green onions and the list goes on.

The other thing that I ordered was a Fogg-It nozzle:

The perfect tool to keep the delicate seedlings moist without blasting the soil apart with a regular hose. It really is a pretty neat little tool. Another thing about this particular brand, Tom actually had a neat little valve to connect the nozzle to the hose. The brand was Fogg-It! He has had it for so long that he doesn't remember where he got it. Which is just fine because it is perfect and makes the watering task easy to manage.

So far everything looks so good! I was really surprised to see things starting to sprout by the end of the week! With the mild weather the humidity and temps in the hoop house have been perfect for the little seedlings to thrive - I am amazed at how well things are working out so far. These little dudes are pretty happy and I'm sure that they are growing before our eyes!

September 12, 2016

The real test will be what happens once they are big enough to go into the garden. Will they survive or will they grow even more?! I can hardly believe that starting seeds is really this easy. It wasn't so easy earlier this year in the spring. These tools along with the finished hoop house will give us a jump on the next season for sure.

Until then, we will be experimenting with the fall garden and recording the happenings here as a record of what we did and what worked and didn't work.

This gardening thing is gonna stick somehow - it's been good so far!