Putting Seedlings in the Garden

I’ve been nurturing 9 different varieties of heirloom tomatoes that I planted from seed, hardening them off on the back patio and giving them some fish emulsion to feed them and make them happy and green.

Heirloom Tomato Seedlings

Same thing with two different varieties of cucumbers and 4 different varieties of yellow squash and zucchini.  Thanks to nice weather and mild temperatures, they’ve grown from this:

Cukes, Yellow Squash & Zuccs

 To this in 5 days:

My, how you've grown!

Saturday morning once chores were done, I was champing at the bit to get all those seedlings out of the seed pots and into some soil.  That requires a little work, so I began turning over the soil in the rows with my ‘Cheap-o’ Garden shovel from Harbor Freight.  Yeah, it isn’t a quality tool that will last forever, but at $5 it was priced right and you know what?  It gets the job done. 

Shovel-Ready Job

In a post from a couple of days ago, we talked about earthworms.  I discovered a bunch of earthworms while working up the rows.  Five years ago, there weren’t many earthworms at all in the garden.  Now, due to soil amendments and composting, I hit worms with every shovel.  In the post from the other day, I mentioned the clitellem.  That is the part of the worm that is nearest the head.  If you chop an earthworm in half, the half with the clitellum will likely survive and grow a new tail.  In the photo below, you can see the clitellum (raised band) on the left hand side, and that tells you that the earthworm’s head is on the left and tail is on the right.

Heads or Tails?

While we’re discussing that, I also wanted to show you firsthand the benefits of composting and amending your soil with organic matter.  I turned over soil that exposed a four inch layer of mostly rotten hay/leaves.  This organic matter does several things.  First, the organic matter retains moisture in the soil and that comes in handy during the hot, dry months that lie ahead.  Next, it gives the soil some structure and loosens things up so it doesn’t pack tightly after a rain.  Finally, I find that it is a magnet for earthworms.  It is a little hard to see, but if you look at the chopped piece of grass below, the end of it is pointing at a fat earthworm.  He’s working hard to produce castings to get my seedlings off to a healthy start.

Organic matter in the soil

In no time at all I had 24 feet worked up and began to work on the next 14 foot section.  The remaining piece of the row is currently occupied with Chioggia Beets and I’ll be harvesting that in a day or two.

Working up hills for squash

I like to sprinkle some chicken manure to the soil before pulling up the rows on top of it.  That’ll allow the roots to dig down and hit the fertilizer and then take off.

The chicken's contribution to the garden

Benjamin and Tricia helped me and we got them all planted.  Now we’ll just watch them grow and patiently wait until we have red ripe tomatoes, cucumbers and squash to harvest and enjoy.  Is gardening and tending to meat birds, milk cows, and dairy goats hard work?  You bet!  But the benefits are worthwhile, in my opinion.  I like what Joel Salatin says about it: