This year I am planting a mix of saved seed and store bought seeds.
On March 9th I planted 5 trays of hot peppers (500 seeds)
Pepper seeds set out in the germination box
The germination box is set to 75 Fahrenheit
March 16th the first ones were sprouting
April 27th update
Peppers potted up
All the peppers were transplanted this week. To be honest it’s a bit of a mess. Planting saved seeds, I always plant way too many to ensure a good Selection to choose strong plants from. Some are going into a hoop house, some are going outside and some are going into the heated greenhouse.
For the past ten years i have been farming vegetables.
It started when we raised some pigs and attended a market to sell the pork. We picked some produce from my parents garden to make the table look good. The produce sold better than the pork. At the time we were doing mixed farming. Chickens for meat and eggs, sheep (we had 30 ewes) pigs and produce. Between the produce selling better and growing produce really excited me. Gradually we switched to just growing produce. Between 2016 and 2018 i really dialled in my growing method. I have 1 heated greenhouse and 6 12×50 hoop houses that i can minimally heat. Looking back the transition went from learning and experimentation to proficiency to specializing my crops. I pushed to be first to market with all my produce and push later into the season each year, eventually growing year round for the past 3 seasons.
Each year i tended to grow less variety and more volume of the high value crops. Tomatoes, lettuce, all manner of greens, peppers, cucumbers, beans, peas etc. I still grow a large variety of crops but there hasn’t been much experimentation and new trials
This year is going to be different. My goal is to grow as many crops as possible to feed myself and take the left overs to market. Instead of 3 markets, a large csa, as much wholesale as i can muster. It’s going to be 1 market and 2 long standing wholesale customers only. I want my time back and i want experimentation back as well.
Chickens for meat and pork are going to be on the farm this year. I’m planning to grow corn for cooking. I’m interested in tobacco growing and cannabis cultivation. I’m still going to be growing full time just not having any staff and see how much can be accomplished by just 1 person. I have a different perspective and system set up now than i did the last season i grew without any staff.
I plan to devote more time with cover crops, knf, Jadam and basically having time to observe and better my processes.
The orange area is most of my established gardens.
I have already started all the crops that will fill my heated greenhouse in a grow tent in my basement. Shortly i will make a post laying out the details of that.
Sage peasant 