Good morning folks,,,
cold windy day in the nortwoods,,,opened the pop door and got 25 "stink eyes"
A special hi to the gardeners on board, I have 1 acre of market garden here, last year I added a 21X60' high tunnel. I have one bed of spinach going in there now,,planted last fall, too late for any winter production but having watered it a week ago with the longer days it greening up pretty well.
I have my 1st 40 tomato plants up at the first true leaf stage, I am grafting most of my maters this year so this equates to 20 scions (plants) and 20 rootstock they will be grafted to. After finding that my grafted plants actually produced 40% more fruit last year I'm making a big move in that direction. It takes a few added steps but the benefits are worth it. I might also graft a few other veggie varieties this year if time allows. All plants are started under lights and on mats in my small crowded basement,,,,then will be transfered to a 12X21' lightly ($) heated end of that tunnel. Plans are to set 1st maters on April 15th under row covers shooting for marketable fruit on a couple early varieties by July 1st,,,,,we'll see how this plays out.
Today I start another 50 tomato plants and work at another 200 this week,,,last year I had over 500 going into early May, sold enough started plants to cover my seed and materials cost last year. Having a start on a customer base I will plan to work that again.
Hot peppers are a real challenge in the north, heat last summer was my friend. This year I will use row cover on most things set in the garden, pretty amazing stuff for season extension as well as insects, worth the $ and time if you are seriously attempting to grow in WI imo.
For years I grew Atlantic Giant pumpkins for competition, built my soil and now I'm making use of that and the knowledge I gained to do this market farm, not many farmers in this area for good reason,,,,lol
anywhooo,,,,good luck with the early plants I'll try to stick to chickens here since I can ramble endlessly on gardening