Catching up...

As usual with the beginning of May physical gardening activities increase - making writing about them more difficult.

On May 1 - I sowed the seed of Blue Wind broccoli, Caraflex cabbage, Brilliant celeriac, Orion fennel, Orient Express eggplant (zero emergence from first sowing), Winter Density Romaine, Breen Romaine, Cajun Delight okra (already emerging today the 5th), Bottle Gourd Mix (2008 seed from Burpee), Costata Romanesco zuchinni, Spaghetti squash, Black Forest kabocha, Waltham butternut, and Xiang Cai cilantro.

Soil test results got back yesterday and were disappointing at first glance - organic matter only increased from 1.8 to 1.9% over last year - this demonstrates that the addition of deep rooting crops alone will not move the OM level up at an accelerated rate. This sample did not contain any soil from the plots that just had a Fall Green manure and daikon planting. Next year it will be made up of a composite of these 6 - 25 sq. ft. research plots. Otherwise other than nitrogen levels pH and soil fertility factors look about the same or slightly better than last year. The optimistic outlook is that we grew a crop and improved the soil albeit only slightly...Pasha has suggested using the belly rub technique to add some vermicompost to these plots as well and this I will do...but another year will pass before we re-measure the OM of these plots.

As a result of the test, we will have to ensure that we use nitrogen fixers intercropped with not only sweet corn and potatoes, but also carrots, cabbage, greens, tomatoes, peppers, and squashes.

Currently I'm on an injury timeout - my back and right shoulder are giving me great pain as a result of helping a friend move and install about 300" of fencing and then coming home and spending the day on some obsessive double digging...hopefully my miracle working friend the physical therapist can put me on the mend...