You would never know it by the weather outside, but follow the calendar.  We have many transplants already up and growing in the greenhouse and will be ready for the fields starting by the end of April.  Normally an early Easter leads to an early spring, but as I write this the snow flurries are hitting the ground and the air temps are CHILLY!  Have no fear Spring is near!

So far planted in the greenhouse we have our first cabbage seeded, numerous crops for the CSA, peppers and tomatoes.  We will wait another week for our second batch of cabbage and more CSA veggies.  The pace has definitely picked up and all of the planters are ready to go for the field.

This coming year we are going to be planting on more biodegradable plastic than we ever have in the past.  It is a trend that has been rapidly expanding in our region to enhance crop development and seed emergence early in the spring.  The concept is that it will warm the soil and enhance root development much faster than soil that is not covered by the plastic.  The cost per acre runs approximately 100-300 dollars per acre depending on what crop and row size that we plant in the field.  The challenge is the wind,  it is much better to be planting when the wind is less than 10 mph to enhance the dirt to be tossed on the plastic to hold it down.  This is something we have been implementing the past five years and intend to expand rapidly in the next couple of years.  The beauty of the biodegradable plastic is that there is nothing left in the fall… nothing.  Happy Trails!