Spring Planting

This week in sustag we planted different varieties of lettuce in the beds north of the hoop house. We started by removing large weeds and old crops from each bed. We then turned the soil with a shovel to slow further weed growth. Compost was added to improve the soil quality and fill in any larger holes left over from turning the soil. Next we raked the topsoil on each bed to make it smooth and put the irrigation lines back in place. To begin planting we used the six inch dibble board to mark the correct spacing for each plant. Finally it was time to plant, we used trowels to make each dibble hole larger and transplanted the lettuce starts into the holes. We dug each hole deep enough so there was ample room underground for the roots to avoid j rooting. Finally we thoroughly watered each newly planted lettuce start and checked the irrigation for any holes. We hope to harvest this lettuce in a couple of weeks and sell it back to the community during a market day.

—Dutch