When the weather finally switched to hot and dry for a few days, it was exactly the right time to plant our winter squash and sweet potatoes.
On Monday morning, I thought about all that we needed to do (in addition to getting the CSA started) and it seemed almost overwhelming. First we had to pick vast quantities of chard and kale and lettuce. On Tuesday, the crew in Loudoun planted a half an acre of butternut, delicata, and other fall squash. We plant by seed, putting two seeds in each hole. We haven't done the math to see how many miles we walked or how many plants there will be, but there are 24 rows, approximately 150 feet long, and the seeds went in 24" apart.
Then it was time to get the soil ready for sweet potatoes. We buy our sweet potato slips from a farmer in Southern Maryland, a five hour round trip away. Ciara left the farm at 6 PM and was back unloading the plants before midnight.
On Wednesday afternoon we filled the transplanter tank with water and settled down to plant (it was 91 degrees, way too hot, but there was a pretty solid prediction of rain for Thursday so we took the chance). We planted 8600 sweet potato plants, sitting down--two of us sit in seats that are just above the ground, planting into holes that are 12" apart. The tractor driver watches the action, looking over her shoulder at the fast-moving hands, even though the tractor hardly seems to be moving.
The rest of the week was more planting and lots of harvesting for the weekend. It was a super busy week and we finished most of our list, but there is always another project. Next week: making compost and planting ginger.
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