What's Happening at Ramsey Farms?! (37 Days & Counting)

You know that I am absolutely wildly in love with Spring. (The season, not a person!) Spring is only 37 days away and there is a lot to do in preparation!

The pieces I cut from my grocery store ginger that I purchased before Thanksgiving sprouted and has grown a beautiful 12” tall plant. I cannot wait to transplant this perennial into my new herb garden and harvest fresh ginger root when I need it! You harvest pieces of the rhizome when you need it, and leave the rest of the plant to continue growing! It will be a nonstop supply of fresh ginger! YUM! I use it in cooking and hot teas. Ginger is one of my all time favorite aromatic herbs.

Below is an image of our design for the herb garden I did using our garden planning software. At the very end of January, I started parsley, chamomile, lavender and lemon balm seeds indoors. These will all (hopefully) grow big, strong and beautiful and get transplanted into the herb garden later this spring and growing season. 

We also started the beefsteak and roma tomatoes, several varieties of mild and hot peppers and broccoli in our homemade potting soil mixture in our greenhouse. Well the greenhouse is a rack next to the kitchen windows, but you know – same thing. Our six-year-old son also decided to plant a peach pit he had washed, dried and saved several months ago. (You know what they say about the peach not falling far from the tree? This kid so wants to be a farmer when he grows up!)

Outside in the garden, Farmer Chris is prepping and working hard. He added eight new rows to the front garden. He planted the garlic at the end of December then the early potatoes went to ground on the last day of January.

We also got our soil analysis results this week! (Woooo! Such exciting times are these!!!! Did I mention that Spring is 37 days away?!? YES I AM YELLING!) I love the science behind farming. I’ve been doing calculations and organic fertilizer research. The field garden soil show a moderate acidity which it did not in 2015. Overall, phosphorus, Calcium, Magnesium and pH levels all dropped while potassium and zinc increased. 

The soil needs amending to produce a healthy yield. Farmer Chris has been enriching the soil all along with compost, mulched leaves, ground egg shells, fish emulsion and our “green manure” cover crop, crimson clover is still growing. We’ve also incorporated organic fertilizer to this old weathered soil. This year we still need to bolster the potassium and magnesium. These nutrients along with nitrogen leach very quickly from sandy soil and need more frequent replacement. We will also incorporate dolomitic limestone into the field garden to neutralize the acidity and boost magnesium. We will use Epsom salts in the front garden for a little spritz of magnesium needed there.

Did I mention I am so ready for spring?!?! What’s your favorite part of spring? How do you celebrate this glorious new season? What are you going to grow this year? Leave your comments.