Even though rain in recent weeks has made it difficult to get into the garden and do much work, we have not let that dampen our spirits here in Magoffin County. The Magoffin County Extension Office is home to one of the Grow Appalachia community gardens and last Friday offered great weather for weeding, preparing, and planting in the raised beds. Two of the program participants and I worked together to set out 30 candy onions and a few herbs in a 4’x4′ raised bed and 50 Earliglow strawberry plants in a bed constructed of concrete blocks. In addition to work in the raised beds, I have been keeping an eye on our lettuces, kale, and spinach, as well as the tomato and pepper seedlings!
I also had the opportunity last week to meet with Joel at Earth Tools who is a wealth of knowledge and a great resource. I ordered a Grillo walk-behind tractor and tiller attachment for the program, which should be ready to pick up by the end of the week. I am really excited to get to demonstrate and share this implement with the families in our program. Small scale farm equipment is often overlooked and underrated and I am positive that very few of our participants have ever seen anything like the Grillo. I think they will be impressed with its ease of use and practicality for small scale farmers.
Our group will meet again on Thursday to discuss basic vegetable gardening and review completed soil test reports. I will be distributing fertilizer and some seed as well, so I hope this weekend brings decent weather for working the soil and planting!
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