2015 Outdoor Direct Seed Sowing

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Preparing to direct sow about half of our crops, the other half being transplants

Outdoor seed sowing is a whole different ballgame from transplanting seedlings. Done around the same point in the season, this process is a lot simpler. There are no stems to break and no peat pots to knock over. The hardest part is planning it out and assembling all of the correct seed packets.

We had our diagram ready! We also tried inoculating the pole beans this year with a legume-loving symbiotic bacteria which would help the plants grow while fixing nitrogen (a crucial nutrient) from the atmosphere into the soil. This simply involved mixing the inoculant with water and soaking the beans in it for a few minutes.

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Inoculating beans with symbiotic bacteria before planting. Garden plan in the back.

Winter squash seed sowing would be something new to try this year, below.

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Direct sowing winter squash in little mounds.

A week or two later, the beet seeds we had direct-sowed were popping up in between the marigolds.

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Beet seedling a week or two after direct sowing. Center right.

Sweet corn was also coming up. I hadn’t had much luck with it in the past but was giving it another shot. Behind the two corn plants up front, you can see that the cover crop I had turned under was not quite gone from the scene. Field peas and hairy vetch were reappearing. I didn’t really mind, I just kept them away from the plantings and let them shade any weeds that might otherwise grow.

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Young corn plants in the rear bed.