The state of the garlic fields

We've done multiple passes with the tine cultivator to pull out the quack. I would venture that quack and horse nettle are our two most aggressive invasives in our fields. We essentially utilized the stale seedbed program all summer but a couple of weeks ago, we did a final hand-weed and then seeded with covers.

Bill hand weeding Field #1

Field #1 got buckwheat

Field #2 and #3 got a green manure mix

Field peas, oats and hairy vetch

Sowing the manure mix brought our first experience with using an inoculant. We utilized the slurry method which was startling to us both with how well it worked!

We poured the seed mix into a trug. (I can not recommend trugs enough. I've used them for everything from harvesting, washing, carrying gear, and mixing inoculant.)

We then sprinkled the half of the inoculant packet over the seeds and sprinkled about 3 oz of water (from our water jug from the cooler) and using our hands we stirred the seeds around. The black inoculant spread evenly thru the seed and the seed remained dry enough to still be spread through our hand spreader.

Seeds in the trug

The teeny black specks are the inoculant

This is Field #1 with the buckwheat barely sprouting. I hope it hurries up! It has a lot of weed seeds that need to be smothered.

I recently harvested the onions from the farm garden. I bought these on a whim all dried and half sprouted in June from the bargain bin of the local Cuba City grocery store. We planted them as an experiment and we got about 100 (smallish) onions from our efforts. They are curing in the barn. This little experiment has us dreaming us all of the onion varieties we will grow next year!

Lovin' those bread trays