Direct Seeding

There are some crops we plant by direct seeding or planting the seed into the ground instead of as a seedling.

We do this for a couple of reasons:

• certain plants do not need warmer soil to germinate
• taproot crops like carrots, radishes and beets need to root directly into the soil it is growing in
• it is simply easier and more economical to direct some seeds like sweet corn that can average 100,000- 200,000 seeds per acre!

Most of our direct seeded crops are planted by hand.

Zucchini is being planted here:

The only crops that are not seeded by hand are winter squash, beans, peas, and sweet corn. Those are planted by a planter pulled by a tractor that plants multiple rows during one pass.



Sugar snap peas

Taproot crops like soft, fluffy soil to grow in. This year we made raised beds with trees that fell from Hurricane Sandy and filled them in with top soil.

Planting Carrots:

Brandt planted carrots in late April into this raised bed. Carrots grow well in these raised beds because the soil allows them to grow straighter and longer.

He used a hand seeder to do this

 He first measures the bed and determines where to start his first row. Plants need sufficient spacing in order to grow and mature.

He then places the seed into the seeder.

Then he begins his first row. The seeder makes a trough for the seed, deposits the correct amount of seed, and covers the trough with a loose layer of soil.

There is an arm that marks the soil to show where the next row is to be started.

He repeats this process until the entire bed is filled.

This seed will take a few weeks to germinate. By mid-June we should start to pick these carrots!

Our dog Bailey likes to supervise and make sure Brandt's rows are planted straight.