Planting, new strategies

Alison is teaching me a different method of transplanting than the one that I’m used to. It kind of goes against what I had previously thought was beneficial, but since she pollinates her own plants, saves her own seeds, grows everything from seed in a soil block, and has been doing this for many years, I’m trusting her.

First of all, since I've always been told that compacting the soil is bad (which it is - because you want aeration), I assumed that when transplanting, I should just kind of put the dirt on top of the soil block. But no - I learned to press rather firmly around the stem to ensure that the roots make contact with the new soil.

Next, I always tried to make the soil level even after I put the plant in. I thought trenches collect water, which will drown the plant. BUT, according to Alison, it's actually good to leave a trench, because newly planted plants need lots of food and water and love and affection so leaving a little dip around the plant will collect the water they need to grow.

We planted over 200 soil blocks Monday afternoon. We had a little system going: she measures the beds, makes holes in the soil to mark where each plant will go, and lays them out. I get the fun part – I dug and covered and pressed and trenched and, in my distaste for gloves, completed the task with caked dirt hands.

Lots of basil! thai basil, greek basil, lemon basil, holy basil

freshly planted baby herbs:

All that basil, we need some maters! The next day, the tomatoes went in.

I also learned trench planting which is good for "leggy" stems. Instead of digging a hole, you dig, well, a trench. Basically a hole with a little incline on the side. Lay the plant sideways instead of straight up, and cover the bottom half of the stem parallel to the ground, then pop the rest up above ground.