#12 Goodbye Winter plants, Hello Spring

March 29, 2017 by Abby Lopez

A new season begins as we headed into April. Along my way to the farm, I peered out the window to notice a colorful spectacle of vibrant California poppies of orange, yellow marigolds,  pink tints of cherry blossom trees across the highway green spaces and neighborhood lots among the asphalt pavements. Spring has been one of my favorite seasons because it’s the most colorful seasons and everyone spends more time outside! At home, I frequented Anaheim Coves and made a bike trip along the Santa Ana river trail and just saw how much native plants were thriving under the sunshine and recent rain we had been receiving.

This was my second visit to the farm of the Martin family. I often miss Sundays farm days due to working on weekends. I arrived 10 minutes early and was greeted by Mrs. Martin and her daughter who then invited me to help them with an upcoming spring party. To do so, I helped transplant the array of pink, purple, yellow and white flowers that she had recently purchased from the store onto horizontal planters. Mrs Martin shared her interests in growing succulents. I shared my story of my work in healthcare and she also shared her experience operating a board and care and she understood the challenges I often deal with. I transplanted the purple and yellow flowers onto the garden pots and appreciated the contrasting colors.   It was one of the instances that strengthened my perception of how therapeutic gardening really was. A great anticipation of Spring’s  new beginnings of growth and renewal bloomed into season.

The truck arrived and I helped transport the onions and tomato saplings that was from the nursery to the farm. Natalie and Enrique arrived and we spend time uprooting winter crops to prepare for the spring season. During this time, we added bone meal mixture purchased from the OC Farm Supply, to the soil compost for the tomatoes saplings. Jeremy prepared the trellises for the tomatoes to climb. Also, we aligned the drip irrigation into straight rows and unkink the lines to prevent blockages of water flow and prepared the garden bed for onions to align and spaced close to every other emitter along the drip irrigation hose. JD made us aware of certain opportunistic pests that proliferate during the transition of the seasons. We learned to assess the plants condition in the wake of the heat. Some plants like the chard were wilting and others were flowering. Those that were showing flowering were pruned. In addition, the brocolli grew to a monstrous size since November 2016 when it was transplanted to the farm, which we removed the following week. Many of the plants were composted or harvested due to their poor tolerance of heat and overwhelming amount of pests. Some can be treated with neem oil.   By this time, the tomatoes and onions are planted, irrigation lines checked and aligned, and we added to the compost bin thus concludes a productive day at the farm!

Spring Onions

Spring Tomatoes

Nitrogen fertilizer mix, bone meal, for tomatoes

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