One way to plant peppers!

May 20, 2012, 9:41 am
Filed under: May 2012

The Miller children planting peppers

May 20, 2012

I snapped this picture just the other day. I was at my friend’s farm in Geauga county Ohio. I was there to talk with him and see about renting his mulch layer. I arrived just in time to watch the children finish planting the pepper crop.

They were on the second day of planting. The plastic covered beds get two rows planted in each one. The children finished at lunchtime. The total amount planted was 27,000. Yes, twenty-seven thousand! They had them all planted in just two long mornings.

It was fun watching them go at it. They learned from their older siblings and mom and dad of course. My buddy has raised produce now for almost ten years. He does have many of the specialized tools that make the job easier, but he also has a working family who enjoys being together.

The transplanter, seen in the photo, was made by Marvin’s brother. It is a well made tool. It will plant in row spacings of twelve or sixteen inch. It puts the water and fertilizer in each hole that it pokes in the plastic. The children push the tender plants down into the hole over and over again 😮

The horses too make this job easier. They walk very slow and very steady. It makes them bored right along with the kids, but both groups stay at it, no complaining until the job is complete. It was really something to see…. Even though I have watched the spectacle many times, I am always taken aback by how well everything goes.

I hope to plant just shy of one thousand plants in our formed beds. I will plant without the luxury of a transplanter. The work will be done by hand..probably with a little complaining…. if only from my knees 😮

So, a new chapter unfolds for us. We shall see where it goes. One thing I learned for sure, is that there is more than one way to plant peppers!