Crop circle

So tempted to go with another one of the Western Toad (Flickr link for that here) but I'm opting for a farming blip today.

Last week we planted 23 rows of 44-48 tomato plants each in one of the farm's larger fields. (The tomato crop is rotated from field to field each year in order to stave off the spread of diseases and pests that have accumulated in the soil from the presence of the previous years' tomato crop.) Early this week we began the process of building trellises for them, and today we spent much of the afternoon making some improvements to the soil.

Tomatoes--and other nightshade crops such as peppers and eggplants--can be highly susceptible to a physiological disorder known as blossom end rot. Calcium is especially critical to the tomato plant's growth, and when it doesn't get enough, its cells begin to break down at its greatest point of weakness--the blossom end (that opposite the stem) of the tomato fruit. The result is a nasty black lesion that most certainly makes the fruit unfit for sale.

A natural solution to this problem is the addition of calcium phosphate to the soil--this gives the tomatoes an extra boost of calcium and has been an effective method for this farm in dramatically reducing the occurrence of blossom end rot.

The white ring around the plant is the calcium phosphate. We applied it by walking up and down the rows and scooping it out of a bucket with a small measuring cup. We also amended (i.e. enhanced, or fertilized) the soil with a splash of chicken manure, and then the entire business was covered with surrounding soil. It was a long day in the heat--it cracked the 90s today and it's a bit brutal working hours in the sun--but it was so satisfying to see the entire field calciumed, manured, and covered at the end of it all. I won't be here long enough to see the tomatoes ripen, but I am hoping to come back and visit some time after my summer job ends, so that I might see them in their full, calcium-rich glory.


*Note: Dan insists he be given due credit for volunteering today's clever title.