Broccoli & Cauliflower Plugs

This year is the first year we are bringing outside vegetable seedlings on the farm.  Starting seedlings is one of my very favorite aspects of growing vegetables but our plans to expand this year left us short on space for starting the number of seedlings we want to grow.  So back in November I made the decision to order plugs instead of starting broccoli or cauliflower seeds.  The plugs arrived on Wednesday.

I was super nervous about this.  I knew I would be getting 1500 tiny broccoli seedlings and 500 tiny cauliflower seedlings but I didn't know what to expect.  I didn't know if they would be leggy after two days in a dark box traveling from California.  I didn't know how long it would take us to transplant 2000 plugs.  I wasn't exactly sure I had room in the greenhouse for 2000 seedlings once they were potted up.  

By Wednesday afternoon I knew I'd made a good decision.  One box arrived via FedEx and I opened it up to a good sight.

Four trays each holding 500 seedlings.  I waited for a small thunderstorm to pass and then headed to the greenhouse.  With the Monster just waking up from a nap all I had time to do was spread them out on the tables and marvel at such teeny, tiny, perfect seedlings.

I started potting up the broccoli on Thursday morning and was joined about noon by two interns and a third later in the afternoon.  By the end of the day we had 1500 seedlings potted up.  Two interns and I finished up in the barn on Friday afternoon in cold, rainy weather.  The greenhouse was too full for us to work in and the weather too rainy to work outside.  

The greenhouse held up for it's first thunderstorm of the year late last night and this afternoon everything looked neat and happy inside.