Extremely frustrating!

Last week was very wet here. This week was supposed to be even wetter. So Sunday we mixed up batch of seeds and broadcasted them out on the earthworks. Stomped them in a bit. Now.....it is no longer supposed to be wet. It's quite dry now. Did I just waste 20# of seeds because I will be PISSED!!!

I didn't find as much red clover and rye sprouting today where there is no irrigation, where I do water everybody is coming along fine... I'm erring on the side of caution and am only seeding portions at a time in the food forest (because I'm not dealing with a farm, but a smaller space) ... edges where the shade is, the clover is coming up in the food forest... when it looks like we will have more rain I still have nearly all of each bag to broadcast. Seed loss is frustrating - we have had three significant misses on rain predictions here... feeling very cautious about seed these days.... planning on keeping reserves... going to set up one room in the house as a starting room and then will transplant out to the greenhouse to protect as much of my seed producers as I can.

Pia Jensen wrote:I didn't find as much red clover and rye sprouting today where there is no irrigation, where I do water everybody is coming along fine... I'm erring on the side of caution and am only seeding portions at a time in the food forest (because I'm not dealing with a farm, but a smaller space) ... edges where the shade is, the clover is coming up in the food forest... when it looks like we will have more rain I still have nearly all of each bag to broadcast. Seed loss is frustrating - we have had three significant misses on rain predictions here... feeling very cautious about seed these days.... planning on keeping reserves... going to set up one room in the house as a starting room and then will transplant out to the greenhouse to protect as much of my seed producers as I can.

I was conservative in my seed usage, just in case. Still, kills me. I thought I was being brilliant planting before the wet week. Now I realize I was dumb. Bah!

Elle, I can sympathize with you, but that's what we farmers have to deal with. It's also why we have backup plans for irrigation. I've lost many a planting to one thing or another. It happens. One either accepts it and goes with the flow, or resorts to modern farming practices. I opted to work with Mother Nature and just tweak things a bit. A compromise.

Ive done the same thing in the past. It was a real bummer to think that I was going to lose all that seed. BUT, I stuck to my guns and refused to irrigate. Come on mother nature... give me your best shot. So yeah... a couple dry weeks and then it rained a little one day and then downpoured the next. By the end of the week almost all the seed I had sown was establishing itself. Some seeds will just lay dormant in the soil until it's the "right time". They know what's up. don't worry too much. this could turn out to be one of the biggest lessons learned in trusting momma nature. I wish you and your seeds the best. Who knows... perhaps the weather people still don't have it right. Might rain tomorrow. good luck