Corn Planting

My handy guide to planting claims that, based on the standard first frost here, I can plant corn for the next week. Now that the chickens are out of the animal paddock, and most of the manure is pushed up and composting, I wanted to try planting some of the dent corn I bought, but our ground is so hard, I wasn't sure how to get it in the ground.

One book recommended a jab planter, so I took one of the fence poles with a good point on the end and jabbed that into the ground, then poked the seed into the hole. This took much longer than planting with a jab planter, that would jab and release the seed all in one (upright) position, but I was pleased to get some seeds in the ground.

Overall, it was a frustrating experience, though. I wanted to plant on the contour, which means all the seeds in any given row are on the same elevation. This helps prevent water runoff. The problem was, as I bent over to plant, I would lose the contour. Rows that were supposed to be three feet apart would sometimes overlap! Oops.

I also tried to cover the seeds with agricultural cloth, to make sure the chickens don't scratch and eat all the seed. But I'm not sure I'm done planting corn, so I didn't want to cut the cloth. Later in the day we had a rain storm, so perhaps my cloth will now be moldy. Argh!

I was pleased to do that planting in the morning, before the heat of the day rose, but it meant we had a very late breakfast, and I was grumpy. I'm not sure how to balance the "outdoors while cool" with the "family must eat" dueling responsibilities.

Add to that conundrum, what is truly most important. Maybe I need to spread more minerals so my orchard will grow more quickly. I noticed today that several cherries are under extreme insect pressure. I had no idea. They need some help, and soon. That probably should be a higher priority than planting more corn, but it is so hard to have a "plowed, tilled" field (our former paddock) sitting open, not growing anything.

Phil ran some errands today. With about ten days until Fern's hopeful breeding, we want her to get used to the headgate (the small containment area where she hopefully cannot kick the technician), and the pelletized alfalfa treat (our newest attempt; since we don't want to do grain, and she was really uninterested in the molasses, I'm hoping pelletized alfalfa will be the reward that she enjoys).