10/10/2020, mid-afternoon – The north 25 ft of row 5A had been hilled and so used the hoe to carve in a 3″-4″ deep groove. Spread bone meal and used the garden rake to pull the dirt on top of the bone meal—maybe 1 ” cover.
Note: Hurricane Delta—now TS Delta—dumped 0.92″ of rain on us in the early morning hours this date.
Dropped into the moist soil the pre-sprouted Detroit Red Beet seed–some with 1/4″ red roots–trying to get them 3″ apart but not too successfully. The seeds were damp as an hour before they were drained and mixed with an equal part of grits to help them not stick together as much. That worked but some still stuck together and fell together.
Pulled dirt on top of them with the garden rake targeting 1″ of cover. Tamped down the soil with the back of the hoe.
Partly cloudy day with the high being 83°. This sowing was in the afternoon when the row was about to go into the shadow of the pecan trees. The idea is they will have ~20 hours of cooler soil before a potentially hot mid-day tomorrow.
10/20/2020 – Ten days since the pre-sprouted seeds were sown and a few have popped up. Watered them daily during the hot part of the day, But, the soil temp rose to about 90° in the early afternoons.