Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Monday, September 16, 2013
Notes for 2014
Haven't been blogging, but I have been farming (a little, at least). Notes for myself for next year:
Need to figure out how to prevent/treat blight better. So frustrating to lose yet another crop of tomatoes.
Start the eggplant seedlings earlier and transplant earlier. This year's plants were so stunted that they've only just flowered. Protect the seedlings from flea beetles.
Row covers/some kind of row cover type protection for cauliflower/brussels sprouts to protect from cabbage moths. Also, apparently starting the seedlings when I did in 2013 gives you a fall crop. Not bad.
Take a break from winter & summer squash. Squash vine borers win this round.
More edamame, garlic, and onions!
Kale was awesome, next year do a mix and be sure to get some purple kale for color.
The perpetual spinach swiss chard is awesome.
Mexican sour gherkin cucumbers were tasty and lovely, but not productive.
Don't plant the poor peppers and eggplants in a bed where they'll be shaded and outcompeted.
Staggering green bean plantings does, in fact, make a big difference.
Red noodle poles beans are cool and worth growing again, Fortex is overrated.
Staggering carrot plantings is also a great idea. Planting April & July worked well.
Stagger fennel, too. A spring and a fall crop would be much better. Direct seeding fennel is fine.
Direct seed the cauliflower/broccoli and eggplants in the coldframes in late spring. Once it's warm enough to take off the covers, attach hooped row covers over the coldframes to protect from bugs (pvc pipe with fabric clothespinned to the pipe to stay attached).
Need to figure out how to prevent/treat blight better. So frustrating to lose yet another crop of tomatoes.
Start the eggplant seedlings earlier and transplant earlier. This year's plants were so stunted that they've only just flowered. Protect the seedlings from flea beetles.
Row covers/some kind of row cover type protection for cauliflower/brussels sprouts to protect from cabbage moths. Also, apparently starting the seedlings when I did in 2013 gives you a fall crop. Not bad.
Take a break from winter & summer squash. Squash vine borers win this round.
More edamame, garlic, and onions!
Kale was awesome, next year do a mix and be sure to get some purple kale for color.
The perpetual spinach swiss chard is awesome.
Mexican sour gherkin cucumbers were tasty and lovely, but not productive.
Don't plant the poor peppers and eggplants in a bed where they'll be shaded and outcompeted.
Staggering green bean plantings does, in fact, make a big difference.
Red noodle poles beans are cool and worth growing again, Fortex is overrated.
Staggering carrot plantings is also a great idea. Planting April & July worked well.
Stagger fennel, too. A spring and a fall crop would be much better. Direct seeding fennel is fine.
Direct seed the cauliflower/broccoli and eggplants in the coldframes in late spring. Once it's warm enough to take off the covers, attach hooped row covers over the coldframes to protect from bugs (pvc pipe with fabric clothespinned to the pipe to stay attached).
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Potato bugs
They're here, and the larvae have hatched. No pictures, but trust me, they are as gross as ever.
Also, the cucumber beetles have stepped up their game.
Organic gardening is a real challenge for this farmer who hates bugs.
Next year, I think I'll do individual hot cap type protection for my most vulnerable plants (broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, eggplant, squash) rather than row covers.
Also, the cucumber beetles have stepped up their game.
Organic gardening is a real challenge for this farmer who hates bugs.
Next year, I think I'll do individual hot cap type protection for my most vulnerable plants (broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, eggplant, squash) rather than row covers.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
OMG, I thinned the carrots!
And it's just as exciting and monumental as the title of this post indicates. I've been terrible about thinning out my carrots in the past, but this year, I actually made it out into the garden and did what I believe is a very fine job getting them all straightened out. The thinning was desperately needed, as I had monster clumps of carrots starting. So I thinned the carrots (and to a lesser extent, the parsnips) to about 2 inches apart. While I was on a roll, I also thinned my squash, beets and kale, and added a few more fennel seeds to try to fill in the empty spaces in that bed. We are relatively on top of the weeds this year, and while my eggplants are still struggling against the predation of the flea beetles, the garden dust has helped and I think they may pull through. We've also had a good amount of rain this week, and so I haven't had to water. Mike has been regularly giving compost tea to the asparagus, tomatoes, eggplants, and to the trees, and that seems to make them noticeably perkier and greener.
On the pest front, I've made tin foil collars for my brussels sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, eggplants, and peppers, and that has helped tremendously with the cutworms. I've also been using garden dust on the eggplants, broccoli and cauliflower. The potato bugs are here, so I've been hand picking them and their eggs, and dreading the emergence of the larvae. Today I noticed the first herd of cucumber beetles, who are going to town on my squash, so I'll have to do something there.
Speaking of trees, we have deer nibbling on the apple trees. Apparently even though we added a third dog, they have done nothing to deter deer. Weird, since they're all fantastic at barking at the wind....So Mike has purchased some deer repellent, and is hoping that it will work.
On the pest front, I've made tin foil collars for my brussels sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, eggplants, and peppers, and that has helped tremendously with the cutworms. I've also been using garden dust on the eggplants, broccoli and cauliflower. The potato bugs are here, so I've been hand picking them and their eggs, and dreading the emergence of the larvae. Today I noticed the first herd of cucumber beetles, who are going to town on my squash, so I'll have to do something there.
Speaking of trees, we have deer nibbling on the apple trees. Apparently even though we added a third dog, they have done nothing to deter deer. Weird, since they're all fantastic at barking at the wind....So Mike has purchased some deer repellent, and is hoping that it will work.
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| Fennel |
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| Snap peas are coming! |
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| Shell peas, spinach, snap peas, and pole beans |
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| Edamame (front) and green beans |
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| Tomatoes |
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| Eggplants in their tin foil collars |
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| Close-up of the sad, dusted eggplants in their collars |
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| Walking onions |
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| Shallots - apparently they really can't take a joke about being transplanted |
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| Makeshift hotcap for a particularly delicate brussels sprout |
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| Broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts |
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| Glorious potatoes |
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| Parsnips and carrots, pre-thinning |
Friday, June 14, 2013
Salads galore
No time this morning for pictures, but the garden is going like gangbusters. We've been feasting on salads with our own arugula, mesclun mix, spinach, and radishes, and have been cooking with our own herbs, for a few weeks. The harukei turnips are ready and have been amazingly tasty. I've been roasting the turnips, and using the greens in egg scrambles and stir-fries. Yum! The shelling peas are setting flowers, potato plants are getting ready to flower, and everything for spring/summer is now planted and (mostly) germinating.
The bug issues have started (flea beetles and cutworms, I'm looking at you), and I had to replant my eggplant row because the flea beetles completely ravaged my first set. Good thing I started such an excessive number of seedlings! We've been spraying with neem oil to try to fend off the flea beetles until the plants get better established. I've also had several plant losses to cutworms (two marigolds, an eggplant, two chinese broccoli plants), which just make me angry because those pests don't even eat the plants. They seem to just be destructive because they can, and it's totally getting under my skin. I've also seen a few potato bug eggs on my eggplants, but none so far on the potatoes.
Yesterday I tackled weeding the shallot bed, which I had covered with a row cover and then ignored for six weeks. Apparently, that's really great for weed development, so that project took a while. I also realized that I hadn't fully separated my shallot cloves, so I had to dig, separate, and re-plant them. I went from having what I thought was 1/3 of a bed's worth of shallots to filling an entire bed, plus two other quarter beds. At least we like shallots.
The brussels sprouts and cauliflower/broccoli seedlings that I started are still so sad, so I bought supplemental brussels sprouts at the farmer's market this week. I'm still going to plant some of my own, but I think I'll need to cover them with milk cartons to give them a fighting chance, and still don't have high hopes.
The bug issues have started (flea beetles and cutworms, I'm looking at you), and I had to replant my eggplant row because the flea beetles completely ravaged my first set. Good thing I started such an excessive number of seedlings! We've been spraying with neem oil to try to fend off the flea beetles until the plants get better established. I've also had several plant losses to cutworms (two marigolds, an eggplant, two chinese broccoli plants), which just make me angry because those pests don't even eat the plants. They seem to just be destructive because they can, and it's totally getting under my skin. I've also seen a few potato bug eggs on my eggplants, but none so far on the potatoes.
Yesterday I tackled weeding the shallot bed, which I had covered with a row cover and then ignored for six weeks. Apparently, that's really great for weed development, so that project took a while. I also realized that I hadn't fully separated my shallot cloves, so I had to dig, separate, and re-plant them. I went from having what I thought was 1/3 of a bed's worth of shallots to filling an entire bed, plus two other quarter beds. At least we like shallots.
The brussels sprouts and cauliflower/broccoli seedlings that I started are still so sad, so I bought supplemental brussels sprouts at the farmer's market this week. I'm still going to plant some of my own, but I think I'll need to cover them with milk cartons to give them a fighting chance, and still don't have high hopes.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Garden in pictures, as of Memorial Day Weekend
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| Sad purple cauliflower plants 5/28/2013 |
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| Sad mystery broccoli/cauliflower plants 5/28/2013 |
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| Harukei turnips (back), mesclun mix (front) 5/28/2013 |
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| Radishes (center) and kale (technically both sides...) |
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| Asparagus and rhubarb |
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| Fennel seedlings |
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| Shelling peas, spinach, and snap peas |
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| Radishes |
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| Garlic |
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| Herb bed |
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| Front view of the garden |
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| Red raspberry plant |
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| Golden raspberry plant |
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| Expanded orchard! You can't really see them, but there are lots of baby trees there |
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| Blackberry plant |
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| One of the new apple trees (Winekist) |
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Planting timeline for 2013
Every year I think about how helpful it would have been if I'd kept track of when I planted everything the previous year, so this is the year that I'm going to take my own advice and keep that log.
April 6, 2013 (indoors) - NEXT YEAR, START EGGPLANT/BROCCOLI/CAULIFLOWER EARLIER
Eggplant
Tomatoes
Cauliflower (purple, yellow)
Romanesco broccoli
Broccoli blend
Fennel
Basil
Zinnias
Chinese lantern flowers (total duds - it took 3 weeks for anything to germinate, and as of now, I have two puny plants)
Marigolds
Nasturtiums
April 29, 2013 (indoors) - NEXT YEAR, GET THE BRUSSELS SPROUTS STARTED EARLIER
Brussels sprouts
Second round of Chinese lantern flowers (still duds, no germination yet)
Morning glories
April 20, 2013 (direct seeding)
Shelling peas
Snap peas
Space spinach
Radishes
Harukei turnips
Chioggia and golden beets
Kale
Shallots
Scallions
April 27, 2013 (direct seeding)
Carrots
Parsnips
Potatoes
Fennel (direct seeded)
Lettuce
More beets
Kohlrabi
Strawberry spinach (never germinated)
May 4, 2013 (indoors)
Melons
May 21, 2013
Moved the eggplant, tomatoes, basil, fennel, and flowers out to the cold frame to harden off (then it rained and was cold all week and the cold frames didn't open for six days...)
May 27, 2013 (direct seeding)
Winter squash (sweet mama, nutty delica, and Uncle David's Dakota)
Cucumbers
Bush beans
Pole beans
Edamame
More beets, lettuce, and harukei turnips
More kale
Swiss chard
Pattypan squash
Purple basil (direct seed)
As noted above, next year I need to start my indoor seeds earlier. The tomatoes, fennel, flowers, and basil are fine timewise, and eggplant is borderline big enough to go out, but the brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower are all puny and not at all ready for the big garden beds. I have to say, I'm finding it much more difficult than I anticipated to get cauliflower going from seed. If the plants don't take off this year, I may take a break from trying to do them again next year. My poor seedlings look absolutely pathetic, and I don't have high hopes that they'll make it.
In terms of garden productivity, my rhubarb plants are thriving, and I did my first big harvest this weekend. I cut four pounds, mostly just to try to make a little room for the poor crowded out strawberry plants. This weekend I'd like to make some strawberry rhubarb and blueberry rhubarb jams, and I am very tempted to make rhubeena and learn how to use that in tasty summer cocktails. This past weekend we had our first salad with our own arugula, chives, and tiny radishes - by far the earliest that we've had a real harvest. Soon the mesclun lettuce will be ready, too, and the first planting of harukei turnips should also be ready to harvest within the next couple of weeks.
We have to figure out a better way to make the floating row covers work. They are already shredding, and the only way to keep them intact seems to be not to move them at all, which of course makes weeding a bit of a challenge. I haven't hilled the potatoes yet, which are HUGE, solely because I don't want to touch the row covers and risk yet another infestation of my nemeses, the potato bugs. I think that if we weight the row covers down rather than attaching them to the beds/anchors, that should work better, but that also means we need wider fabric, so I've got to track that down.
Shelling peas
Snap peas
Space spinach
Radishes
Harukei turnips
Chioggia and golden beets
Kale
Shallots
Scallions
April 27, 2013 (direct seeding)
Carrots
Parsnips
Potatoes
Fennel (direct seeded)
Lettuce
More beets
Kohlrabi
Strawberry spinach (never germinated)
May 4, 2013 (indoors)
Melons
May 21, 2013
Moved the eggplant, tomatoes, basil, fennel, and flowers out to the cold frame to harden off (then it rained and was cold all week and the cold frames didn't open for six days...)
May 27, 2013 (direct seeding)
Winter squash (sweet mama, nutty delica, and Uncle David's Dakota)
Cucumbers
Bush beans
Pole beans
Edamame
More beets, lettuce, and harukei turnips
More kale
Swiss chard
Pattypan squash
Purple basil (direct seed)
As noted above, next year I need to start my indoor seeds earlier. The tomatoes, fennel, flowers, and basil are fine timewise, and eggplant is borderline big enough to go out, but the brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower are all puny and not at all ready for the big garden beds. I have to say, I'm finding it much more difficult than I anticipated to get cauliflower going from seed. If the plants don't take off this year, I may take a break from trying to do them again next year. My poor seedlings look absolutely pathetic, and I don't have high hopes that they'll make it.
In terms of garden productivity, my rhubarb plants are thriving, and I did my first big harvest this weekend. I cut four pounds, mostly just to try to make a little room for the poor crowded out strawberry plants. This weekend I'd like to make some strawberry rhubarb and blueberry rhubarb jams, and I am very tempted to make rhubeena and learn how to use that in tasty summer cocktails. This past weekend we had our first salad with our own arugula, chives, and tiny radishes - by far the earliest that we've had a real harvest. Soon the mesclun lettuce will be ready, too, and the first planting of harukei turnips should also be ready to harvest within the next couple of weeks.
We have to figure out a better way to make the floating row covers work. They are already shredding, and the only way to keep them intact seems to be not to move them at all, which of course makes weeding a bit of a challenge. I haven't hilled the potatoes yet, which are HUGE, solely because I don't want to touch the row covers and risk yet another infestation of my nemeses, the potato bugs. I think that if we weight the row covers down rather than attaching them to the beds/anchors, that should work better, but that also means we need wider fabric, so I've got to track that down.
Friday, May 24, 2013
Gearing up for the big farming weekend
Memorial Day weekend is upon us! This has traditionally been our big planting weekend to get everything out in the garden. It's supposed to be a wet weekend, but I think we'll go ahead with most of the planting anyway. I have the eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower, flowers, and tomatoes and Chinese broccoli (these last two from my friends - it's so nice to have others to swap with!), all out in the cold frames. They haven't really been hardening off much out there since it's been so wet and dreary and the frames have mostly stayed closed, but this still is more of a hardening off effort than I've made in either of the past two years.
The seeds that we directly sowed in the garden are doing really well, for the most part. My strawberry spinach didn't germinate at all, which was disapointing but probably inevitable since the seed packet was quite clear that they needed to stay moist, and I neglected to water (and the skies neglected to rain - I'm willing to share the blame here). But my arugula, beets, turnips, radishes, lettuce, regular spinach, peas (snap and shelling), shallots, garlic, scallions, and carrots and parsnips are all coming up. The kale is a little iffy, I think I'll direct seed some more with the chard this weekend.
I'm hoping to hit up the farmer's market tomorrow to round out my seedlings, but if it's a total downpour, I may just go to Skillins on Sunday and hope that they have everything I need. It was great to do a mini seedling swap with a few of my friends, and now I just need:
5-7 more tomato plants (mostly paste, with 1-2 more cherry/slicing if there are cool varieties available)
peppers (3 bell peppers, 3 jalapenos, 2 poblanos)
Herbs for the cold frame (rosemary, thyme, oregano, chives, parsley)
Herbs for the herb bed (parsley)
And now, pictures!
The seeds that we directly sowed in the garden are doing really well, for the most part. My strawberry spinach didn't germinate at all, which was disapointing but probably inevitable since the seed packet was quite clear that they needed to stay moist, and I neglected to water (and the skies neglected to rain - I'm willing to share the blame here). But my arugula, beets, turnips, radishes, lettuce, regular spinach, peas (snap and shelling), shallots, garlic, scallions, and carrots and parsnips are all coming up. The kale is a little iffy, I think I'll direct seed some more with the chard this weekend.
I'm hoping to hit up the farmer's market tomorrow to round out my seedlings, but if it's a total downpour, I may just go to Skillins on Sunday and hope that they have everything I need. It was great to do a mini seedling swap with a few of my friends, and now I just need:
5-7 more tomato plants (mostly paste, with 1-2 more cherry/slicing if there are cool varieties available)
peppers (3 bell peppers, 3 jalapenos, 2 poblanos)
Herbs for the cold frame (rosemary, thyme, oregano, chives, parsley)
Herbs for the herb bed (parsley)
And now, pictures!
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| My lovely new coldframe! |
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| Romanesco (back left), cauliflower, fennel and tomato seedlings in the coldframe 5/20/2013 |
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| Basil, nasturtium, and eggplant seedlings in the coldframe 5/20/2013 |
Monday, April 22, 2013
Seeds in the ground
We had an amazingly productive weekend, in large part due to a very helpful visit from my parents, and Mike's passion for all things tractor-related. On Sunday, Mike put in the black and red raspberries, and my mom helped me weed the garden and plant our first set of cool weather crops. Taperman assisted by entertaining Landon - a crucial job.
In the garden, we now have shelling peas, snap peas, spinach, radishes, arugula, chioggia and golden beets, harukei turnips, kale, shallots, and scallions all tucked into their beds. This is by far the earliest I've managed to do any direct seeding, and I hope that means that I'll start getting some good harvests by early summer.
In total for the orchard, we planted 15 fruit trees, 9 hills of blackberries, and 20 red raspberry canes and three four-cane hills of black raspberries. Next weekend I'll plant carrots, parsnips, and potatoes.
In the garden, we now have shelling peas, snap peas, spinach, radishes, arugula, chioggia and golden beets, harukei turnips, kale, shallots, and scallions all tucked into their beds. This is by far the earliest I've managed to do any direct seeding, and I hope that means that I'll start getting some good harvests by early summer.
In total for the orchard, we planted 15 fruit trees, 9 hills of blackberries, and 20 red raspberry canes and three four-cane hills of black raspberries. Next weekend I'll plant carrots, parsnips, and potatoes.
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| Hello garlic! |
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| Prepping for red raspberries |
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| Yes, Gramps - it's much better to see the chickens up close! |
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| I'll take that, thank you very much |
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| Farming buddies |
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Is there a 12 step program for people who buy too many fruit trees?
If there is, then you should sign us up. Immediately. Today Mike put his new tractor, with its fancy post hole digger, to good use, and we planted 15 fruit trees, and 9 blackberry bushes. Tomorrow we do raspberries. It may be excessive, but it was also very exciting (if we're being honest, I think that Mike and Landon were mostly excited about all of the tractoring, but still, excitement was there). Mike has done so much work getting the land for the expanded orchard yesterday, and it's wonderful to see the plan starting to take shape.
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| Mike putting in the first tree of the day |
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| Adding pea stone to act as mulch |
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| Soaking the bare roots in agri-gel |
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| Mom multi-tasking! While he looks very still in this picture, Landon spent most of the time trying to jump out and play with the water. |
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| Bare-root trees in the box |
Tomorrow will be our first outdoor planting day in the garden! It's been cold here for the past few weeks, and we've been dealing with some sad personal events, so I postponed my original planting plans. Tomorrow, though, my parents are going to come to help wrangle Landon, and I'm planning on planting my peas, radishes, scallions, shallots, kale, turnips, carrots, beets, and endive. We're also going to put in the raspberry bushes. Well, some of the raspberry bushes. Since I had that whole golden raspberry impulse buy situation we'll have another round once those arrive. I'd say "and then we'll stop," but even I don't believe that. Maybe after next year (with the blueberries, elderberries, and kiwi), then we'll stop.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
We've got germination
(This video only seems to want to go to the top of the post, but you know what, that's fine. It's adorable and tangentially farming related).
All signs are pointing to this being the year that we actually come up with a thoughtful plan for the garden, and then follow it. The seedlings are germinating beautifully in the mudroom, Mike has been working hard to clear out more land to expand the orchard, and even the baby has helped in the efforts. Tomorrow we're hitting up Skillins to look at floating row covers, and we may even start to do some planting outside. When I checked the beds this morning the soil temperature was only 40-45, so I'm not feeling behind despite the fact that I haven't gotten anything in the ground out there.
Our 13 new trees, plus raspberry and blackberry plants, arrived earlier this week, and they're all hanging out in the barn, to be planted hopefully this weekend. Mike upgraded from a lawn tractor to a real (small) tractor, but the post-hole digger attachment hasn't arrived yet so the orchard plans are on hold for a few more days. In the end, this is good, as we realized today that we need to take down two more trees where the orchard is going, and were able to better plot out where the fruit trees will be. Plus, we used a sledgehammer to drive in the stakes to mark the future tree locations, and the baby thought this was absolutely hilarious.
I missed one tree in our Fedco order, and we found one last apple variety that we'd like to try, too, so next year in addition to starting the blueberries and elderberries, we'll also be getting a Frostbite apple and Cox's Orange Pippin apple. And then we'll be done with apple trees.
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| Eggplant seedling tray - not much was happening this morning, but when I just checked, it looked like they have started germinating. Phew! |
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| Fennel and basil |
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| Broccoli and cauliflower |
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| The flower tray - marigolds, zinnias and nasturtiums |
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| Second eggplant tray. Again, not much happening yet. |
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| Land that we've been clearing for the orchard. That big tree in the middle comes down this week. |
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| Bearcubs eating one of the little trees that Mike knocked down |
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| Clearing out space for the blackberries. He got stuck. But then he got to use his truck to pull his tractor out, and it was awesome. |
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