New veggie varieties for this year

Each year I like to try new varieties of the crop menagerie at the farm, and this year is no exception.  It is so hard to resist buying one of everything in the seed catalogs when it is stark, naked, winter, but better judgement must take over because there are only so many garden beds to be filled (although there are quite a few).  New varieties that will hopefully find their way into the members’ boxes this year include:

• Cauliflower, variety ‘Amazing’ from Johnny’s Selected Seeds
• Several new varieties of beans, including ‘Christmas’ heirloom seed passed along from a couple who have been long-time members of the farm; ‘Dragon Langerie’ from Pinetree; ‘Provider’, from Johnny’s; ‘Royal Burgundy’ from Pinetree
• ‘Red Ace’ Beets from Johnny’s
• ‘Nelson’ Carrots from Johnny’s
• Eggplant, varieties ‘Fairy Tale’, ‘Orient Express’ from Johnny’s
• Melons ‘Tasty Bites’ and ‘Sun Jewel’ from Johnny’s
• Snow peas, ‘Oregon Giant’ from Johnny’s
• Peppers ‘Lipstick’, ‘Sahuaro’, ‘Aconcagua’, ‘Marconi Red’ from Pinetree and Johnny’s
• Squash ‘Ambassador’, ‘Metro Butternut’, ‘Kabocha’, ‘Horn of Plenty’, ‘Cashflow’
• Tomatoes ‘Yellow Pear mini’, ‘Matt’s Wild Cherry’, ‘New Girl’, ‘Black Cherry’
• Rutabaga

Last year I attempted to grow Artichokes but our winter was just too cold and wet; it was one of those experiments anyway. 

The tried and true varieties are the staples of the gardens on the farm but it’s always fun to try new things each year.

Late winter “blues”

Here in Tennessee this winter has become one of the nastiest and coldest that I remember and much of the winter has been spent working inside.   Several projects have been completed inside the house, namely flooring and stair railing.

Yesterday was a late winter “blues gift” of blue skies and a beautiful day where one could get outside and do a few cleanup chores.

Protecting the chickens’ domain are two huge sycamore trees.  Anyone who has had the opportunity of sharing the same piece of ground with a sycamore tree knows how messy they are.  I renamed them “Stick-a-more” trees because I picked up a pile of sticks that was about 4 feet wide and 6 feet tall in no time at all.  I burned them on top of a stump I’m trying to get rid of that is in an area where I want to plant basil this season. 

I spent a while in the high tunnel cleaning out crops that just didn’t enjoy being in there over the winter.  Broccoli didn’t appreciate the cold temperatures so I put them out of their misery and into the chicken pen.  There was also one last bed of spinach in one of the outside gardens that the chickens enjoyed immensely.  I folded endless numbers of frost blanket and stacked them to be ready for unexpected frosts and finished pulling all the wire hoops, posts, and stakes out of the gardens in preparation for that day when suddenly the ground is dry enough to till.  That day seems like an eternity away right now because if you step off the pathways you just might lose your shoe!

The greenhouse is also getting busy.  Seeds have been started on propagation mats for a mesclun mix, lettuce, lots of onions, swiss chard, kale, and arugula.  I’ve also started seeds for an early tomato to be planted in the high tunnel just to see how early one can get a tomato here in this area.

Yesterday’s case of the “wintertime blues” was much welcome–I hope everyone else within shot of it got to enjoy the day as much as I did.

Quest for the homegrown artichoke, part 3

Quick update on the artichoke saga:  Part 1 was the selection and planting, Part 2 was the death of the first batch of seedlings (mice) and replanting. 

Every year I like to experiment with a vegetable that I haven’t grown before, and this year the lucky veggie was the artichoke.  A variety called “Imperial Star” was selected that reportedly tends to behave like an annual and make a “choke” in one season rather than two seasons.  The artichokes were planted and grew very well in the garden, but after a full summer in the garden, “no chokes”! 

Plan B will be implemented, carrying this experiment into yet another season.  I’ve read to let the plants go through the first hard killing frost, which is predicted for this weekend, then the tops are cut back to about a foot tall and a heavy mulch is applied.  I’m going to use a thick mulch of leaves then cover with hoops and a frost blanket, then a piece of plastic to keep everything dry.  Artichokes are hardy to 20 degrees and around here it gets below that many times during the winter, so if they don’t make it, there will be one more part to this series, to be called “How to Kill 30 Artichoke plants”—-OR there will be several more parts with recipes for how to prepare artichokes.  Let’s hope for the latter!

Saving tomato seeds

I’ve always been interested in saving seeds of vegetables that aren’t hybrids.  Tomatoes have got to be one of the favorite crops grown in any garden. General instructions on saving tomato seeds include the words “ferment” which is a little scary to me–that’s the last step before “rot”!

A friend of mine eased my fears from saving tomato seeds last year.  All you do is get a clean paper towel, cut the tomato, and SMEAR the seeds onto the paper towel.  If you can space them out a little bit, that works great because when you’re ready to germinate the seeds, all you do is “plant” the paper towel and voila!  Tomato plants

High Tunnel project at the farm

I remember hearing about the fall gardens going in at the White House and it kind of drew my interest so I watched the online video of the project, but being easily distracted as I am, I didn’t pay too much attention to the video because I noticed a popup ad from the USDA NRCS about a program for high tunnels, so that’s where I went.

Fast forward through all the phone calls, and stacks of paperwork,  and Wild Things Farm was approved for a 20’x96′ square foot high tunnel—whoohooo!

Progress on the high tunnel has been minimal throughout the summer because its priority fell behind the CSA produce, so it’s been slow, but steady.  Lo and behold yesterday the project was completed. 

The frame is from Grower’s Solution in Cookeville, TN.  It’s a great frame, met all the specs, and the price was reasonable.  Oh, and they delivered it for free (cute college guy in a pickup truck!)

The local NRCS person came out to the farm and helped me lay out the rectangle–he had surveying equipment that made it much easier. 

After that, I pulled strings, drove in the ground stakes (as straight as I could) then started assembling the bows and placing them in the stakes.  Attached to that is the 2×6 baseboard.   My friend Kim helped with some of the stake and bow project, but most of the job was just a minute or two here and there all season,  by yours truly. 

Once the bows were up, the purlin was to go on.  I looked at the diagram on the net on how to install the cross connectors, and I interpreted the purlin to be on top, right?  I get the whole purlin installed and I keep looking at it thinking that something just didn’t look right.  I’ve been in hundreds of greenhouses and never paid any attention. 

 

Okay, so I’m looking at the video and “uh-oh”, the purlin goes on the bottom.  Oh yeah, I was wondering how that big hump was going to work out with the plastic.  Under is much better 🙂  So, I get the ladder out again, go all the way through the greenhouse and move the purlin from on top to under. Lots of up and down and twisting with a rachet.   Lesson learned.

Several trips to the local Lowe’s  punctuated with spurts of carpentry work ended up being the ends of the house.  The doors are 6′ wide x 8′ tall, just inches larger than my tractor. 

The plastic goes on the ends first because the big plastic on the house is supposed to go on last, and they share the same wiggle wire channel along the end purlin.  I used clamps to hold the plastic in place while I adjusted and attached the plastic to the ends. 

Once the ends were on, it was time for the big  plastic.  The plastic made me nervous for some reason–I don’t know why, maybe because it’s SO BIG!  Several people offered to help, but when I got outside yesterday morning, it was like, really still, and I thought “oh what the heck; I’ve got 2 ladders and 4 clamps, let’s go for it!”

Lots of trips up and down the ladder, dragging it from end to end several times, twisting clamps, and 2-1/2 hours later, the plastic was on!  A slight breeze began to blow just as I was attaching the last side of the plastic–perfect timing!

The wiggle wire system is fun to use but makes my hands sore from so much gripping and pulling.  It tightens up the plastic very nicely.

The roll-up sides were another story.  I had a time getting the poles to roll up evenly from one end to the other.  I redid the first side 4 times before I was satisfied with the results.  The second side took only 1 try–thank goodness for small favors!  The black webbing holds the side in place while it is rolled up and down, and the webbing plus the weight of the pole holds it all in place during cold weather.  The roll up side sure cools off the inside of the house–it’s almost the same temp as the outside with the sides up–good decision to add that option.

 

It has changed the landscape of the farm, for the better, I think.  There’s already a pile of leaves outside ready to be placed around the crops and in the pathways, and 2 scoops of chicken manure inside ready to be tilled in–yeah!

Being a CSA farmer means very long hours for several months of the year, and a welcome break at the end of the season.

So WHAT WAS I THINKING?  High tunnel, extended season?

Why certainly!  After a full summer of intensively gardening  just over 4 acres, this little garden should be fun!  (Once I figure it out!)

Sun, moon, stars

Sun

Has anyone else noticed that the angle of the sun is really changing?  After several days of cloud cover the sun came out bright and cheery yesterday afternoon, but the angle is definitely changing. The shadows around the gardens are getting longer, and fall is my very favorite time of year so this is exciting to me!   The glass prisms in the south gable-end windows of the house are making rainbows in the livingroom again.  This only happens when the sun is at it’s “not-the-middle-of-the-summer” angle.

Moon

I’ve read all my life about planting “by the moon”, in a nutshell that would be above ground crops when the moon is getting full and below ground crops as the moon is going back down.  I’ve tried planting by the moon, but it’s just too darn dark!

Stars

So you’re thinking okay sun, moon, what about the stars?  This year a friend shared seed for an okra called “Star of David”.  Around here, folks are accustomed to “Clemson Spineless” okra which is harvested around 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 inches long, and it’s about 1/2 to 3/4 inches in diameter.  Any bigger than that and it’s tough.  Star of David is about the same length, but gets much larger around, about 1-1/2 inches in diameter. 

A trip to the farmer’s market revealed that people just don’t believe you when you tell them that okra that big is still tender!  It’s amazing how people get trapped in their little vegetable worlds and are afraid to try new things.   It’s one of those vegetables that was kind of fun to try, but I won’t waste my time on it again. 

 

Another twist on a traditional veggie that is being grown on the farm this year is “Fooled You” jalapenos.  I love jalapenos and the heat, but I know a lot of folks don’t like or can’t take the heat, so I just knew these would be a big hit.  Well, a trip to the farmer’s market showed me that the folks who like jalapeno peppers like the heat so they didn’t want any jalapenos that weren’t hot, and the folks who don’t like the heat don’t know how delicious a jalapeno pepper really is, and they didn’t want any, and frankly, they are afraid to eat something that looks just like its fiery cousin.  I will say that the CSA members were brave though, because they’ve given good reviews on the fooled you peppers–they make great salsa, are wonderful stuffed with cheese and baked, or just chopped up in a salad or stir fry.  It’s one of those vegetables that I will probably grow again next year, just not as many plants. 

One more twist on a traditional crop is a single serving watermelon.  I always hate to cut a huge watermelon because it takes up an entire shelf in the fridge and by the time it’s all gone I’m sick of it.  While perusing seed catalogs in the dead of winter (like going to the grocery store when you’re hungry) I came across seeds for a single serve watermelon.  Well, they grew pretty good, but the drought held most of them back to softball size and they were full of seeds, so that’s not something that will get space in the veggie gardens next year.  It’s sure fun trying new things though!

Gardening through a microscope

This year has got to be the year of the invisible helpers.  Bt (baccillus thurengiensis) has been in my arsenal of organic weapons for many years.  I use it on all the brassica family to control cabbage loopers.  There is another product I began using this year called “Serenade”, which is another bacteria that fights blights and fungus.  It’s being used on tomatoes every week to hopefully avoid the dreadful late blight that many tomatoes were plagued with last year. 

Another microorganism that I haven’t tried yet but have plans to this week is Spinosad.  It’s supposed to combat several kinds of beetles, including the Colorado Potato Beetle and flea beetles, two of my worst enemies. 

Several months ago I was contacted by a representative of TeraGanix, Inc.  She wanted to know if I would trial one of their products called EM-1.  This product is microorganisms that you apply to the soil and they feed on organic matter and in return nourish the crops.  I started the trial with the tomatoes.  There are about 13 different varieties of heirlooms and traditional tomatoes and I thought that would be a good way to see if this stuff really worked.  I planted three beds of tomatoes, two rows in each bed, approximately 320 plants total, and applied EM-1 to the bed on the left.  This photo was taken only 2 weeks after transplanting the tomatoes; everything was exactly the same except for the application of EM-1 on the left bed.

 

Pretty amazing, huh?  As you can see, the tomatoes on the left are much larger and greener than the other two beds.  I was amazed, to say the least.  I felt guilty for not giving the rest of the gardens the same boost so I ordered a gallon to give everybody a boost of micro-organisms.  I spent several hours today giving the other gardens a drink.  I used a hose-end sprayer for application.  It’s a really fascinating facet of the chain of life and if you would like to know the specifics of it, click on the link below to get it “from the horse’s mouth” (where did that stupid saying come from anyway, everyone knows horses can’t talk—oh I forgot, Mr. Ed).

http://www.teraganix.com/?Click=1891

Colorado Potato Beetle Blues

Does this insect not have any natural enemies besides humans?  The decision was made that this year the potatoes on the farm would be grown totally organically.   In years past I’ve always used a little conventional insecticide on the potatoes just so I would have some.  This year I’m experimenting.

Have you ever seen organic potatoes in the store?  I mean think about it….ever?  I haven’t.  These potatoes were fertilized with organic manure and hundreds of bugs hand picked and squashed.  I’m able to squash a potato bug larvae with my bare fingers now…..I think that means something in the gardening community.  Well, maybe not an official title, but my nanny used to squash bugs with her fingers and I thought it was gross.  It’s really not….it’s just handy sometimes. 

In one of the patches I walked through yesterday there were literally HUNDREDS of potato bugs on the plants.  I knocked them off with the magic bug smacking wand (sprayer nozzle) into the pathway, sprayed them with rotenone/pyrethrum, them stomped them.  I realized that in my fit I was killing them twice.  Okay, stop panicking–the potatoes in the rear bluff garden are doing okay–if I keep diligently spraying them. 

I think the price of organic potatoes should be based on the price of gold.  There’s probably just as much work goes into producing a bushel of potatoes in spite of this evil beetle as there is to mine more than an ounce of gold. 

Tomorrow the potatoes are getting sprayed with neem oil then dusted with diatomaceous earth.  We’ll see how the beetles like that congloberation.

So far, this has been a pretty buggy year.  At least it isn’t raining every day like it did last year!

Breaking Tradition-tomatoes

Everyone knows what traditions are.  Families have traditions at holidays, and there are certain ways that you’re just supposed to do things. 

Well, this year I broke a tradition that I’ve had for I can’t remember how many years–I think as long as I’ve been gardening.  Every year since I can remember, I’ve waited until the tomato plants were really too large to stake or cage.  I know there are others out there who are guilty, and you know too :).  It’s not a really bad crime, it just breaks a few stems and plants and in the really bad years, really small tomatoes fall off….but anyway, this year I got ahead.  The fence posts got driven, the wires pulled, and this year I’m trying out some handy-dandy velcro ties to hold the plants upright on the wires.  They are reusuable and if they work, very economical.  Easy to use, that’s for sure.  I just cut them into about 6 inch strips, loop around the stem and the wire, and voila, upright tomato. 

There are about 320 tomato plants in the garden this year, thanks to absolutely NO decent tomatoes last year due to the late blight (which hit early in the season, I might add).  I guess it’s kind of a withdrawal symptom to plant so many, but a friend provided seeds for about 13 different heirloom tomatoes plus the ones normally grown on the farm.  I learned how to make sun-dried tomatoes too, so lots of Romas were planted for that adventure. 

Today was really hot and on the way back from planting the second crop of corn, the dogs took a dip in the creek.

It looked and sounded so refreshing it was really hard not to jump in there with them!

After we got back to the house, peas had to be picked and chickens fed and put to bed.  The three big hens are still in the portable “tractor” so they can finish up the lettuce and spinach and other spring crops that are past harvest condition, and the 6 week old chicks are enjoying their new house and back yard…..

 I took pictures while the chicken house was being constructed.  That’s another story when there’s time to put it together!  Now, the sun is down so I can rest.

Scotch in the rocks, please

I’ve always had a fascination for moss.  I remember my grandmother had a root cellar that we always called the “dairy” that was a really scary concrete building dug back into the hill behind their house.  It was scary because I was a little girl and there were great humongous katydids all over the ceiling and saggy wooden shelves with all the canned vegetables and fruits that my nanny would preserve in the summer. 

Well, on the top of the dairy was my favorite place.  Moss would grow so well up there–I would collect all different kinds from the woods around the house then carry it up there and make different “rooms” in my imaginary house on the roof of the dairy.  I had to sneak up there though because she was afraid I would make ruts in the hillside climbing up there and cause it to wash out.  But I was always real careful (and sneaky). 

That fascination with moss has carried into my adulthood.   I’ve owned two books on moss, still don’t know the names of any of them, but still love it.  When I found this plant at the nursery I was really excited.  It’s called “Scotch Moss” and it’s not really a moss at all, but a plant that looks like moss.  I don’t have gutters on the house so I placed flat stones at the drip line to carry the water away from the house.  On the front of the house I saw the perfect scenario for a Scotch Moss garden. 

The Scotch Moss is blooming right now, with teeny tiny white blooms. 

The stones at the top of the picture (on the left side of the bed) are actually grinding stones (mortars) with grinding rocks (pestles) that were used by the Indians to grind up acorns, roots, berries, and whatever else they ground up to eat–they make a pretty cool border at the front entrance to the house. 

If you don’t have a spot where you can grow moss in the shade then try Scotch Moss, or the other one which is a darker green color, called Irish Moss.

Scotch in the rocks—-it’s really cool!