Hello all. As much as we enjoyed taking pictures for and writing our emailed newsletters, gardening events and projects have taken up all our time for the past couple of months. So again, here is another catch-up edition!

The amount of rain we have received so far this year is astounding. In June alone we had 8.8 inches, compared to the average 3.6. That’s over 5 inches extra! But this is a good news/bad news scenario. In gardening, you can never have all plants doing well at the same time. So this has been a banner cucumber year:

The cucumber wall

A morning’s harvest

But then you get this

Pole bean seedlings, succession planted after the peas, swimming in their raised rows.

 The peppers are doing great, they like high humidity.

 Banana Peppers

And although our 100 lbs of seed potatoes didn’t rot in the early spring in all that snow, the standing water has done in some of the mature tubers now. Fortunately we have lots! And wasn’t that some great zucchini and summer squash? Until the plants turned fuzzy overnight. We didn’t even get a chance to worry about squash borers, the plants never lasted long enough. But another succession of plants is already growing. This latest round of heat will make them mature quickly!
 

And the eggplant grew so fast that the flea beetles now can’t reach the top leaves. Also, we really stayed on top of the flea beetle repellant, making up a fresh hot pepper, garlic, and basil spray daily and dousing the plants in between rain drops. It paid off.

See the eggplant hiding in the bottom right corner?

The tomatoes, however, are not doing well. They do not like high rain amounts and humidity. Although we do not think the late blight has arrived yet (although according to various agricultural agencies it has already arrived in other states), we probably have one of the other tomato “issues”. We have picked off all the bottom leaves that were showing signs of problems, trying to prevent it from spreading to the entire plant. So far it appears to be working, but it makes the tomatoes look like palm trees!

And you may ask where are all the tomatoes from the bottom of the plant? We’d like to know too. Some varmint (groundhog likely) is getting through the electric fence and eating all the low lying fruit. And those that were not eaten had one or two bites taken out of them and left to rot on the vine. Open season on groundhogs will soon commence!

We learned our lesson last year with the beans. This year, almost as soon as the 1^st planting had sprouted we started another batch. That way when the bean beetles inevitably destroyed the 1^st planting (and they did) we would have more coming along as replacements.

2^nd succession planting of beans

The third succession planting has already sprouted and we are debating another. Will the pole beans be ready to take over in time or should we start that fourth succession? Decisions, decisions!

We hear thunder in the background, but steadily coming closer. You know what that means, more rain! Time to close up the barn and lock up the chickens.

Until next time,

Jeff and Sandra  

(We are updating our webpage. This is the June 8 newsletter.)

Are we still here on the MiniFarm? Yes we are, and with so many projects keeping us busy it seems like we have no time for anything else, like writing newsletters. So without further ado, here is the catch-up edition!

 How does your box grow? Beets, carrots, and lettuce sprouting in mid-April

 And the box now at maturity.

 

 The box garden continues to be fruitful. We have been harvesting lettuce and beets for several weeks now; the carrots should be big enough within the next couple of weeks.

An example of companion planting. The strong odor of the onions will mask the carrots and protect them from the carrot root fly.

 

 We hilled 100lbs of seed potatoes. That’s a lot of potatoes and a lot of hilling!  After the late winter scare of potential potato rotting under the snow the plants have been growing like crazy. We don’t think we’ve ever seen potato plants this tall!

Normally new potatoes are ready a few weeks after the potatoes bloom, around the end of June. We dug up a few tubers to check their size and to our amazement they are already sizing up! There will be new potatoes in next week’s baskets.

Speaking of new potatoes, a little bit of trivia. A new potato is the young tuber harvested early in the season while the plant is still green. It has a higher moisture level and lower level of starch than mature tubers.  This means it is sweeter (the sugar hasn’t converted to starch yet) and they are ideal for boiling as they keep their shape better than older, starchier tubers. But they are just as good using other cooking methods.

Size is not the only indication of a new potato. Check the skin. A true new potatoes skin should be so thin and fragile that it often scrapes off when washed. There is no need to peel these spuds!

Surprisingly, even with the cool weather our hot weather crops are moving right along. The tomatoes are all flowering and there are even some small, green fruit on the plants. 

Juliet tomatoes

The peppers are also flowering, and one of the cayenne plants also has fruit. Not enough for full shares, any volunteers for the first hot pepper? 

The pea pods have hit peak production and the cool weather and abundant rain have kept them sweet. You will be getting both varieties in next week’s basket.

Chinese pea pods                                                  

Sugar snap pea pods

The sugar snap peas (round pods with large peas inside) have been hailed as one of the greatest increases in garden productivity. A pea that you can eat it all-peas and pods! Cook just like the Chinese pea pods-either in a stir fry or boil for a few minutes until the color turns a darker green. These do have a bit of a string, so before cooking pinch off the stem end (I use a paring knife to make a small cut in the stem end) and then pull the stem and string off the pod. Or just eat them as a snack by hand and peel with your teeth. Yes, we really eat the pea pods as a snack, they are so sweet!

Unfortunately, the remnants of tropical storm Andrea finished off the strawberries. Two days of heavy rain instantly turned the sugar filled berries into fuzzy mold balls. It was a short lived run-but great while it lasted. Now we have to scrape red slime out of the rows.

Such a fleeting pleasure…..

The dill is making flower heads. Since we have other herbs coming along we will let them set seeds and then plant in the fall for another round of dill.

So this is the state of the MiniFarm. Wait, we didn’t get to show you the beans, and cucumbers, and squash, and leeks, and eggplants, and……

Well, all those will just have to wait for the next newsletter. Andrea has moved on, the sun is out, humidity is around 98% outside, and it’s time to start the next project.

Until next time,

Jeff and Sandra

(We are updating our webpage, this is the May 3rd newsletter)

 

Is that…broccoli?

 

Kale raab

No, this is kale raab. Kale, along with broccoli and cabbage, are all members of the Brassica family. And all will send up a flower shoot in the spring after overwintering. If it’s from broccoli, we call it (naturally) a broccoli head. But this year has been a revelation. Our overwintered Rainbow Lacinato kale is just bursting with flowers and tender greens. The cold winter weather has produced some exceptionally sweet florets. This will be a fleeting delicacy, the plants really want to do their business and set a seed head. But we will try to extend them as long as possible. Treat the raab like an extremely tender broccoli; it will cook very quickly. It’s great just sautéed in a little olive oil and garlic with some sea salt sprinkled on top. Try in a stir fry. Boil in water (again for only a few minutes), drain, and add a small pat of butter. Add to soups or in a frittata. Raw in a salad. It’s all good. If you are used to firm broccoli the florets will look a little wilted but that is normal; we think the taste is even better. Good thing because our fall planted broccoli meant for the spring got zapped by the cold. Kale is much hardier!

Another new crop will be the scapes of the Egyptian Walking onions. These are a variety of top setting alliums. Instead of forming a flower, they form little bulblets on the top. Eventually the weight of the bulblets would cause the top to fall over and the bulblets would root, thus causing the plant to “walk” across the garden! All parts of the plant are edible, we’ll start with the scapes and move on later to the bulblets and bulb. It is not as round as a regular onion, looking more like a shallot, but is quite pungent. Use these scapes as you would a green onion. In that stir fry with the Kale raab would be good. Chop up and mix in a tuna, chicken salad, or pasta salad, or over a baked or mashed potatoes for a zingy topping. Sprinkle in soup. In an omelet. The possibilities are endless.

Egyptian Walking Onion scapes

You will notice we have some new packaging. These plastic clamshells are meant to keep produce fresh in the refrigerator, as well as protect some of the more fragile crops. Let us know how they work out. Also, please help us keep our costs low and recycle by returning any that are in good shape with your basket the next delivery.

What we thought was a rough spring actually turned out for the best. No 90 F heat waves and plenty of moisture. And as we found out the late cold delayed the bolting of the fall planted crops such as Swiss chard and kale. Not to mention making them sweeter than ever! And the garlic? They are huge! By this time next week, the start of our Session I, we will have an abundance of fresh greens.

Chinese cabbage

Romaine lettuce

 But do we get to rest on our laurels? Of course not! We have already started working on the hot weather crops. The potatoes have gotten their first hilling to give the tubers plenty of room to form.

Hilled potatoes

 

Tomatoes are in the ground. Looking a little small, but we know once the hot weather hits they will be trying to take over the garden like last year! In the next week or two the really delicate hot weather plants such as peppers and eggplants will be transplanted. The 1^st succession of beans is also planted and has had the advantage of a nice soak to get them sprouting quickly. We’ve also done 2^nd and 3^rd succession plantings of the quick salad type crops such as lettuce and radishes to carry us through until the hot weather hits.

The chickens also seem to know to get ready. With the increased daylight they are all participating in the laying process. The broody hens eventually got over hogging the laying boxes, or maybe it was all the chickweed we used to entice them out. In any case we have plenty of eggs!

With the beginning of the 2013 season deliveries next week, we look forward to seeing our returning subscribers and greeting our new.

Until next time,

Jeff and Sandra

(We are just now updating our webpage! This is the April 22 newsletter)

One of the highlights of spring is the arrival of the hummingbirds.  These little friends have made their presence known by “humming” around their feeders.  It is funny to watch them during spring as they dart between all the flowers and then back to the feeder.  It is almost like a child in a candy store!  For those of you who have these active birds around, if you have the space put a feeder out for them. It is easy to make your own hummingbird nectar.

• Bring 4 cups water to a boil.
• Stir in 1 cup of sugar and stir, making sure that the sugar dissolves completely. 
• Let cool, put out in a hummingbird friendly container, and enjoy the show.

4 cups will fill two standard size hummingbird feeders. If you only have one feeder use 2 cups water and ½ cup sugar.  If you have more than one hummer, think about putting out a second feeder out if you have the space.  These birds are very territorial and will spend all their energy trying to fend off other hummers. And any other creature they view as intruders no matter the size!  I often get “strafed” by the birds when I venture too close to the feeders.

Honest, there really was a humming bird sitting there when I snapped the photo!

 The last frost can occur anytime between 2 weeks before or two week after the “last official frost date”. In this area frost date is April 15, giving the last frost a window between April 1 and April 30^th to occur.  Since the weather has been colder than usual we have decided to be on the cautious side and not transplant any hot weather plants until the later part of that window. Some years it seems like we may have lost some valuable growing time, but this year it paid off. Last night we had a hard frost. Had we planted any warm weather plants they would have been killed or severely damaged. I guess toting those trays of seedlings in and out every day has paid off. The already planted and acclimated cold weather crops shook off the frost without a problem.

Vivienne Romaine lettuce

In fact, some of them more than likely actually enjoyed it! The cool mornings will encourage the cold weather plants to continue growing leaves rather than starting to bolt and flower.


Overwintered Swiss chard

The potatoes are coming up nicely and in another week they should be big enough to hill. By piling soil, compost, and straw on top of the plants we give developing potatoes, which grow above the originally planted seed potato, even more room to grow. And also protect them from the sun which would cause them to turn green and become inedible.

Blue potato plant

Although we thought we would start the deliveries earlier than last year to take advantage of the strawberries and asparagus, Mother Nature decided to delay her season by about two weeks, so we are….right back at the same times as last year. If Mother Nature plays nice we are planning to start the week of May 6^th.  This would give us a season running from May 6^th to September 16^th, with the make-up week starting September 23^rd.  Unless we hear otherwise we will keep the same days and times as last year for each location. We will send individual confirmation letters out the week before deliveries start.

Until next time,

Jeff and Sandra

 (We are just now updating our webpage! This is the April 16 newsletter)

G’day all,

Finally, the weather is feeling like spring!

There have been some busy times here on the MiniFarm as we play catch up. Planting and tilling and getting the spring crops going at full speed.  It seems like every morning the growth of the plants doubles.


Is this the little mizuna I planted?

(To the tune of Sunrise, Sunset!)


Is this the baby bok choy?



Even the hot weather plants get to stay outside in the sun, but only during the day. The peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, basil, and okra (a new one for us) need the warm sun and exposure to breezes to harden off and grow sturdy stems. But, they cannot handle the cool temps of nights yet. So we bring hundreds of seedlings out in the morning and cart hundreds of seedlings back in at night.  This is not a favorite thing to do, almost as bad as weeding, but a necessary chore to properly prepare the plants for their future life outside. Oh, and also because our seedlings have definitely outgrown the seed starting lights!

One of two tables of seedlings.

We saw our first asparagus spear on April 10^th, and the crowns are now steadily increasing the number of spears a day. Don’t get jealous, but they are delicious! The more we pick, the more the plants will send up. The bed should be in full swing production within two to three weeks, just in time for our start of season. 

The strawberry plants are now loaded with blossoms. This has the potential to be an awesome year. Are you ready for strawberry shortcake?

Speaking of start dates, we should be able to announce the beginning of deliveries of the 2013 season by next week.  By the first or second week of May our spring crops should have grown enough to start harvesting.

Well, the sun has made an appearance today. Time to get back to work!
‘Till next time,

Jeff and Sandra