Comments on: Checking under row cover

By: Marnie

Marnie — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:39:15 +0000

Oh! I just commented on your pigweed “problem” last year - so glad you’re growing grain amaranth this year! I’ll await the results with baited breathe! And then, yes, you’ll want to weed out the lamb’s quarters because it will cross-pollinate very easily. And like I mentioned in the other comment - farmer’s market. Toronto. $5 for a small bunch. And it wasn’t vegetable amaranth, it was pigweed, the same that grows in my backyard. You know those Torontonians - they’ll buy anything if it’s hip ;-)

By: Mike (tfb)

Mike (tfb) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:45:03 +0000

cathy: Fertile soil is good! I always like the upside to things… ;)

Katie (Oakhill Organics): Yeah, especially on a day like today, just coming in from a thorough weed tour, adding up what needs to be done first, and how many hours and hours each bit will take, it doesn’t feel so tiny!! Your veggies look great! When I see farms and particularly market gardens like yours, I wonder a little about the soundness of what I’m doing. By “like yours,” I mean new small farms that’re striving for sustainability, crop diversity, the whole thing, but at a bit larger, more economically practical size. And that gets into tractors, which can be…electric tractors, but bigger machinery still. I have an ongoing debate with Bob here (old time farmer), running from Year 1, about how I should plant long rows (400′ instead of in 50′ beds), get an old tractor, and use it to scuffle between rows. This would knock off maybe 50% of the year’s labor for relatively very little investment. But I seem obsessed with this do-it-mostly-by-hand thing… I dunno… :)

Rick: Yes, the irony that is pigweed is not lost on me. The many flavors of amaranth. I’m growing some grain amaranth again this year, just a little for fun, and I’ve just been weeding pigweed from right beside a couple of decorative varieties of amaranth that I’m growing in the cut flower section. Last year, I tried a bed of vegetable amaranth for adding to salad mix. And they all look pretty much the same when they get started, just different colors and shades… Oh, well, I guess I could get rid of my weed problem in an instant by deciding it’s actually a crop. But I don’t think I’d have too many takers at the market…

Chris: Yep, the covers stay off. LUCKILY, I haven’t run into cabbage maggots, just the FBs…!

By: Chris DeVries

Chris DeVries — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:26:40 +0000

Do you leave the covers off the broccoli and cauliflower at this point? Do you not get cabbage maggots in them, or are they near enough to maturity? I have always had to keep the covers on to get decent broccoli or cauliflower.

Chris

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:40:15 +0000

That pigweed is also known as amaranth. When small it is sometimes included in salad green mixes. It gets tough and requires cooking to be palatable after it gets a bit bigger. Hint. Also it’s seed is quite high in protein and I am growing some this year as chicken feed. Bigger hint.

Rick

By: Katie (Oakhill Organics)

Katie (Oakhill Organics) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:41:47 +0000

just found your blog — it’s fabulous! although i’m not sure your farm is truly tiny at this point. 2 acres by hand sounds like a giant farm to me!

we cultivate five acres, but we use a couple tractors to do so. trade offs.

anyhow, happy farming!

By: cathy

cathy — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:53:28 +0000

your plants look good under the row cover better to have a few weeds than cucumber beetles ruining the plants…..pigweeds are an indicator of fertile soil.