Thu, Oct 20, 2011 · Filed under Autumn, Farm lab (research!), Harvest, Veggies
This harvested parsnip root only hints at the massive root systems that plants have down there. Mature parsnips can root down to 9 feet (2.7m), and spread up to 3′ (0.9m) in the top 10″ (25cm) of soil. Other garden veggies are generally as impressive in the root department. When we harvest, most of the delicate root network is torn off, and we only get to see the bigger, tougher parts, the taproot or the root ball. This pic is from an old post I ran into, a flashback to Oct. 2008: there’s more words and another long-rooted-parsnip pic at Root love! (The arm-and-hand model is Lynn.)
Permalink
Tue, Sep 27, 2011 · Filed under Autumn, Harvest, Veggies
Red and orange peppers! It’d be nice if this was a normal sight, but with our short season and often as not inconsistent heat and sun—peppers love decent heat—peppers that fully turn color are fairly unusual in this market garden. Because they’re more uncertain, I’ve tended to give them lower priority, often transplanting them at the end of the queue, which doesn’t improve their chances. I also usually don’t mulch—peppers appreciate decent mulch of any sort (plastic especially, it’s so…efficient), the heated earth seems to really help them grow.
This year, we lucked out with the weather—unfortunately, we also planted the smallest amount of peppers ever. Oh, well, that’s how the garden gambling goes! Here we have Gypsy, a tapered hybrid that has a rather quick 65-day maturity, but takes longer to go from its pretty yellow-lime green starting color to…sweet red. I’ve grown this for a while, it always comes through, a tasty, prolific, all-purpose pepper that’s nice even when it’s not red. And then there’s the open-pollinated, heirloom Orange Sun, from seed I’ve had for years, a blocky bell pepper that needs a full 80 to 90 days, that I’ve seldom seen beyond its dark green initial color, now in a satisfyingly deep, rich orange. Taste changes with color, smoothing and sweetening—these guys are delicious!
Permalink
Wed, Sep 14, 2011 · Filed under Fieldwork, Harvest, Summer, Veggies
Brought in our compact collection of pumpkins today, ahead of likely frost this weekend. Never been big on pumpkins as far as quantity, but they are fun to have around. This year, some standards like Connecticut Field, a bunch of Small Sugar pie pumpkins—always handy—and one novelty type, Jamboree, in a fetching shade of greenish-grey-blue. Some went into the seedling room, the rest, under cover in the tiny greenhouse. One more fall thing done…and it’s still SUMMER!
Permalink
Fri, Sep 09, 2011 · Filed under Harvest, Summer, Veggies
Friday harvest. Each week, there’s usually one crop that kinda catches my eye: a perfect first cut of baby lettuce, lush green onions with straight white stems, or today’s chunky, crunchy bok choi (aka bok choy, pak choi). The variety here is Joi Choi, it’s worked out well over several seasons, slow to bolt, willing to roll with varying amounts of rain. This batch caught good conditions, with lots of sun and weekly rain. The stems are thick and crisp, and the leaves startlingly flea beetle unbitten, thanks to row cover and to the FBs dying down for the year. With minimal help…things worked out for these guys! Nice. More »
Permalink
Wed, Sep 07, 2011 · Filed under Harvest, Summer, Veggies
Brought in the first of the winter squash, an early variety of butternut (called…Early Butternut), Uchiki Kuri (orange, Japanese Hubbard-type), acorn and pasta. We didn’t grow a lot, a few 50′ beds, mainly for the weekly harvest shares and personal use. Curing here is usually not involved at all, just keeping them out of the fall cold, but this year, we may try high temperature/high humidity curing for some, not so much for improved storage, but for taste. More as we decide.
Permalink
Thu, Sep 01, 2011 · Filed under Harvest, Summer, Veggies
Dug up 40 lbs of Yukon Gold potatoes, to see how they were doing, and for this week’s harvest shares. Not a bad haul for 50′, planted late, at the end of June, but they still have some growing to do. We’re harvesting spuds in our usual labor-intensive way, with a digging fork, then scrabbling around by hand. Slow but fun. One drawback: with newer potatoes, scraping, prying fingers can tear up those delicate skins. Here, we did pretty well.
Permalink
