All posts tagged with "brassicas"

More hands on deck

All-new organic grower returns

Conall, the all-new organic grower, is back after being unexpectedly called away two and a half weeks ago. That happened after we’d worked together for seven days straight. For me, making the transition from essentially solo tiny farming to having regular help was that quick. Having everything bouncing around in your head, with little need to explain it, is a luxury and efficiency of sorts. On the other hand, if you have people who you can sync with, sharing the gardening in an ongoing way seems like even more fun. And you can grow MORE STUFF with LESS WEEDS!! :) It’s a really welcome return. FREAK FROST: Three nights ago, according to the min/max thermometer, the temperature bottomed at a little below 0°C (and there was no reported cold snap or hard killing frost), but some of the brassicas (Brussels sprouts—see the whitish spots on the leaves on the right of the pic, bok choi, cauliflower) and two out of three varieties of peas got fairly toasted, burnt by the cold. Many of the pea leaves were totally killed off. I only noticed the extent of the brassica damage when we took off the row cover today. This is something I’ve never seen, and Bob, with 40 years of farming, hadn’t either, especially with peas, which can grow in the snow. The additionally odd thing is that some varieties (one of the peas, broccoli) weren’t affected at all. These are all plants that can normally take an overnight freezing and bounce back no problem—temperatures around zero should be nothing. Weird. My random theory: a very rapid temperature drop, many degrees in a few minutes, that didn’t give the plants enough time to adjust…? Anyhow, everything’s recovering just fine! The crazy weather effects continue…

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Heading out…

Greenhouse action

The cold spell seems to be broken, the nights are going down to zero F instead of -10. Time to start moving the main act to the hoophouse. First out, some hardy brassicas: a tray each of broccoli and bok choi, and a mixed tray including some parsley that I set out a couple of days ago as an extreme cold test. This is my first year for early season brassicas, so I’m a little cautious, although I’m well familiar with their general hardiness in the fall. These probably could’ve been out earlier. In front of the table, the lettuce, with the carnage renewed. Overnight, the voles tore apart another 10 seedlings, and I noticed they’d eaten the growing points off another dozen of the red lettuce, taking the toll to 30-40, depending on whether a few recover. Measures, as in, more strategically positioned snap traps and filling in the perimeter, have been taken. In any case, no worries, there’s lots more on the grow! OK, sitting beside the trays on the table, there’s the Heater, intended for construction sites and the like, which hooks up to a regular BBQ propane tank and provides a good amount of heat for surprisingly little gas. It’s not needed yet, but when the tomatoes and other tender guys come out, it will likely be on at night.

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