Tue, May 01, 2012 · Filed under Seed starting, Veggies
It’s out of the moist paper germination environment, and into the wilder world of the cellpak. This is a baby golden cherry tomato—can’t you tell?!—going into standard sterile seedling mix of equal parts perlite, vermiculite and peat. As long as the root hasn’t gotten too long, I just plunk ‘em down, cover and water in, letting the roots find their own way down (a few years back, I probably would have made tiny holes and painstakingly inserted each one, but really, they seem to do that work a lot more efficiently). On a side note, I think I heard that perlite or vermiculite (maybe both) have made it into some people’s not-so-environmentally correct category, along with peat. So complicated—I will look into that. :)
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Thu, Sep 15, 2011 · Filed under Fieldwork, Summer, Tools, Veggies
The frost-warning forecast from a couple of days ago, for 1°C (34°C), moved up a day to tonight. so there’s row cover all over the field. Some of it was floated out against the possibility of frost, the rest, as so-far-effective deer deterrent. Up front, around 800′ of snap beans, just starting to form, are bundled up against the cold. Then, row cover over carrots, and farther, lettuce, has been in place for a few days, and seems to still be keeping the deer from munching. In the distance, peppers and eggplant are under frost protection. Elsewhere, we’ve covered a few beds of cherry tomatoes to prepare for tonight. Winter squash and pumpkins are mostly in, and summer squash and cucumbers are finished, and the rest out there are hardy enough, and that’s about it!
Tags:
beans,
carrots,
deer,
eggplant,
frost protection,
peppers,
pumpkins,
row cover,
summer squash,
tomato,
winter squash
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Fri, Sep 09, 2011 · Filed under Cooking & Eating, Summer, Veggies
Here’s a fairly unusual heirloom tomato: Yellow Stuffer. The name pretty much says it all, it’s an almost completely hollow tom, ready to be stuffed! As you can see, there are very few seeds in very little gel. I’ve grown these for a several years—this season, only maybe half a dozen plants—mainly for fun, all from the same original packet of seed. In a good year, they’re quite…striking: big and blocky, looking like a bell pepper. This year, they were just OK, not really sized up too big. I haven’t done much with them besides taste—they taste like…tomato—but I imagine with their thick walls, they’d be perfect to stuff with just about anything, and left raw or baked. Interested? Yellow Stuffer is indeterminate and late, about 80 days, and the seed is easy to find. There are quite a number of other stuffer varieties out there as well—here’s a
good article all about ‘em. And that’s that!
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Sat, Aug 27, 2011 · Filed under Market & Stand, Summer, Veggies
This is our second Saturday market with quite a solid harvest, both selection and quantity. Last week was fine, this week we’ve added the first of the fall spinach, also, an unexpected bushel of radish that sized up practically overnight, picked at the end of the day yesterday at the perfect maturity moment. For the record, we have: green onion (Ramrod), two kales (Red Russian, Nero di Toscana), green and yellow beans (Jade, Indy Gold), two carrots (Nelson, Touchon, mixed), radish (Rebel), cherry tomatoes (a mix of 7-8 varieties, hybrid and heirloom), Asian greens mix (mustards, mizuna, tatsoi, etc, our custom blend!), arugula, Swiss chard (Lucullus, a pale green heirloom), beet (Kestrel), salad mix (four varieties of lettuce), summer squash (Golden Dawn III, Baby Tiger and Raven zucchinis), cucumber (Fanfare and a few round heirloom Lemon), and spinach (Bloomsdale). For those who like lists!
Tags:
arugula,
Asian greens,
beans,
beet,
carrot,
cucumber,
green onion,
kale,
lettuce,
radish,
spinach,
summer squash,
Swiss chard,
tomato,
zucchini
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Mon, Aug 22, 2011 · Filed under Summer, Veggies
There are thousands of the tomatoes in the field now, and this Black Seaman is just one of ‘em, but a big, gnarly one that caught my eye. Didn’t weigh it, but was probably close to 2 lbs (900 g), and grew in a complete circle. Interesting! Most of the fruit are regular beefsteak shape. Anyhow, I gave this one away, and tasted another one at the same time: not bad, the usual complex “black” tomato taste, a little tart, not the best ever, but still…reasonably fantastic! By the book, Black Seaman is a mid-size (12-16 oz/340-454 g), mid-season, determinate, purple-black, potato-leaf, Russian heirloom—that’s what they say. It’s my first season growing them, waiting for more to ripen before PASSING JUDGEMENT. There you have it.
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Sat, Aug 20, 2011 · Filed under Market & Stand, Summer, Veggies
Friday’s harvest to Saturday’s market is the way it is! We still go direct from field to stand, with no cooler in between, and that seems to work out. And the stand itself hasn’t changed much in the last few seasons: raw cedar bins on boards on sawhorses, baskets up front, under the 10′x10′ E-Z UP canopy. What’s new is our latest in DIY veggie sign technology: the usual cards printed in marker with description and price, but now mounted with tape on long, thin coffee stir sticks, stuck right in with the produce. Anyhow, good weather, a decent turnout, a fine morning all round!
Tags:
Asian greens,
basil,
beans,
beet,
carrot,
cucumber,
farmers' market,
green onion,
kale,
market stand,
mesclun,
mint,
radish,
stand,
Swiss chard,
tomato,
zucchini
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