Summer spinach
Spinach in August is never a sure thing. Germination in the summer’s heat is a roll of the dice. Keep seeding, over and over, every few days, and the odds of catching the right conditions go up. When a seeding … Read the rest
Cherry toms and pandemic
It’s mid-August, the heights of summer, and the cherry tomatoes are doing their thing. I wonder if there’s an endless interconnectedness between all plants, a real, tangible networking, as with cellphones or the internet, and if there is (seems to … Read the rest
Late season harvest
Looking pretty good for the end of October. Classic cool-season crops include leaf lettuce, pointy cabbage, bok choi and kale. Plus, the summer-loving sweet peppers are still hanging in.… Read the rest
A bushel of Music
A bushel of Music garlic: The bulbs were significantly smaller than expected, for no reason I could point to, but the fine, strong flavor is fully there. Still plenty of time for planting, going by the 14-day weather forecast… Cause … Read the rest
Won’t give in to the cold
Lettuce, under a hoop-supported layer of medium weight row cover in the unheated greenhouse, is crisp, colorful, and fresh as daisies. This lettuce mix was planted in October, and some of it cut once in December, and now it’s waiting … Read the rest
Seedlings in January!
The earliest ever tomatoes experiment begins… Parts of the plan include a proven super-early variety, multiple seedling start dates, and the unheated greenhouse!… Read the rest
Winter farming in a nutshell
Winter farming in a nutshell: Sundown, New Year’s Day 2017, checking up on the greenhouse after a rattler of a windy night. The snowdrifts, the low-riding, fast-falling sun captured by plastic over hoops of steel – it’s all still here! … Read the rest