The Great Scape

If you planted a hardneck garlic variety last fall, you might have started to notice weird curly tendril-like growths coming out of your plants. If you haven't already, you'll want to snip those off at some point. They are called garlic scapes, and will turn into a cluster of bulbils (mini garlic bulbs), and letting them grow will sap the garlic bulbs growing underground of energy and make them smaller up on harvest. The time to snip them is when they grow into a full circle, although some say you can pick them earlier. Last year, I picked mine when they first started coming out, and the plants sent out a second scape, which further sapped the bulbs of energy. So I waited until they were fully curled this year.

Scapes in the garlic patch.

One scape, freshly picked.

After you pick them off, not only will your hands smell like garlic all day if you neglected to wear gloves (as I did), but you might wonder what you should do with the scapes. Sure, you could compost them, but if you are growing garlic, chances are you're a garlic lover, and scapes are most definitely edible.

Several scapes ready for preparation.

I think of garlic scapes as a garlic version of green onions; they taste of mild garlic instead of onion, but have a fresh "green" flavor. They are good in almost any scenario that a green onion tastes good in, but they are unique and can be used in other sorts of recipes. I've cut them into 1/2" pieces and adding them to green salad, potato salad, and pasta salads. They are great in a stir fry. I've seen recipes for pesto and other sauces. Really, the only limit to using scapes is your imagination. So don't let them go to waste!


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Here are some up-to-date pictures of my garden. We had almost a straight month of rain, so my tomato plants are fairly stunted, as are the peppers and eggplants. One of my coworkers mentioned that her tomatoes were almost three feet high, because she kept them under row covers. Next year, next year. My hopes for this summer aren't dashed yet, though. The sun has come out for three days this week, and the weather forecasters seem a bit more optimistic of late. We've got plenty of summer left!

Here is the garden from the same perspective as previous pictures. It looks pretty good, despite the cool weather. Peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, and other warm-weather-loving crops could definitely be doing better, though.

Tomatoes - the big "ringer" plants are doing great (we've had a few cherry tomatoes off two of them already!). The smaller heirlooms which I started myself are doing variably well - some are large, but several are very tiny (my Green Grape is one inch tall, but somehow hanging in there) and about 8 plants died. Luckily, the "up for grabs" table in the cafeteria had some tomato seedlings on it this morning, plus a couple of Goldie husk cherry seedlings, of which I have one growing (you need two for pollination).

The potatoes LOVE rainy, cool weather. I need to get more compost to fill the cans to the top - they really took off while I was away for a week. So far I'm pleased with the cans, but these will be some expensive potatoes - my yields better justify the costs.

The beans are starting to tendril up the trellis. On the left side of the two A-frame trellises, you can see little cucumber plants - they need some sun, 'cause I want to make pickles!

Squash on the left side of the trellises, peppers in front. These plants are stunted too, but have grown almost visibly in the couple of sunny days we had this week. Soon they'll send up tendrils and climb.

This is my first year growing sweet potatoes. The slips were very tiny, and I think the rain has helped them get a good footing in the garden. They are starting to leaf out, and I imagine they'll start to run (vine out and take over) soon - I'd better set up another trellis! And there's Mr. Slug (or one of his myraid relatives) in the background, heading for a snack. I have quite a few slugs in my garden, but they don't do much harm. We also have plenty of catbirds and sparrows and starlings in the yard, and I think they do a good job keeping the slug population at bay.

The onions, shallots, and, of course, garlic are all doing well. Tomatillos and eggplants in the foreground could use a little more warm weather. Let's hope it's on its way.

I hope you're all having good luck in your gardens!!

Photos from the Farm

Cultivating with the Reigi Weeder

Pruning Tomato Suckers

Spraying Tomato Trials

More Spraying Tomato Trials

Chopping Green Manure

Cultivating

Spraying Onion Trials

Weeding Onion Trials

What's New At The Farm? 7/08/09

The weather has finally broken; it's about time. The crops need lots of heat and sunshine to catch up to where they should be by now. We've gotten enough rain for quite some time but now we really need to dry out the ground. (I wrote this Monday morning; now it's Tuesday afternoon and raining again!)

I planted about five acres of oats and annual alfalfa three weeks ago Thursday and that was the last time we could get on the ground. Luckily we cultivated all the crops before this wet spell or we'd be in real trouble. The oats/alfalfa is doing really well and will really kick in with the growing once the weather warms up. The mix should get a foot and a half tall this summer. We'll mow the oats late summer and give the alfalfa a chance to get some decent growth before cold weather.

So, you might ask what we do in all that rainy weather. We work in the fields like any other weather. We cultivated last week, and although it didn't kill a lot of weeds, it did set them back a few days. Tomatoes can be trellised and we've got lots of tomatoes this year! Weeds too large to be cultivated can be pulled by hand. Here's an interesting side note that goes along with my last statement: Weeds pulled up in the rain must be put on the plastic or removed from the field to prevent them from rerooting and continuing their growing cycle. They'll not miss an opportunity to reset their roots and produce seed so vigilance is imperative.

At least twice a week and usually three times a week I "scout" the fields. Scouting is what it sounds like: looking for pest damage and disease pressure, checking the moisture levels to determine if tractors can work the soil, estimating harvest dates and anything else that catches my eye. Scouting frequently is useful to determine future problems and what we can do about them. Sometimes a pest will be in a field on Friday that wasn't there on Tuesday. Early detection helps us formulate a plan of attack. I sometimes take a sweep net with me; usually to detect leaf hoppers. "Sweeping" the net between the rows will dislodge them and cause them to fall into the net where they can be observed. Lots of them warrant spraying whereas a few of them do not.

Speaking of spraying, we're doing lots of spraying this year. Actually I can say Mike Bowman is doing lots of spraying this year. We're spraying tomatoes for early and late blight, cucumbers for bacterial wilt and, starting next week, onions for thrips. For many years we sprayed the onions when we first noticed their damage. The problem is that by the time you notice the damage too much damage has occurred and spraying insecticides won't do a whole lot of good. We start spraying right after the fourth of July and spray once a week for a month and a half, and then we'll have no thrips and a beautiful trial.

Until next week, Brian

Wet Weather Gardening

Here are some tips from Joann Matuzas, our store manager, on gardening in wet weather. We hope they help you!

After three straight weeks of rain resulting in water-logged fields, stunted plants, fungi splashing up on plants from the soil and seeds that either washed away or rotted in the ground, the sun has finally come out in the Northeast. Hopefully, we will have nothing but blue skies and sun for the rest of the summer.

Just in case we get another wet spring or the shower clouds reappear, I have put together some tips for gardening in wet weather.

1. Avoid using heavy equipment on wet soil, including lawn mowers. The machinery tends to compact the soil and cuts off the oxygen supply to the plants roots. This will result in stunted plants and yellowing of the leaves.

2. Be on the lookout for fungal diseases that frequently appear in wet weather. A copper-based fungicide can prevent the spread of fungal diseases. Cut out and dispose of infected plants in a plastic bag.

3. When the sun does come out remember to water because plants can be stressed by not enough water just like they are with too much.

4. Think about putting in a drainage system to move the water away from the fields and/or garden beds.

5. Trellising gets plants off the ground and helps reduce the threat of disease.

6. Create raised beds to improve drainage.

7. Think about putting some seeds in a container that can be moved in and out of the rain.

What's New at the Farm? 7/01/09

It's still wet. Yeah, I know that's not new but I've got to say something. There isn't too much that's new. I've never seen in this wet and gloomy for such an extended amount of time this time of year. Hope we don't see it again for quite a while; a hundred years or so would be fine.

Although it's pretty wet out there, we're still out there working. Last week we finished a few small transplanting projects - had to do it by hand as we can't get any equipment into he field. Cucumbers and summer squash trials went in and got row covers. Fourteen hundred steel stakes went in along with twenty two thousand feet of wire for the tomato trials and breeding workshops. We started trellising tomatoes and will work on those this week. We should be able to get the first string on and continue pruning as needed before the long weekend.

The crops, like myself and everyone else, could use some sunshine and some heat. While they're not suffering they're not growing much either. Typically we would pull the row covers off the squash and pumpkins next week and put down a layer of mulch but I just don't know if the plants will be ready. The local farmer we buy hay from can't get into his fields to harvest our mulch and can't get any drying weather anyways. Well, there's not much we can do about it anyways.

This is perfect disease weather. By this I mean diseases really like this kind of weather. Wet, humid weather favors diseases because the plants never get a chance to dry out. As the rain drops hit the leaves the splash carries the diseases from one plant to the next. And so it goes down the row and throughout the field. In a normal year we can spray a protective spray to prevent the spread of most plant diseases, but this year we can't even set foot in the fields because it's so wet. As soon as it dries up we'll start spraying weekly. Time to start thinking about spraying the onions for thrips too - usually we start around the fourth of July.

Lots of row covers this year. We're pretty good at putting them down fast; the row cover crew is faster than the planting crew. We use row covers on all brassicas, peppers, eggplant, greens, squash, cucumbers, pumpkins and corn. They work well to protect our crops from cucumber and potato beetles, flea beetles and the crows and woodchucks. We used to spray considerable but now rely heavily on the use of row covers. Row covers can be reused if care is taken when removing them. Farm crew members often take some home for the own gardens once we pull them off here.

Until next week, stay dry.

Brian

What's New At The Farm? 6/24/09

I'd like to say that being wet is new but it's not. Sunshine, if it ever comes back, would be new or at least seem like something new. The crops would certainly like some sun and heat and just about everyone I know would like some too. These cloudy, windy and cool days do nothing for most of our crops although the broccoli likes it. The melons and peppers don't like it and the green beans don't either. I'm getting rather tired of it myself.

We finished the bulk of the planting last week, and good thing, as field work is definitely out for a few days. I expect it will be Thursday at the earliest before we can get equipment back into the fields. Luckily we spent much of our time last week on weed control so we're in pretty good shape.

I seeded down several fields last Thursday that we're not going to use this year; just in time I'd say. I had one field we wanted to seed down to buckwheat but it was far too wet and now it's even wetter. Guess we'll hold on to that thought for a while.

In deciding which cover crop to use, there are several parameters that I use when picking a crop to plant. If I want to rot sod down like when I rent a new field, I'll plant buckwheat. Buckwheat grows fast and keeps the soil moist so the sod gets a chance to rot down. Old ground (ground that's been in row crops) gets something else. For example last week when deciding what to plant I wanted a crop that will require little maintenance, adds organic matter and nitrogen back to the soil and grows rapidly this time of year. I wanted a crop that would be thick enough to hold the soil in place in our summer downpours and also outgrow the summer weeds. So I chose annual alfalfa and oats. I seeded the oats to act as a nurse crop for the alfalfa. The oats will protect the tender young alfalfa seedlings while they get established, then we'll mow the oats and let the alfalfa take over. I seed ~ 3 acres on Thursday with this mix and the rain will help it germinate. Once we get some sun, the mix will really take off.

There are so many cover crops to choose from and so many uses that I don't get to plant all that I want to. We'll seed down around twenty acres this year but I usually use two or three different mixes and call it good. One new field will get a crop of buckwheat then probably oats and a legume. Sort of a one two punch; we'll rot some sod with the buckwheat, and then add nitrogen and organic matter with the grain/legume mix. It'll have lots of growth before winter to protect the soil.

Soon it will be time to plant the fall cover crops where we can. I think we'll plant our turnips a little earlier this year, say the middle to end of July. We should get some really nice roots before the cold temps settle in. Although the deer will eat the tops, they prefer the roots. They'll feed on them all winter. Maybe we'll do several plantings to see what the best time frame for getting big roots will be.

Until next week, Brian

Since our photographer had hand surgery, here are some older pictures of things that happen this time of year at the farm. Hopefully we'll have some new ones soon! -Daria, the webmaster


Thinning Onion Plants


Laying Row Cover out to protect plants from insects.


Setting up posts for tomato plants.


Weeding Lettuce


Veggie plants growing in a poly tunnel.

Gardening with Dad

My parents moved several hours south a few years back. They used to live in Portland, so we could get togther quite frequently. Now that they are living in Pennsylvania, I just don't see them as often. Now, while my Dad and I respectively commute home, we have great chats about our gardens.

I've heard about his garden from start to finish and start again over the years. This year, he's had rich soil trucked in from a local mushroom farm (they sell it cheap after growing a batch of mushrooms) to amend his stony clay. He's told me about his garden spacing, how things are too close together, because he doesn't have the heart to thin the baby plants. (I'm not sure if that's learned or genetic, but I have the same soft heart.) He describes how the Scarecrow(R) I got him for Christmas squirts the mourning doves, but isn't set off by the little birds, and how its keeping the pesky but cute cottontail rabbits out of his garden. (Most of the gifts I've given to my folks since they moved south have been from Johnny's; we're lucky to have a generous employee discount.) I get to hear scary stories about the day he almost fainted while cultivating (didn't drink enough water in the heat). I also get to hear about things that make me jealous, like the fact that his tomato plants are already blossoming, or how he had a bumper crop of cucumbers, when I had only a couple of plants survive a rodent invasion on the seeds, which were then weakened by excess rain and little heat.

When I was a kid, my parents had a huge garden. They grew 100 tomato plants, along with cucumbers, peppers, squash, corn (which never survived the relentless Portland raccoons), and other veggies, and my mom spent most of her autumn time canning. It slowly tapered off - from about 1000 square feet, to 750, to 500, to 4 raised beds, to patio tomatoes. In Pennsylvania, my dad has created a fairly large garden (to my mother's chagrin; she thought she was done canning when they moved south, and I had to return a bunch of the stuff she gave me). Gardening keeps my Dad "out of trouble" and very busy. He loves working outdoors and watching things grow and change, as I do, and probably most of you readers, too.

I'm lucky to have my Dad a phone call away. I wish I could see him this weekend, but it's just not in the cards. So I'll give him a call and we'll talk gardening.

Here are some pictures of my own garden this summer. I've been busy the past few weeks, as I'm sure most of you have. I hope you like them!



My garden after tilling in April, photo taken 5/03/09. We spread compost last fall and tilled in even more this spring. Garlic planted last November was left undisturbed in the far left corner. Further back, rhubarb grows and bulbs bloom in the perennial bed.




Irri-Gator irrigation system laid out, tested, and ready to go!




View of garden covered in fabric (from kitchen window, 6/02/09). This was the second go-round of garden fabric; the biodegradable stuff was put down mid-May, and, in some windy, wet weather that followed, pulled up its stakes and blew all over the yard, torn up and inextricably tangled. It went into the compost bin, and I ended up buying rolls of non-biodegradable stuff at Agway, since the biodegradable type was so frustrating to work with.




Garden on June 18th. All seedlings have been put in, and I just need to plant a few other things, some sooner (lettuce, carrots, beets), and some later for fall crops (peas, spinach).




The potatoes seem to be doing quite well in their cans, so far. The cool weather and plentiful rain are helping them grow. Drilling holes for drainage in the cans was a must. I lined them with garden fabric, and added compost, potatoes, more compost, and let them grow. This picture is after they grew about 6-7", and I piled on more bagged Vermont compost. As the plants grow, I'll pile on the compost until it reaches the top of the cans, and the plants will grow out of them. These were planted on Memorial Day (5/25/09), picture taken 6/18/09.




From left to right - the edge of the tomato trellis (a few tiny tomatoes seen next to it; eggplant in that row in the foreground), a row with sweet potatoes in the back (those will be trained to vine toward the onions, rather than the tomatoes; I might even set up a trellis for them), tomatillos in the front, then rows of onions planted in slices in the garden fabric about 8" apart, 6" within each little row, shallots behind the onions, tiny baby leeks behind the shallots. The onions and shallots were planted 5/25/09. Garlic is in the back of the rightmost row, behind more onions. It looks great this year because of the compost we put in last fall - some of the plants are almost 3 feet tall. Scapes will be coming soon! Asparagus flowers in the background, behind the short stone wall. 6/18/09




Bamboo tomato trellis with "ringer" storebought tomato seedlings as well as the small ones I grew myself. Well, the ringers were free or very cheap, and we'll have tomatoes earlier as a result. And, with any luck, the Brandywine one (right side of the trellis) will actually bear fruit before October. Hopefully some July heat will give the smaller plants the boost they'll need - at least we know they're getting plenty of moisture this June! And yes, they probably are planted a little too close together, but I'm crazy for the different heirloom varieties. 6/18/09




Trellises for cucumbers, beans, and squash. Cukes and a couple of melons in the row on the left, beans in the two middle rows (I love my dilly beans!), vining squash in the trellis row on the right, and bush squash in the row to the right of that. Again, they are close together, but some will die. I actually thinned the beans, so, after I determine which cucurbits will actually survive being planted outdoors, I'll thin some of them out. I planted the cukes and squash inside this year, because, in the past, a variety of critters have stolen my seeds. Peppers are planted behind the trellises, closer to the house. The compost bin my husband built from free pallets is on the right in this picture (which is reversed from the rest). In the right foreground is a baby sweet cherry tree. I bought 3 peach trees, 3 cherry trees, and a plum tree (all dwarf trees) from the Arbor Day Society last year, and they all survived the winter; definitely a surprise after a stretch of -20 to -30 degree weather. I'm hoping for fruit within a couple of years, but I'll be patient. Taken 6/18/09.



Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!!

What's New At The Farm? 6/17/09

The rain has stopped and the sun is out and all is well. After over three inches of rain in the past week, we're all set with irrigation for a while. Now we can concentrate on some other things; like taking care of everything we've planted. We've about finished planting, at least the bulk of it. Here on the farm we don't really get done with planting until October then start again in January so we're usually planting something somewhere at any given time.

Last week we planted squash and pumpkins; trails, workshop and some stockseed increases. This week we'll finish transplanting some of the smaller crops like some growout cucumbers, one small increase and the globe artichokes. We transplanted leeks on Monday this week and boy was it wet!

Jeff's readying the cultivating equipment for as soon as it's dry enough we'll hammer those weeds. Weeds don't stop growing when it's raining. We need a warm dry day with some wind to have the most killing success on weeds. Weeding in the rain is about pointless; the weeds reroot as soon as they're hoed but it does set them back a day or two.

The first hatchlings of robins and killdeer are gone so if they chose to have a second clutch this will be the time. One robin pair made a nest in the Reigi weeder so we couldn't use that when we wanted to. Another one nested in a pile of pallets; when the pallets were moved the nest fell out. Someone moved the nest to the snow plow and she's trying to sit on it. I think I'll move it to someplace she won't feel quite so threatened.

It's always been here at the farm, that we find and flag killdeer nests so no one runs over them. When I first started here I found it very hard if not impossible to find a nest. Now, after much searching throughout the years, they are relatively easy to find. If I watch the bird and see where she's trying to lead me away from I can usually spot the nest. If she's really upset and lets me know it, I know I'm really close. A little hard searching and I usually can find the nest in question. The hatchlings leave the nest immediately after hatching so working around the nest is a minor inconvenience.

Lots of turtles around now; big female snappers looking to lay their eggs. Janika and Rob saw one over the weekend, someone had run it over, that "its shell must have been two feet long". I've seen several large ones on the side of the road but very few that were dead. They looked pretty ugly though.

Along with lots of turtles comes lots of snakes. I went fishing last week and there are always snakes under the boat. We counted five under the boat; four garter snakes and one milk adder. We got them all out, or at least we thought. Once we had launched a small adder came out from underneath the seat. We couldn't coax him out where we could get a hold of him so he went fishing with us; staying up under the seat the whole time. What a story he must have had for his buddies!

Until next week, enjoy the weather.

Brian

What's New At The Farm? 6/10/09

We're still planting and transplanting. Last week we transplanted tomatoes; both trials and the workshop along with peppers, eggplant, melons and flowers and herbs. Over 40 thousand transplants went in last week and now they're taking root; they're much happier in the field than in the flats.

This week is the final push to get all the crops in the ground including winter squash, summer squash and pumpkins. Big week! All these crops also need to have row covers installed directly after planting so it looks like we'll be busy.

We have a full crew now; myself and ten people that love farming. You have to love farming and be dedicated to do this type of work. Many people think working on a farm consists of "riding around on a tractor" and "tending the garden whilst getting a suntan". "Riding around on a tractor" is harder than you might think. First you have to pay close attention as to the operation and upkeep of the tractor and the equipment you're using; is everything operating the way it should? Then you really have to pay attention to details and make sure the beds are straight, the plants correctly set and the majority of the weeds killed in the first pass. Weeding is primarily mechanical now so much time is spent cultivating on our assortment of specialty tractors and weed control equipment and finesse is critical.

"Tending the gardens" consists of long days working in often less than ideal conditions planting, thinning, weeding and trellising. Trellising tomatoes takes days and I mean days- many days each season. First there are 1400 steel posts to put in; then a top wire to run; all 23,000 feet of it, then there's the first pruning, the first string, the second pruning, the second string and so on through July and into August. Along with the weekly spraying of fungicides there's constant weed control, critter control and then harvesting, pulling out plants and posts, pulling plastic and seeding down the field before winter. Phew! Tomatoes are a big crop for us but there are many other crops that are at least as labor intensive as them just on a smaller scale.

Ground prep is nearly done; we have one small field left to do. What fields, or parts thereof, that don't get planted to row crops will get cover crops planted. We have ~ 35 acres to go into cover crops this year; lots of oats and red clover along with a fair amount of annual alfalfa and some buckwheat. I've also got some other crops to seed like sweet orange cane, Berseem clover and some pasture mixes I am anxious to see growing.

We rented a new field this year which looks really good. The soil is deep and rich and rock free. It should be fairly early ground as it's on a hill. It's right on my way home so I can keep an eye on it and keep watch for deer and other pests. We rented five acres but there's more available so in the future we could expend the field by up to ten acres or so. We're going to plant some winter squash over there this year so we'll see how this field performs.

We irrigated last Friday as it was getting dry in some areas of the farm, especially in the main trial field where we have many small seeded crops. As we cultivate and weed we lose valuable moisture which needs to be replaced. The crops enjoyed the shower and rain over the weekend only supplemented it.

Until next week, I'll be in the field.

Brian

What's New At The Farm 6/03/09

Transplanting, planting and more transplanting!

This week, so far, we've transplanted over ten thousand peppers, twelve thousand tomatoes and tons of flowers and herbs. Next week will see the remainder of the transplanting with squash, pumpkins and melons to name a few. Then all we'll have to do is take care of it; piece of cake.

We got out new tractor Monday this week. Well, new to us but not new. It's a Ford 1710 cultivating tractor with all the bells and whistles like: power steering, 3 point hitch, a canopy and a full set of cultivators. It probably even has brakes! It's a three cylinder diesel and purrs like a kitten. I'm anxious to try it out but haven't had a chance to do more than look at it in passing this week. It's hard to find good cultivating tractors in the northeast as people just don't seem to want to part with them. This one came from a friend in New Brunswick but originally was sold by a dealer in New Hampshire. Long way around I'd say.

The weather continues to be cold and wet. The plants don't like it. The crew doesn't like it and neither do I. It seems like we had May weather in April and April weather in May this spring. A couple of weeks ago it was 31 degrees one morning and in the nineties the next day. I hope it evens out after a while.

The fields are filling up fast with greenery and it looks pretty nice after a long and white winter. The leaves are fully out and all the birds have returned and are raising families now. The geese have hatched and are grazing heavily now. Although with the new deer fence at work we haven't seen the usual goose family. I saw a pair of geese and five goslings at the pond in our front yard last week. I assume they walked up from the beaver bog for some fresh grass on the lawn.

Short article this week; I'm headed back out into the field.

Until next week, Brian

Helping our friends at Wentworth School

The Wentworth School in Scarborough, ME has shared their newsletter and some photos of their garden with us. We were able to help them out with some seeds through our giving program. Enjoy this fun update!



The Wentworth School
Garden Newsletter

Happy spring! The Wentworth School Garden has been taking shape with work inside and outside. The winter months were spent on lessons about the parts of plants and their functions, experiments with different seeds and research on the history of different vegetables and fruits. Amy Witt from the UME Extension Office did a presentation and introduced the students to many uncommon foods in our supermarkets.



Spring finally begins!

Spring was welcomed by the bulbs that were replanted by the work team in October. Tulips, daffodils, crocuses and grape hyacinths gave us needed inspiration through the rainy beginning of the season. We wanted to start the garden seeds in the middle of April, but the kids wouldn't have seen the beginning growth over vacation. So we set up the lights and seed-starting stands (donated by Lowe's) in the classroom at the end of April. The students planted a variety of seeds, including zucchini, cucumbers, zinnia and sunflowers donated by Johnny's Selected Seeds. We have had fabulous results! The kids have learned to separate and choose the strongest seedlings for the garden. We have also planted lettuce, Swiss chard, beets, and radishes in two of our cold frames. Griffin Greenhouse Supply donated the polycarbonate for the covers, and Robbie Alden volunteered his time to construct them. We planted peas and added branch teepees as their supports. Now we are preparing the plants for the outdoors. We will be ready to plant outside next week!

We are also hoping to plant potatoes in whiskey barrels. If you know of any that are reasonably priced or not being used, please email Joanne.



We are now thinking ahead to the summer. The most exciting time in the garden will be during July, August and September. As requested in an earlier email and in Wolftracks, need your help in a variety of roles. We would like for families to volunteer to be in charge of the site for a week. So far, we have three families that have offered- thank you! If you are interested or would like to find out more information, email Joanne @ jmlstuart AT myfairpoint DOT net.



We also are looking for volunteers to teach lessons from the Master Apprentice Gardener curriculum this fall and winter and help with fundraising. We're looking forward to hearing from you!

Enjoy the photos! Please come and visit!

Jen Winger and Joanne Stuart

The Horror!

It's under the tree, looking out at you. Ready to destroy anything in his path, and make your life miserable.

Anything green, that is. Anything tender, growing in your garden, whether it be a prized perennial or a delicious lettuce. From alfalfa to zucchini, it will eat it all.

Hide the green beans and put the kids to bed! It's coming!!


Yes, it's a groundhog. And it's ready to make every gardener's life a living you-know-what. But isn't he cute?


Quite a prime specimen, this Marmota monax (aka whistle pig or woodchuck).


And it's safe, here at Johnny's. It lives outside our office building, far from the farm, and nibbles on grass and leaves. It is generally entertaining, and not a pest at all. We've come to enjoy its company, in fact.



And it's clearly eating well.

What's new at the farm? 5/20/09

This week, after some much appreciated rain, sees lots of activity in the fields once again. The plastic is being laid for the tomatoes (lots of tomatoes) and ground is being prepared for pepper transplanting which takes place next week as well. Lots of transplanting next week; around 35,765 transplants give or take a few. We should easily be able to do 10 thousand a day and still perform ground prep and plastic laying at the same time.

Seed production crops transplant pretty easily, especially tomatoes. The transplanter makes a hole and pours in a cup or so of water with a transplant solution mixed into it. Two people riding on the back of the transplanter grab a transplant and push it down into the hole. As the plant is pushed into the hole the fertilized water sucks down around the plant, pulling the surrounding soil around the root ball. A couple of days to get over the shock of being plucked from the tray they grew up in to being crammed into a hole in the field, and they'll be off and running, eager to make seed before the season gets over.

Some crops transplant a whole lot better than others. Tomatoes are easy; you pretty much can't kill them. They like to be buried deeply so you can't plant them too deep. Even if you inadvertently break off some growth they will regrow although not as well as if they hadn't been damaged in the first place. Melons on the other hand really don't like to have their roots disturbed, at all. We have to be really careful with melons as they break easily and will die if broken. Squash and pumpkins are somewhere in between. While you can't handle them roughly like tomatoes, you can plant them quickly; quicker than melons anyways.

"Dropping" plants is the act of pulling the correct plants from the trays and placing them near the hole they belong in so the farm crew can transplant them. Dropping is kind of a particular job as the right plant must go in the right hole. You have to focus on what you're doing while keeping an eye on what's going on around you. One slip and the wrong plant is pulled; sometimes a easy fix but other times not. In trials and breeding you usually know how many plants you have per variety so you can keep count as you move along. Speed, paired with accuracy, is essential. You want to drop plants fast enough so that people aren't standing around waiting, but you also want not to get too far ahead as the holes will dry out. This can be a challenging job, especially when you have six or seven hundred varieties.

In seed production you only have to make sure the plants are all the same kind; plant until you either run out of plants or run out of space in the field and you're done with that variety, then on to the next one.

When transplanting we usually have one person dropping plants, two people planting them, one tractor driver and one person putting stakes in and getting flats for the puller. Then there's another person hauling plants from the greenhouse to the field; that's usually me. The transplanter holds 100 gallons transplant solution which will transplant around 1500 plants so they must return to the pond fairly frequently to fill up with water. This gives the field crew a few minutes to walk through the field and check on the plants they just planted. Every once in a while they'll be a plant lying on the plastic that got missed by the planters. That's the one I usually find and have a comment like "What, you didn't like this one"?

All in all transplanting is a fast paced activity that demands a certain amount of finesse. It's also done once the weather has warmed up so, unless it's raining, is a pretty pleasant job here at the farm. By the way, rainy days are the best days for transplanting, as the plants enjoy it and there isn't much else to do here when it's wet.

Until next week, I'll be in the field.

Brian

What's new at the farm? 5/13/09

The farm is abuzz with activity this week. We have an almost full farm crew (one more next week) and plenty of work ahead of us. The fields have taken a whole new look as plastic is being laid; transplanting and direct seeded crops are in and up. The weather, although wet last week, has cooperated this spring. We have more ground prepared earlier than I can remember. The lettuce and endive have been transplanted into the field, the carrots and onions are up as are the peas and some flowers. Plenty of direct seeding next week as corn goes in along with greens and just lots of small trials.

We did a few things different this spring and it's really made quite a difference. The first thing I did was to develop a spreadsheet detailing the field location of each crop and details like whether it needed plastic or not, drip tape requirements and placement, and the number of beds needed. When a field has been prepped there's a map detailing where everything goes and ground prep instructions for each crop. We now have plastic laid for the melons and watermelons, which by the way, have just come up in the greenhouse - we're a ways away from transplanting these. The plastic is now being laid for the tomatoes which are two weeks away from transplanting.

A second thing we did this year was to bed all beds in a field at one time. Like for instance in field 1, which we call the main trial field, we bedded all 43 beds at once. As the beds were planted down the field more were already made up so we didn't have to stop what we were doing just to make a couple of beds. If we get some rain all the better. We can than stale bed the remaining beds are be that much ahead of the game. Stale bedding is preparing the soil for planting, waiting for weeds to germinate, kill them then plant. It takes out the first and usually most densely populated flush of weeds for the season.

Third we have several new people to the farm doing all kinds of tasks. Matt's been making beds until he's nearly cross eyed and Mike Bowman is laying countless miles of plastic. Jeff and Nick have been spreading fertilizer and doing the initial ground prep along with rotovating and fixing things. Jeff keeps very bust fixing all the things that get broke in the normal course of farming. I get out in the field now and then, mostly adjusting things.

We got our new harrows delivered Wednesday this week. They are a brand new set of Land Pride harrows from Union Farm Equipment. The old ones were at least forty years old and have definitely seen better days. The new ones do a lot of things the old one couldn't anymore, like stay up when going down the road. Nothing quite like having a fourteen foot set of harrows drop onto the pavement coming back from a remote field; wakes you right up! And the new ones don't sway either. The old ones would start to sway at around 15 miles per hour so you had two choices: slow down and take forever to get somewhere or let them sway. Must have been quite a sight if you were in a car meeting a wildly swaying set of harrows that greatly outweigh you along with what you're driving. Imagine how big those eyes might have been.

Until next week, Brian

What's New At The Farm? 5/06/09

As the field work continues the greenhouses are rapidly filling with seedling awaiting their mass exodus into the fields. Thousands of tomatoes and peppers fill the benches to near capacity; makes me wonder if we have room for everything. Planting this week will be onions and carrots in the field and melons in the greenhouse. And lots of "bumping" up. Bumping up is taking tiny seedlings and transplanting them into larger containers, usually planting flats. By picking out the best seedlings, we know we'll have a good stand -sort of like seeding heavy then thinning.

The field work continues thanks to cooperative weather. The plastic from last season has been pulled and now we are working on getting the ground ready for this year's crops. Compost and organic fertilizer has been applied to most fields and worked in. This year we're using some pelletized chicken manure on some of our outlying fields. It's relatively easy to apply and work in. The supply and price of compost makes me lean towards supplying at least some of our fields with other nutrient sources.

The new bird houses I installed a couple of weeks back have stirred much interest in the swallows' community. Most of them have attracted occupants as they get underway raising their young ones. I found that by staining the houses with a solid gray stain they readily move into them; otherwise it would often take a year for their interest to peak. I also face the houses either north or east to keep the hot rays of the summer sun from overheating them. I've got twelve new ones at work and a couple for my garden. We should have lots of swallows near the garden as there is a beaver bog close by. At Johnny's we have an irrigation pond to attract them.

I have yet to venture into my garden, other than dumping lots of piles of manure from my henhouses. Normally I'd be half done planting once the blackflies come out but I seem to be a little behind this year. I'd like to get it plowed before it gets much later in the season and at least get peas, onions and potatoes in. We've still got onions, carrots, potatoes and beets in storage from last year. I'm going to start some seedlings here at work this week for my home garden and transfer them to my greenhouse as soon as they're up. I think I'll start some summer squash and transplant them into large pots in the greenhouse so I can get a jump on the season

Although summer is definitely on its way, we still get nights cold enough to warrant starting a fire in the wood stove. On these nights we get together a pot of soft veggies from the root cellar and cook them down for the hens. They love them; potatoes are their favorite! We'll spend about a week feeding them out and they certainly love their "treats".

The fiddleheads are but a memory now. With the hot temps we had last week they are all a foot tall now. Let's see; we picked on Sunday last week, picked again on Thursday and by Sunday this week they've had it. Short season this year! I've still got half a five gallon bucket in the fridge I'm saving for pickling.

I'm headed out to the field, have a good week.

Brian

What's New At The Farm? 4/29/09

Fiddleheads and blackflies; sure signs of spring's arrival! The arrival of the blackflies seems to coincide with when the fiddleheads are ready. We checked our favorite patch last Sunday and, sure enough, the fiddlies were ready and the blackflies were just coming out. We thought we could get enough for a supper or two and wound up with a five gallon pail full. Lugging a pail brimming with fiddlies for half a mile uphill wasn't as much fun as we thought it would be. The streams are low now, and with the warmer temps on their way, I don't think the fiddlehead season will be long. Most of the ferns we saw on Sunday were just coming up, but some were a foot tall already. If we go down Thursday or Friday we should be able to get a goodly amount before they go by.

As for preserving them we tried blanching and freezing them one year without a tremendous amount of success. They were alright, a little slimy, but nothing I'd write home about. My neighbor Bill told us how his mother preserves them: she washes and packs them in quart mason jars, then covers them with Italian dressing and stores them in the fridge. They're surprisingly good this way and they'll keep until the fresh ones are back again. I have other friends that can them but I'm not found of canned anything; if I can't freeze or pickle it I'm not going to be eating it out of season.

On our way to harvest fiddleheads last weekend we were privileged to watch the display four bald eagles were putting on. I assume they were looking for nesting sites but perhaps they were just enjoying the windy day. Two adults and two immature were in the area for the two hours we were there. Saw one of the adults on Monday morning as I was checking out one of our fields nearby.

On the farm we're busy starting tomatoes in the greenhouses; lots of them. The greenhouses will be brimming full within a couple of weeks with seedlings of all different species and varieties. Tomatoes, peppers, squash, pumpkins and lots of other crops will be started early in the greenhouses so they'll be ready once warm weather arrives to stay. Direct seedings in the field will start this week with potatoes, peas, onions and salad greens. Next week will bring carrots and some other crops along with more greenhouse plantings.

We've lots of crops this year and it looks like nearly every field at the farm will be full this year. And most of the fields we rent/own will be full too. I think tomatoes take up the most space of any crop. After a couple of years using a modified basket weave trellising system we're going back to the wire and string system. That's where we drive steel fence stakes in every 20 feet, run a wire across the tops of the stakes and run strings from the wire to the base of the tomato plant. From there we train the vine to follow the strings. By using a combination of tomato clips and Ty'Mups we can train the tomatoes in short order. Of course the drawback is that uses well over a thousand steel fence stakes.

Until next week, Brian

What's New At The Farm? 4/22/09

With the extraordinarily dry and warm weather we've had in the past two weeks we've been able to complete much field work ahead of schedule. We've pulled all the poly at the Albion farm and about half of the Benton field; a field we had several acres in to start with. Several fields are still too wet to get into so we'll wait on those. We've spread compost and plowed fields 1, 5, 7, 8,9,11, and the field across from the farm all in Albion. We've chisel plowed 11 and 14 North along with the Higgins field; an isolation field we have nearby. Field planting starts in a couple of weeks; we'll be ready barring and weeks of rain.

It's hard to believe we've completed so much ground prep so early in the season. Many years it would be now before we could get into the highest and driest fields, and this year we're able to get on some of the not so high and dry fields. I'm not saying it's dry everywhere; some fields still have standing water on them or in the road that leads to them - not a good place to drive a tractor, but many fields are workable now.

The greenhouses are filling up fast. We moved the breeding peppers into greenhouse # 2 last Friday: they will get bumped up into bigger containers this week. Lots of seedlings to be bumped up and lots of seeding to do. Crops we have growing are broccoli, Chinese cabbage, lettuce, endive and lots of flowers. The swallows are back in force, checking out the bird houses. The poly tunnel will get greens and lettuces planted this week. Tomatoes will be the next big crop to seed.

On Monday I had a pair of Blue birds (yes, bluebirds) outside my office window. They were checking out a bird house near my office but the swallows were harassing them so I don't know if they'll hang around or not. I think most of the migratory birds must be back by now. I saw two Great Blue Herons over the weekend and I think they round out my list of birds coming back. I've heard loons on the pond behind the house and seen lots of hawks and a few turkey vultures. Tom turkeys are strutting their stuff to a few interested hens.

Since last week, I've spotted more than a few woodchucks; one living in the stone wall on the north end of field 11. We'll have to live trap him and give him a new home before we plant that field. I like to transport them to a place of relative safety; one like the abandoned field near my house. They'll have plenty of friends there as I've released many chucks there over the past few years.

And I saw the first snake on Monday this week; an eight inch long Milk Adder in the workshop. They've been hanging around there ever since I've worked here but this is the earliest I've ever seen them. I put him down next to the greenhouse; he'll be fine. We found a snake skin a couple of years ago from what I assume is his mother; nearly four feet long; a big one she is. We've seen her a couple of times, coming in the shop where it's cool on a hot day must surely feel good to her.

Blackflies will be here shortly as will the fiddle heads. We checked at one of our "secret" spots on Saturday but there's no sign of fiddlies, give ‘em a couple of weeks they'll be up. The water is really low in the stream next to our spot; much lower than it normally is, so whether or not that has any bearing on the ferns is anyone's guess. Nothing like a good mess of fiddlies to herald in spring.

Until next week, Brian

Getting the Gardens Ready!

I know our webmaster thinks she's a bit behind, but not as behind as I am! I am, though, perhaps less behind now.

Today, in the 76-degree blazing sunshine, I de-mossed and de-weeded my two 4' by 20' raised beds, aerated the soil, added half an inch on compost to completely cover each bed, and this evening I will start my tomato, pepper, squash, cucumber, and eggplant seeds. When they get big enough, I'll transplant them into the new cow pots that we're offering in our catalog and on our website. For the last 3 years, I didn't know that cucumber roots should NOT be disturbed upon transplanting. I'll plant my cucumber seeds directly into the 3" cowpots I have, and I'll just toss the whole thing into the garden in 5 weeks. I have learned over the last 3 years, though, that it's a good idea to grow tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and squashes in single, separate containers before transplanting into the garden. These plants quickly outgrow the space of the 72-cell seedling trays I use (in about 3 weeks) and squashes and cucumbers get tangled up if you don't separate them early.

Tomorrow I will lay down some solar mulch and I will direct seed "Sunny Smile" dwarf sunflower, "Hector" smooth-leaf spinach, "Red Mustard", and "Arugula".

So this year, my two beds look like this:

Bed #1:
2 rows of peas - 'Fiesty' (43 plants in a 4' row with a trellis in between the rows)
10 pickling cucumber plants - 'Diamant' (2 rows of 5 plants with a trellis in between)
8 Jalapeno pepper plants - 'Dulce' (2 rows of 4 plants)
8 Eggplants - 'Nadia' (2 rows of 4 plants)
4 'Ladybug' Hot cherry pepper plants (1 row of 4 plants)
8 'Striped German' heirloom tomato plants (2 rows of 4 plants)
8 'Brandywine' heirloom tomato plants (2 rows of 4 plants)
8 'Valleygirl' red round tomatoes (2 rows of 4 plants)
8 'Bellstar' sauce tomatoes (2 rows of 4 plants)
4 'Sapho' red salad tomatoes (1 row of 4 plants)
8 'Sungold' cherry tomatoes (2 rows of 4 plants)
8 'General Lee' slicing cucumbers (2 rows of 4 plants with a trellis in between)
4 'Plato' green zucchini squash (2 half rows of 2 plants)
4 'Sunray' yellow summer squash (2 half rows of 2 plants)

Bed #2:
2 rows of green beans - 'Provider' (23 plants in a 4' row with a trellis in between)
32 'Red Ace' beets
16 'Touchstone Gold' beets
16 'Chioggia' heirloom beets
4 'Ladybug' hot cherry pepper plants (1 row of 4 plants)
8 'Carmen' sweet Italian pepper plants (2 rows of 4 plants)
8 'Tendersweet' green cabbage plants (2 rows of 4 plants)
8 'Hungarian Spice' Paprika peppers (2 rows of 4 plants)
66 'Golden Coin" mini yellow onion
42 'Olympic' yellow storage onion
46 'Napoli' storage carrots
46 'Purple Haze' specialty carrots
10 'Black Seeded Simpson' green leaf lettuce plants (2 rows of 5 plants)
10 'Natacha' escarole plants (2 rows of 5 plants)
18 'Sunny Smile' dwarf sunflowers (3 rows of 6 plants)
4 'Dulce' Jalapeno pepper plants (1 row of 4 plants)
18 'Red Mustard' greens (3 rows of 6 plants)
18 'Arugula' greens (3 rows of 6 plants)
30 'Hector' smooth-leaf spinach plants (1 row of 30 plants)

I will sprinkle in some 'French Marigold' among the tomatoes and peppers to help with natural insect repellent for these crops. And my husband and I have learned that if you plant rows of hot peppers throughout your garden it serves as excellent insect control - bugs just DON'T like the pepper oil. The sunflowers are being placed mid-bed to help with bees, butterflies, and other beneficial pollinators.

So that's the mad plan for this year! I'll also plant some extra seedlings and bring them in for folks at work.

What an exciting time of year - the weather is finally warming up, my kitchen windows are open and the curtains are fluttering, the Red Sox are playing (and they beat the Yankees last night!) and it's seed-planting time!!!

Alisa - Marketing Manager @ Johnny's

Garden-cationing

It is definitely that time of year! I got my pepper and eggplant seeds started two weeks ago (probably late, but poorly timed illnesses threw off my schedule), and I'll get the tomatoes started this weekend. They should be big enough just in time for planting at the end of May, as my gardening zone (5B) safely dictates. I am on vacation this week, and, if this gorgeous weather holds, I am going to get my garden set up and ready to go. I will even be able to plant some hardy seeds - lettuce, spinach, peas, etc.

I have seed potatoes ready to go, too. I'm going to try the "trash can" method of growing potatoes this year. You put drainage holes in a tall container, add growing mix and your potatoes, and keep covering the plants with the mix as they grow, watering and fertilizing as necessary of course. (Google for more info). I'll keep you posted! Last year I grew some fine potatoes in my compost pile, so I'm hoping these potatoes will grow well in composted manure (with some acid components, yet undecided upon, added to prevent scab).

You have probably seen or heard ads from the big box stores advertising their plants. I've grown plenty of big box veggies and flowers in my day, and I'm sure that they are quality plants, and will grow fine. However, hearing the ads in my area makes me worry. It is way too early to plant tomatoes and other tender plants in my zone, and we're still getting frost at night, which will kill tender plants. The money they claim you'll save on produce goes right out the window if your little plant dies!

If you are a new gardener, I recommend that you read up on your growing zone - Google again is a great tool, just type in "growing zone" and you'll come up with plenty of sites where you can enter your zip code and find out what that is if you don't know. Gardenweb.com has tons of great ideas for new gardeners, and excellent forums where you can chat with lots of folks at various expericence levels. Of course you can always give us a call at 877-JOHNNYS and speak to one of our friendly customer service representatives, who are always happy to help!

I hope you all have a great week. I'll enjoy my garden-cation (and throw a little fishing-cation in, to boot!)

Daria, the webmaster

What's New At The Farm? 4/15/09

Hard to believe April is half over. Spring seems to creep up faster every year. Seems like just yesterday I was fussing about the ponds still locked in ice and today I could take my boat out. The birds are pretty much all back; swallows should be here this week and I saw my first turkey vulture last week; looking for a winter killed lunch. Raptors, ducks, geese, killdeer, robins and blackbirds are showing up in droves now. About the only thing I haven't seen yet are woodchucks but I expect they'll be out this week. Lots of deer moving around now; I see them most mornings on my drive into work.

The planting continues in the greenhouses. Monday we ground up what was left in the polytunnel and will replant shortly. We've time to get some greens growing before tomatoes go out there. Last week we planted lettuce, leeks and lots of flowers in greenhouse number 3 and this week will see more peppers, lettuce and still more flowers.

For field work we start those projects we didn't get done last fall like pulling plastic. We also are starting compost application and ground prep on some of our earlier fields. The fields have dried out really nice this spring and field work starts as I write this. Last years' crops are still in the field but they are dead, drying and generally look bad. Once called surface trash; now referred to as crop residue or surface residue these spent crops will be turned under to start the process all over again.

The cover crops that we planted last year, the ones that died, become organic matter turned under to feed our soils. The covers that we planted, that are now regrowing in anticipation of warmer temps and adequate rainfall, do not perceive the ever looming plow and will give their lives to further enrich ours soils and feed our crops.

Probably the saddest looking crops are last year's cabbages. Not only did they freeze and die, they smell like it; I'll be glad to turn them under. The onions don't small very good either. The best smell will be the newly turned soil; that's the best thing about spring.

The fields are filling up fast here this year. Fields 9 (where the peppers were last season) and field 13 (pumpkins in '08) will be all tomatoes this year. Field 11 (tomatoes in '08) will be the pumpkins and melons will go up across the road, along with some of the flowers. The field that is outside my office window will not get sweet corn; too high, I can't see out from mid-summer on. Although I'm sure the farm crew appreciates that.

The sweet corn can go in field 5 which is right in Rob and Janika's back yard. It will be interesting to see if the new deer fence alters the behavior of the sweet corn predators. Probably not but it might anyways.

Until next week, enjoy the spring. Brian

What's New At The Farm? 4/08/09

Spring has sprung! The birds are back and the ice is on its way out. A couple more days and the ice will be gone. New signs of spring are popping up daily and it’s great to see. Peepers are out. The tulips and daffodils are pushing their way up as is the rhubarb and the buds are swelling on the trees. Another week will bring more rakers out as the ground dries up even more.

We have six geese at the farm pond this year; I don’t know if they’ll nest here this year or not. They usually have a nest on the neighbors then graze on us but with the new deer fence coming between I don’t know what they’ll do. Guess we’ll have to wait and see. Doesn’t hurt my feelings one way or the other.

We planted peppers on Monday this week, in greenhouse # 3. Also on tap to be planted this week is lettuce, Chinese cabbage, eggplant and radicchio. It’s nice to get some stuff planted and growing; it’s been such a long winter. The spinach in the poly tunnel is just about gone by as is some lettuce out there. We’ll grind it up this week and replant some salad greens.

The fields are greening up slowly; the winter rye has some color in it now and with the rain scheduled for this week it’ll green up even more. Everything else looks pretty dead. Oh, yeah, there’s some other things greening up like the red clover we planted in the sweet corn last July and the chickweed: a true harbinger of spring and some lawn grass on the sheltered side of the buildings. We’ve got to get the lawn raking done before the grass gets very tall or it won’t be any fun at all; not that it’s a whole lot of fun anyways, but one job that is better with short grass and without blackflies.

The ice is getting thin on our irrigation pond. It’s gone around the edges and getting pretty thin in the middle. I saw a bass lurking in the shallows last week trying to get some warmth going, I imagine. They’ll be spawning soon, or at least start the building of their nests. Spawning usually takes place in May here; once the water warms up. Of course that’s when we’re the busiest; trying to get everything into the ground. There’s some controversy about fishing for bass on their spawning beds, but I doubt in a farm pond it makes much difference, and their definitely easy to catch.

We’ve plenty of seed production here at the Johnny’s farm this year. We didn’t have any last year but have at least ten tomatoes this year; that’ll keep us busy. Usually we harvest tomatoes for seed in September but as we didn’t have any last year, we had some time on our hands. If it doesn’t move paint it and if it does move put it somewhere. Everything that wasn’t nailed down got a coat of paint. Some things, just little projects that we never seem to get to do got done: the greenhouses and their matching fuel tanks got stenciled with numbers. Now we can track how much fuel each one uses. The fuel tank got a new coat of white paint; we can actually see it now. The fuel tank also got its own roof to keep out the weather. Glad we did most of those projects last fall; we won’t have extra time this year.

Until next week, Brian

What's New At The Farm? 4/01/09

The snow is leaving Foss Hill in a hurry with the only remnants of winter being a few snowbanks and some snow where the sun doesn't hit it; like the south ends of fields 11 and 13. Field 13 is where we had the pumpkin workshop last year. With the new deer fencing, there were no deer to eat the pumpkins last winter, so now there are hundreds of very flat fruit in the field. The turkeys and squirrels have been busy eating the seeds but there are only so many they can eat. The blue jays have also been in the pumpkin field as are what I'm sure are tons of little critters enjoying the seed feast.

More signs of spring appear daily; flocks of geese and ducks, blackbirds, and lots of movement by non- migratory animals and birds. I've seen lots of deer moving around; with the grass peeking up they should be able to regain some weight they lost this winter. The coyotes have been howling up a storm most every night; perhaps they're celebrating the coming of warmer weather. They sound like they're right out behind the henhouse; although I'm sure they're not quite that close.

Here on the farm we fire up greenhouse number three this week. Greenhouse three is our newest greenhouse and by far the more efficient for heating. It's also our smallest greenhouse so it's the easiest to heat. We'll start some flowers this week and veggies next week. On a sunny day temps will reach 90 degrees in the morning in the greenhouses - what a great place to work!

The snow is mostly gone from the fields; exposing what we didn't get dome last year; lots of plastic out there to pull. I don't think I'd classify pulling plastic as a great job; not even a good one but in the spring it's not a bad job either. In the fall once the crops are done with, pulling plastic entails lifting wet and nasty plastic from "frozen soil in the morning to mud in the afternoon" fields. Rotting fruit covers the plastic; it's a cold, wet and miserable job anyway you cut it in the fall. In the spring however the weather is usually cooperative. A warm day with a light breeze makes all the difference in the world. The plastic pills easier and dries almost instantly. The fruits is gone or at least dried and flattened and the vines are pretty rotten so they break apart easily. Just do it before the blackflies come out.

Two or three weeks should see us into the field getting ready for spring planting. I don't think there's any frost in the ground; the snow seems to be melting and draining nicely this spring. April will be a good time to plant really early cool weather cover crops for the 2009 growing season. I've got some new peas to try and a possible new clover. I've also got some mixes in the back of my mind I'd like to do this year; mixes are very popular. I rarely plant one cover crop but usually use mixes; oats and clover, oats, peas and clover, soybeans and buckwheat and you get the picture.

I think I'll plant some peas for the local deer again this year. I planted about a quarter acre last year and they never got more than a few inches tall before the deer mowed them off; they like peas. I'll plant early this spring and then till under what's still there in early August and plant some turnips. I think I'll plant the turnips two to three weeks earlier to see if we can get more bulb size before cold weather strikes. Planting turnips for deer is not quite as refined as planting them to eat. Deer turnips seldom get weed or insect control, never get irrigation water and are at the mercy of the elements and we still expect them to grow and make bulbs that are going to freeze and die over the winter. Doesn't sound like much fun to me, but then again I'm not a turnip.

Until next week, Brian

What's New At The Farm? 3/25/09

I'm back.................. Hopefully for the duration.

What a difference two weeks makes! The snow is melting slowly so we should have no flooding this spring. I don't think there's much frost in the ground so we should be able to get on the ground at least as early as we did last spring.

Signs of spring abound; I saw two killdeer on Monday and some ducks on Saturday. The next five or six weeks are my favorite time of year. The birds are returning, buds are swelling and no black flies yet. As March winds down the threat of snow showers diminishes considerably as does the chances of a killing frost. Seems like only a short time ago I was harvesting in the garden and now it's time to start planning for this season.

Not quite so many potatoes this year; two people don't need four hundred pounds to get through the winter. More peas though. I dislike growing peas; too much work, but I must say I enjoyed them all winter, so, yes; I'll plant more this year. Not quite so many beets; beet greens don't freeze up very well and to tell you the truth I'm getting a little tired of them right about now and we still have 20 quarts left. Harvesting the Brussels sprouts this year should be a priority; more salad mixes and perhaps some staggered plantings of summer squash and zucchini.

More plastic mulch and more row covers this year. I think I'd like to plant some peppers and freeze them for winter time use. Not a lot; just enough though.

I think I'll build a new raised bed for a new patch of rhubarb. The old raised bed has rotted away and the chickens have taken over the rhubarb patch. Raised beds are nice for rhubarb because it comes up and thrives with the warmer temps more so than being on the ground. I've got to replace the raised beds around the house; the old ones are the better part of twenty five years old. The original ones were cedar but I think I'll use railroad ties this time around: use what you have you know.

Things here on the farm are gearing up for planting season. Lots of prep work in the greenhouses as planting is right around the corner. The warehouse is soon to be loaded with all kinds of planting goodies: potting mixes, fertilizers, row covers and plastic mulches. I need to do some ordering: planting stakes, tomato trellis supplies, irrigation needs and planting flats and the cover crop seed, at least the bulk of it will be ordered shortly as well. The field planning needs to happen soon; where all the crops are going to be planted this year. And finally, I've got to finish hiring crew for the 2009 growing season.

Lots to do; well, that's spring.

Until next week, enjoy the spring, Brian

What's New At The Farm? 3/04/09

The first of March brings promise that the unwavering changing of the seasons is upon us once more. Whilst we got belted with snow earlier this week, we know winters' back has been broken and spring is right around the corner. Oh sure; we'll have some spring storms; but that's just what they are - spring storms. No matter how hard they hit us we know they're here only for a short time. And speaking of time, I don't wish away time in anticipation of warmer temps and the sunny days of summer, but rather enjoy watching and being a part of the changing season. It's not so much about the temps and the long dry days of summer, but more about the changing that occurs around us. Winter can be a bit long, what with the endless storms and the short days (by far the worst thing about winter in Maine) but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Well, not at least for now.

The subtle signs of late winter are evident around but you may have to look a little harder than in mid-spring. Some of the things that I notice this time of year include ice fishing shacks being removed from the lakes and ponds, the channels and rivers opening up with a few hardy ducks occupying them and last year's wood piles are severely shrunken. The skunks are out and I've seen a few robins. Late last week I saw a woodchuck sitting on a snow bank looking somewhat bewildered. I look forward to a "normal" spring after somewhat of a "normal" winter.

As you might remember from last spring, we didn't have any frost in the ground so once the snow starting melting it was immediately absorbed. I don't see that happening this spring but I don't think there's much frost in the ground this year either. That's not my prediction for an early spring. Last year we plowed one particular field weeks before we could ever plow it; I'm not that optimistic this year, but Spring: It'll come and we'll be ready.

On another note, I went grocery shopping over the past weekend. Not a big deal, I know, but we seldom go. Between what we raise and store/freeze for winter we don't need to spend much time in a grocery store. There are however things we needed, so once in a while we make a trip of it, albeit a quick trip. Was I in for a surprise: prices have changed since I was last there! 200 bucks and the cart wasn't even full. Time to rethink my strategy for the garden this year and maybe make some changes around the ole homestead.

While searching for some frozen tofu (don't ask) that was on sale, I was amazed (perhaps shocked is more accurate) how much of the frozen food is already prepared; freezer to microwave to table; easy as that. The "need to cook" section was pretty small, mostly vegetables. Is everyone out there so busy they can't cook anymore? We enjoy cooking: using fresh or fresh frozen veggies, home grown chickens and eggs, and local wild-caught seafood.

I grew up on a dairy farm in central Maine and was blessed with large meals of meat and potatoes and plenty of home cooking. We didn't have a microwave, but we did have an electric stove, modern fridge and even a dishwasher. At one time there were my folks and three of their sons working the farm so we ate plenty. Often people would stop in at lunchtime as it was a good time to catch my father before we went back out into the fields; lunchtime was often a social event. Extra hands helping out in haying season also shared our table. Did I mention the home cooking? Lots of beef; we had our own supply, fresh veggies from the garden and homemade desserts like old fashioned apple pie - yes, all homemade.

The word "homemade" has been seriously overused and abused. I bought a chicken pie last year that was "homemade". I never had a homemade chicken pie like that. You could make a hundred pies out of one chicken. I'd say the first ingredient was water and the second was a thickener to thicken the water into something that resembled gravy. Chicken is relatively inexpensive so why skimp on it? And don't call it homemade unless it is - call it something like "about as far away from homemade as you can get". My next chicken pie came from a combination of the garden and the henhouse. That's homemade.

So, anyways, the trip to the grocery store got me thinking about raising an assortment of veggies this year and not relying on the sheer volume of certain crops. We don't need 50 quarts of green beans or 40 packages of beet greens. We need a diverse group of crops in which to pick from. We have carrots, beets, potatoes and onions in the root cellar; I think I'll add some cabbage and rutabagas. In the freezer we have Swiss chard and beet greens, green beans and shell and snap peas. There aren't a whole lot more veggies I can think of to put in the freezer that we like.

Next week: What about fresh greens in the winter and what to plant in the garden in 2009.

Brian

Johnny's on the Martha Stewart Show

Martha Stewart invited us to appear on her show to talk about the benefits and techniques of seed-starting and some of the tools we sell to help gardeners get an early start.

Watch seed-starting episode.

TV show: NECN visits Johnny's Winslow facility for spring gardening story