Hat Knitting and Creature Crochet Classes at Red Wagon Plants

Our friends at Lincoln Peak Vineyard have been holding knitting nights at their winery all winter long and have told us what a fun event it has been for them. I have been thinking about this all winter and imagining a group of people sitting around the cozy wood stove, sipping wine, and eating the famous flour-less chocolate cake. We often have customers, friends, and neighbors who want to come by the greenhouse and just hang out in the warmth and the greenery while winter still blows outside, so when I heard about Lincoln Peak's knitting nights, I thought wouldn't it be nice to offer people a chance to do something they love in a setting that is so special during these end-of winter days. I told my friend Meghan O'rourke about this and she very kindly offered to teach two classes in the greenhouses. Meghan is a very talented artist and craft person who will teach you to make something completely unique and full of your own personal touches. And you'll get to do it in the beauty of a greenhouse full of green, green life. Here is a description of the two classes:

Sunday, March 20th. 10 am to noon at Red Wagon Plants

Design and start a vertical ribbed cap

Knowledge of basic knit and purl stiches needed and a willingness to finish up the hat on your own. Learn how to size and pattern this classic, stylish and fitting cap for the cool spring days.  You need to bring 5 size 7 double pointed needles and at least two colors of the yarn of your choice, preferably a worsted weight.

Please call 482-4060 to register. $15 fee per participant. We will provide coffee, tea, and snacks. Space is limited, so please be sure to register

Meghan will be teaching a second class - a really exciting one. Check out what you will learn to make:

Saturday, March 26th, 10 am to noon at Red Wagon Plants

Crochet Your Own Creature

Learn the art of amigirumi, the Japanese art of creating cute crocheted creatures.  A basic knowledge of simple chain stitching is helpful (many tutorials are available online!!) Bring your own crochet hook and a favorite color of cotton yarn.  I will supply the eyes and stuffing!  Bonus: if you took the hat making class feel free to bring your project along for some finishing tips after we bring our cute creatures to life. Again, you will have a chance to relax in the Red Wagon Plants greenhouses.

Please call 482-4060 to register. $15 fee per participant. We will provide coffee, tea, and snacks. Space is limited, please preregister.

Starting your own Seeds

There are lots of times when people ask me why they should buy plants instead of just starting their own seeds. I always answer that plants need good light conditions, ventilation, great soil, proper watering, pest monitoring, and disease control. If they want to do all of that, then the plants will be just fine. It's really fun to see seeds germinate and pop up out of the soil, especially if you have kids in the house. The only problem with starting your own seeds is that if those steps are not all followed pretty well, you can end up with less than ideal plants, put them in the garden anyhow, and since they started life a little under duress, they won't thrive in the great outdoors where direct sun light, wind, disease pressure, temperature fluctuations and insect infestations await them. It's like raising children, the way they start out in life is really important to their overall health.  If you can't have the correct set up for seed starting, I would still encourage you to try something with your kids so that they can see the magic of emerging seeds. Even though I have seen this most of my life, thanks to an avid gardener for a father, my heart still flutters when I notice the first signs of life poking through the soil. Something in our mammalian brain is wired to be excited about new life, so please don't let the description of the "proper technique" turn you off from starting a few seeds at home. I am writing out the steps to proper home seed starting so that people who really want to improve their chances of a great garden can do so if they choose. And if it doesn't work out well, you can always find a few plants to purchase!

Get set up for proper seed starting.

Lights, soil, trays, water, air circulation.

• Lights are an important part of home seed starting. A south facing window is what most people use, but this isn't really sufficient since the plants will always stretch towards the light. Unless you are using grow lights that give light from directly above, the plants will stretch towards the light and become leggy. This weaker, stretched out growth makes the plants more vulnerable so that they will not fight off disease and insect pressure as much.  Here is a simple light structure that you can make at home using pvc pipe. If you click on the picture it will take you to the instructions.

• The trays you use should keep the water off the counter or table, but the plants should be grown in containers with drainage holes. At home, a simple way to do it is to use old cookie sheets or cafeteria trays to hold the plant containers.

• The soil you use should be light and made for potting plants and germinating seeds. We use only Vermont Compost Company' Fort Vee. It is a great all-around soil that feeds the plants through all of their life stages until they go in the ground. Wet the soil a bit so that it feels damp, but is not sopping or dripping wet. Fill the containers loosely and they very lightly pat the surface down so that it is smooth and level.

• Once your containers are filled, make a small dent in the surface of the soil with your finger or a the tip of a pencil or a chopstick.  Drop in a few seeds, the amount varies based on what it is you are starting, but as a starting point, try 3 or so seeds. When the plants are big enough, you will prick them out and put them in larger containers individually. Cover the seeds with a thin layer of dry soil and pat down gently. Water lightly so that the seeds have a chance to soak up the moisture but not so much that they float away.

• Once the seeds are planted, keep the soil moist. When the seeds germinate (those first leaf-like sprouts are called cotelydons), it is best to water only when the surface of the soil is dry. I cannot stress enough how important it is to water properly - overwatering leads to weak growth and creates conditions that are perfect for fungal diseases and insects like fungus gnats. Think tiny fruit flies that feed on decomposing organic matter. It is actually better to under-water than to over-water. Plants that are on the dry side will send out more roots to search for water and this bigger root system will benefit the plant once it is planted outside, in the ground.

• Air circulation is often the missing element in home seed starting. Having a regular air flow is what makes plant stems strong and sturdy. If you think about it, seeds did not evolve to germinate indoors - they are meant to be outdoor creatures primarily and we have to recreate some elements of their chosen environment when we force them to grow inside. A small oscillating fan is a good idea and will promote stronger stems and hardier plants.

Let us know if you try this or what your experience has been like with seed starting at home. We love to hear about your projects!

Perennials and Shrubs: Cutflowers, part 2.

Flowers for bouquets are often grown in their own gardens, in tidy straight rows, and exist not to beautify your yard, but to kick out lots of stems that are promptly cut just as the blossoms begin to unfurl. These "cutting gardens" are not necessarily the nicest to look at, but they sacrifice their beauty for the vase, where they can provide up to a few weeks of enjoyment in a portable format. If you lack the space for a proper cutting garden, you can always dip into the front yard flower beds for a stem or two and no one will know the difference but you. In fact, many perennials will produce for a longer season and in a more robust fashion if they have their stems cut now and then. Here are some favorite perennials and woody ornamental shrubs that are forgiving of the cutting shears and a boon in the bouquet.

• Japanese Willow  Salix Hakaro Nishiki.This is a stunning filler. Pink, green and white variegated foliage looks like delicate petals. Shrub willows always benefit from regular cutting and on this variety, the new growth is more pink and flashy.

Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight'. Most hydrangeas do really well in vases, they act as a delicate, feminine filler and are long lasting. Can be dried for everlasting arrangements as well.

• Physocarpus 'Summer Wine'. Another shrub that is well suite for bouquets. Arching, dark burgundy stems and leaves, pale pink/white blossoms that cover the stem and a sweet aroma make this a lovely addition to mixed bouquets. Cut the stems long for a dramatic effect .

• Salvia 'May Night'. A dark blue/purple with medium length stems. Cutting the stems low down near the crown of the plant will help to stimulate more blooms and will help control diseases by increasing air flow.

• Asclepias tuberosa. This orange-flowered cultivar of milkweed is taller than the native version, long lasting in vases, and does not mind a cut here or there in the least.

• Peony 'Sarah Bernhardt'. A pale pink bloom, nice in the vase as a simple combo with the dark burgundy stems of the  previously mentioned physocarpus shrub.

• Rudbeckia 'goldstrum'. A cheery late summer flower that is lovely with echinacea purperea, Salvia 'May Night' and even golden rod.

• Monarda 'gardenview scarlet'.  A cheery, red bee-balm that also benefits from frequent stem cuts. Anytime you cut out some foliage, air fow is increased and the risk of foliar disease is decreased.

• Phlox paniculata 'David'. A  delicate white addition to early- and mid- summer arrangements. Tall stems are great for drama and the divine fragrance really fills a whole room.

• Achillea 'Colorado' or 'Apricot Delight' or 'Sunny Seduction'. These are all well branched cultivars that produce an abundance of tall, wiry stems that are perfect for the vase. Early summer to mid summer blooming can be encouraged to bloom again in the fall with repeated pruning and cutting. Can be used in everlasting arrangements as well.

All of these shrubs and perennials can be found at our retail greenhouse in Hinesburg, but if you are not in the area, they are fairly common varieties, readily available in any well-stocked garden center. The varieties above are easy to grow and add beauty to your home with staggered bloom times, varying heights and light requirements. Let us know what some of your favorite perennials are for bouquets!And remember, if you are planning to grow your own flowers for an event (wedding?!), be flexible and have fun. Let the season and your climate guide you.

Enter at Your Own Risk: DIY Wedding Flowers. Part 1

Last summer, I must have helped at least half a dozen customers who were looking for some help in planting a garden specifically for home-grown wedding flowers. I often warn people that growing for a specific date is fairly technical and requires weekly plantings, regular harvesting all summer long to keep the plants blooming until the event, and most of all, a very flexible attitude. People who have a specific color scheme or variety in mind are not always good candidates for home grown wedding flowers since those types of flowers may be very hard to grow and getting the right color on the right day means planting about 10 times more than you think you will need in hopes that one of the plantings will be just perfect on the correct day. For those who are planning an event and are willing to look at the flowers as a fun and flexible component, then growing your own is a great option. I have listed below some varieties that are particularly well suite to a DIY flower program.  Full disclosure: I have talked about as many people out of growing their own wedding flowers as I have talked into doing it. It really is not a good fit for everyone, but for those who are willing and able, here is a little help to get you started....

ANNUALS

Verbena bonariensis - reliable and a lovely purple bloom with long wiry stems that hold up well to handling and mixing into all kinds of arrangements. Zinnias - come in all shapes and colors, are best suited for August or later. Require deadheading all summer long, but will branch out and be very productive once well established. Sunflowers - there are lots of sunflower varieties that are designed specifically for cut flowers. Some of our favorites are Giant Sungold Teddy Bear, Sunbright Supreme and Soraya. The only tricky thing is getting the timing just right. They only are perfect to harvest for about 10 days, after that their single blossoms start to drop their petals. Ageratum - blue,  can be tall if planted correctly - a little closer together. Needs deadheading all summer long if you are planning for a late summer or fall event. Very productive if well established and well taken care of. Agrostemma has a lovely, floating quality that gives a lot of life to mixed bouquets. It's airy and delicate, comes in purple or white and produces lots of good, long stems all summer long. Again, needs constant picking and deadheading to produce all summer long.

Ammi - this is a beautiful filler in mixed bouquets or in all-white arrangements. Easy to grow from transplants and produces, nice, tall stems.

Cosmos - come in a variety of textures and lengths, best suited for mid-August or later. While they are beautiful, they do take up a lot of room for not always a lot of stems.

Snapdragons - another multi-colored option or can also be grown as strains of single colors. We offer many options of snapdragons. The stems can sometimes be a little short, but with good fertility and 6" spacing, they will grow straight and tall.

Celosias - come in many shapes, sizes or colors. These are a hardy, easy to grow and more forgiving than others. And they can be dried for long-term keep sakes.

All of these annuals will give you a good place from which to start. Do-it-yourself flowers can always be supplemented with florist purchases the week of the event  if the budget allows it. We will cover more on home grown flowers in subsequent posts, so if this peaks your interest, please stay tuned. Part two will be about which perennials are easy to grow and use for cut flowers. Part Three will be about different tactics to make your cutting garden as prolific as possible.

The Very Fragrance

Hope Johnson, whom many of you know from our retail greenhouse, brought me this plant this summer, while muttering something about "bringing coals to Newcastle" and said it was a red morning glory she had started from seed.....well here it, a few months later, and just a beautiful morning riser. It only opens for a short while, maybe if it had been planted with mroe of a south eastern exposure it would stay open longer, but I just love it. It is a dark pink, not a true red (this often happens with flower color description), and the flowers are about the size of a silver dollar. Should we grow and sell this next year?

These Kennebecs have provided me with the most satisfying harvest of my potato growing life. They were planted in the best soil in my garden, the site of an compost pile, and I did not even hill them. They were virtually maintenance free save for some periodic weeding.

This corn was transplanted in late July from seeds that had been started in mid-July. I somehow did not make time for corn any earlier this year. As Elise and I transplanted, I kept wishing for some October corn and a warm fall. Well wishes do come true: while the ears are not terribly big, the flavor is sweet and the texture is just right. This has been going into a fabulous corn salsa recipe I have been canning.

This makes it all worth the toil. I heard this line from a Rilke poem yesterday:

Is not impermanence the very fragrance of this world?

A good thought for autumnal transitions.

On Vacations and Onions

Last week, I came back from our ocean vacation, the one during which I  tried not to think about the garden for a week. This was preceded by some fast and furious hours hoeing, weeding, mulching, watering and generally preparing all plants for a week of neglect. Everyone survived, tomatoes are in high production mode, spitting out ripe orbs faster than I can use them; and the peppers and eggplant are jumping into harvest baskets, big and ripe. Potatoes are ready to be dug, garlic is cured after a couple of weeks hanging from the barn rafters. Onions are next on the harvest and cure list. I never seem to have enough onions to last through the winter even though I plant so many of them each spring. I think the culprit this year was poor bed preparation prior to planting. I try to get onions in as soon as possible in April, the same time that coincides with peak greenhouse production and growing wholesale orders. So yes, once again, the onions are on the small side because we planted them into some soil that was a little compacted and not rich enough in composted donkey manure.  What do I love most about gardening? Being able to say, "there is always next year."

Onions: harvest the onions by pulling up the whole plant once the tops die back and start to lie on the ground. It's best to pull them up on a sunny, breezy day so that they can spend a few hours drying in the sunshine and wind. Before night falls, on that same day, bring them inside, out of direct sunlight so that they may cure for a few weeks. The curing process is what turns the outside layer of the onion into the paper-like skin. This outer layer, when dried properly, is what gives onions their real staying power as a storage crop. It is best to place onions in an airy, dark place - a garage with airflow but no direct light, an attic with air circulation, a shed, or even an extra bedroom with the curtains drawn and the windows open. You can braid the onion tops, bundle them into bunches and hang them up from the ceiling or rafters. You can also leave them in a single layer on the floor, but they must be turned over at least once a week. Once the tops are completely dried and the outer layer is paper-like, you can pull off the tops and store the onions in baskets, brown paper bags (with slits cut for ventilation), milk crates, apple crates, or cardboard boxes. Again, the important thing is to make sure the onions are in a dark place and it is well ventilated. Basements are often too humid for onion storage. In the winter, onions can go down to the low thirties and be fine. Colder temperatures better for onion storage than warmth with the ideal storage temperature being 35 to 45 degrees F.

Impatient Tomato Tastings

The first tomatoes of the season are always a bit of an anti-climax. We wait all year for the fruit to come out of the back yard as opposed to some distant clime, and then take a bite. It's not as sweet as the memory, not as drippingly hot and gushy as the movie running through my brain. The first tomatoes aren't the best ones. That is all there is to it. I tend to pick them a little early, eager for a bite and am met with a disappointing crunch when there should be a mush. In a week or two, I won't be so impatient, the vines will be dripping with ripe fruit, and I will eat them three meals a day, going from scarcity to abundance in a flash. Soon, every slice of bread will be adorned with a smear of mayo (the junky kind, not the healthy kind. Sorry) a thick, red, juicy slice of tomato and a sprinkle of good salt. This will be all I eat for a while. I know it's coming. But for now, I decided to document the earlier tomatoes and taste them, giving them a ritualistic importance of sorts. I try to put blinders on in the face of their slight un-ripeneness and photograph them, carefully laid out on the counter. Soon there will be baskets of tomatoes, heaping, unnamed and tangled together. But for now. We will carefully label, taste, and report. Here goes.

Pink Beauty is just an iconic tomato - it always perfectly shaped, blemish free and has an almost electric dark pink hue. The Purple Russians tend to crack a little, but nothing too detrimental (their good sides are showing for the photo shoot). The Juliet, as many of you know, is my favorite all-around tomato. It has huge yields of oval fruit that are great raw, for snacking, salads, sandwiches, and salsa (not too watery); but the real charm is that they work really well as a cooked sauce tomato too. The Viva Italia is a very pretty paste tomato - early and blemish free and very disease resistant. The Glacier is an heirloom, super early, does well in very cold climates (Huntington, Lincoln, Ripton - no problem), and is the one tomato you will be eating weeks before others ripen.

We tried them all, carefully slicing, chewing, thinking.....

All were slightly under-ripe and slightly lacked that "I've been baking in the hot sun" flavor and texture. We have had some rain the past couple of days, and the flavor is affected by that. But they were good - not middle of August good, but good. The Pink Beauty has a really nice balance of sweet and acid flavors, a slippery, silky texture and makes beautiful shiny slices.

The Purple Russian was a winner, flavor wise and texture wise. It is juicy, especially for a paste tomato, and has the most buttery complex taste that lingers on the tongue and leaves me wanting more. The plants are nothing pretty - they always look shaggy and stringy somehow, so I have never gotten too excited about putting them in my garden, but customers rave about them, and now I know why. Sweet, unctuous and complex. A new favorite and you will hear me raving about this one in the greenhouse next year. It would be perfect raw or cooked, and I am sure any sauce made from these would be a deep purple red color.

The Juliets were a little bland compared to the first two, but still full of good, bright flavor - lively on the tongue and a nice meaty texture.

Viva Italia were lacking in distinctive flavor (a little too acidic for my taste), but in all fairness,  they are much nicer when cooked. We will have to do another taste test with just paste tomatoes, cooked simply in some olive oil and lightly salted.

The Glacier is cute as a button: plump little orbs, slightly mis-shapen and full humble darlingness. The flavor is great for an early tomato - they are a little bigger than a cherry tomato, can be sliced for salads or sandwiches or cooked down for a quick sauce. They tend to ripen 3 or 4 at a time, a nice feature since they are so small and just one of them won't take you far. I would put this at the top of the list for early tomatoes. But if you only have room for a couple of plants, there could be some better choices.

I would love to hear what you are loving or not loving in your tomato selections. Any varieties you want to recommend for next year? Any you think should be discontinued? Let us know. And we love pictures! I will do this taste test again, later, when the plants are loaded and the fruit is at peak flavor!

Garden Tips: Tomato Planting

Now that tomato planting weather is upon us, I want to write a little about some questions we often receive from customers. One of them is "When can I plant tomatoes?"

Tomatoes are best planted when the soil is warm (night time temperatures are 50F or above) and all danger of frost has gone by. In Burlington that is generally the end of May or the first week in June.  The best planting method for tomatoes involves digging a shallow trench and laying them in it. You can break off the leaves on the bottom 2/3 of the plant and bury the whole stem horizontally in the warm top layer of soil. The buried stem will turn into a huge and healthy root system. The top of the plant is gently bent upwards and soil is patted around the base.  Tomatoes must be trellised for best results; it keeps the plant healthy, off the ground, and the fruit stays clean.

Here are some photos of a tomato planting that happened recently in our display garden:

The language that describes tomato plants can be a little confusing. Here are a few tomato terms explained: Hybrid - a tomato that is a cross between two different types of tomatoes. Seeds from these tomatoes will not grow out true to type, but will revert back to one of the parent tomato varieties. Hybrids are not genetically modified, they are just a simple cross between two types. For example, one tomato with good disease resistance is crossed with another variety that is known for good flavor in hopes of producing a healthy yet tasty tomato. Some of our favorite hybrids are Big Beef and Early Girl. Open Pollinated - a tomato that is the product of two parents that are the same variety. The seeds from these tomatoes will be true to type. All of our "heirloom" tomatoes are open pollinated and the seeds could be saved from those fruit. Heirloom - a variety with a story. These are plants which have been handed down, brought to the new world in various ways, found in distant parts, or in your neighbors back yard. These are all open pollinated. Heirloom is not a botanical terms, it just means that it is an older variety with a lot of flavor or other appealing characteristic like color of shape. Sometimes heirlooms are less disease resistant than hybrids, but they make up for it with flavor. Heirlooms are sought after by home gardeners since those types of tomatoes are not found in conventional grocery stores. Around here they are easily purchased at farmers markets, but it is always nice to eat something harvested just seconds ago from your own garden. Determinate - a tomato that only grows to a certain height and then all of the fruit ripen at once and then the plant dies. This is a good option for people who can or freeze tomatoes so that they will have a big batch ready to use all at once. Some of our favorite determinate tomatoes are Glacier (which is also an heirloom and very early to boot) and Celebrity. Indeterminate - a tomato that grows and grows, with the fruit ripening in various stages. The plant grows until it is killed by frost or disease. In a warm climate these plants would grow into woody vines.  Most of the tomatoes we grow are indeterminate. They require staking or cages, and there are many different methods for doing so. I've seen hockey sticks used in community gardens in Montreal!  Concrete reinforcement wire can be cut into 6 foot sections and bent into a tube shape - this makes once of the strongest and largest cages possible. There are lots of great trellising and caging systems available at Gardeners' Supply Company and your local hardware store will have simple wooden stakes and twine. Professional vegetable growers oftenuse a method called "bakset weaving" which is simple, efficient and affordable.  Here is a description from the University of New Hampshire Extension Service:

•Remove suckers (new shoots that develop in the leaf axils) before they reach an inch in length. • Leave the first sucker that grows below the first flower cluster, removing all others below the first flower cluster; allow suckers above first flower cluster to grow. • Pinch off tops once plants reach a few inches above stake. • Use 4 ft. sturdy wooden stakes, with double stakes at end of each row for strength. • Set stakes six inches deep, one stake for every two plants, as soon as seedlings are transplanted. • Begin supporting tomato seedlings after they have set the first flower clusters. • Tie sturdy, untreated twine at one end of row, about 18” up from soil level. Weave twine between tomato plants, wrapping twice around each stake down the row. After reaching the end- stakes, weave twine back up the row in the opposite direction, alternating with the weave-pattern of the first strand so each plant stem is encircled by twine. • As plants grow, weave another layer of twine every 6-8 inches to keep plants well supported. Four layers of twine will support most varieties.

Hope this information helps, and as always feel free to stop by our greenhouses where our staff can always talk to your about your tomato growing concerns. Happy gardening!

Spring Time and Season Extension

We are busy happily working in the greenhouses! Early spring is an active time for seed planting. Some vegetables need to be planted in  a greenhouse and nurtured along as the Vermont summer is just not long enough for them to be planted directly in the garden. The germination of the earliest vegetables is a thrill to us and we know that they will thrill you in your gardens. With a few simple strategies for season extension, Spring can  be a rewarding time to see a few early flowers and even to grow some cold tolerant greens. Containers are a great way to do this. They can be kept indoors on the coldest days and nights, covered up with row covers, blankets or plastic sheeting on the mildly cold nights, and left out all day and night once the weather permits. Any crate, or large pot with holes in the bottom can be filled with good quality potting soil such as Vermont Compost Company?s “Fort V” and then planted with an array of salad greens and edible blossoms such as pansies that you can cut from once they reach a few inches high. You can cut and harvest these plants and allow them to re-grow for multiple harvests, allowing you a gorgeous salad while it is still too cold to be out in the garden.

As soon as the soil can be worked in your garden, it is possible to get a jump on our seemingly late warm weather by building a simple shelter out of Number 9 gauge wire and some row cover or even old blankets and plastic sheeting. If you cut the wire into 6 foot lengths, plant each end into the ground (making a hoop) and repeat every few feet, you now have a very quick and easy tunnel frame upon which to drape your fabric. This creates a lovely shelter for some very hardy greens. With this type of simple tunnel, a version of a cold frame, it is most important to cover it at night and uncover it in the morning. The plants can get very hot unless you use special row cover designed to stay on night and day.

The most cold tolerant food crops we can grow here are things like kale, spinach, collards, arugula, mustard greens, mache (corn salad), and many herbs such as cilantro, dill, sorrel, and chives. Certain lettuces are very cold hardy, but they cannot take the frost quite as well as the plants mentioned above--good cold hardy varieties include the French heirlooms, “Reines des Glaces” and “Merveiles des Quatres Saisons.” These most tender and delicate looking lettuces can take quite a beating when it comes to cold weather. Overall, early spring is a great time to satisfy the need for green, fresh foods that are grown locally after a long winer of leafy foods trucked in from far away. The difference in taste and the level of satisfaction you will experience is well worth the effort.

Cuba

I recently took a trip to the city of Havana, Cuba with the hope of seeing some of the urban agriculture I had heard so much about. First a little background: the Cuban economy was sent into a complete crisis when the Soviet system collapsed and they lost access to a major trading partner. All exports and imports ground to a screeching halt and Cubans entered what they call the "Special Period." It was during this time that Cuban agriculture shifted from an industrial, chemical intensive model to a more diversified, small scale and organic model. The learning curve was steep out of sheer necessity and now Cuba can show examples of organic agriculture at its best, in spite of the ongoing US embargo. Under the Castro system, Cuban farmers may produce some of their own crops to sell at farmers' markets; this makes farmers one of the few groups that are able to have their own small enterprise since most businesses in Cuba are owned by the government. I was extremely lucky to be able to visit the famous Alamar Organiponico in Havana. This is one of the most innovative, organic vegetable farms I have ever seen and seems to have incredible high yields off of a relatively small parcel of land (roughly 20 acres). The Alamar Organiponico is a Basic Unit of Production, which in Cuban terms means that the land is owned by the government but the produce and its proceeds are owned by the workers who work cooperatively and share the profit. With the help of translator and friend, Majel Reyes, I met with the director of the Organiponico, Miguel Salcines Lopez. He explained to us that when agriculture in Cuba was industrial and monocrop systems only, with high levels of mechanization, many rural people left the countryside because their labor had been replaced by machines and subsistence agriculture was no longer possible. This great influx into the cities made for a new cultural outlook that disdained agrarian life. Part of the importance of the Alamar project is to create a type of agriculture that is human scaled and rewarding on all levels: financial, physical and spiritual. He believes strongly that if the people do not find meaning and beauty in their work, then the plants and crops will suffer.

Mr. Salcines was trained as an agronomist and worked for the government in a bureaucratic job for most of his career but said his soul woke up once he was able to work on the organiponico. His joy and enthusiasm seemed contagious. The farm consists of greenhouses, screenhouses, tropical ornamental plant nurseries, small scale forage crops, composting facility, vermiculture facility, a cafe, a farmstand, and a value added facility. Every crop we saw was a healthy bursting splash of green. Most crops are grown in raised beds with four rotations per year. Since the land is farmed so intensively, soil rejuvenation is constantly in motion with the addition of worm castings, compost, and soil innoculated with  mychorrizal fungi (a beneficial fungus which is produced on site).

All of their field transplants are grown on site and their potting soil is mixed on site. It is made up of rice hulls, worm castings, and compost.

As you can see, plant spacing is very tight, but because of careful crop rotation, use of beneficial insects, and attention to soil health, disease and insect pressure is at a minimum. I was surprised to see that crops showed no sign of disease or stress in spite of the tight spacing and lack of air circulation between plants.

There are more photos available here. I encourage everyone to consider the possibility of going to Cuba. Americans can go legally under a general license if they are conducting research pertaining to their profession. Seeing a country where the people are at once poor yet highly educated with access to all kinds of arts and culture is a truly illuminating experience. The warmth and intelligence of all the Cubans we met was a life changing experience and one that I hope to repeat.  Cuba libre!

Marigolds

Tiger Eye French Marigold

Marigolds are one of my favorite plants and I find myself often defending them. They have a reputation for being stodgy and boring, and while they are certainly ubiquitous, there are plenty of interesting varieties out there that no one needs to get bored with them.  Discoveries of unusual marigolds continue to delight me as I peruse catalogs and put the finishing touches on our seeding plans.

he first European discovery of them was by the Portuguese in Central America. I am not sure if they were cultivated by Native Americans, or just growing wild, but they were no doubt appreciated. The Portuguese brought them to Europe and India. Now they are used widely throughout the world for ornamental, medicinal, ritual, and culinary purposes. All marigolds are edible, but the small flowere tagetes type, like the gem series are best used for this purpose.

I am working out the timing of all our marigold varieties. Doing the timing means figuring out when to plant them, how often to plant them and what kind of pot they should end up in. When you buy marigolds, they usually come in 4 packs or 6 packs, and have often by treated with a hormone that induces them to bloom on short stems so that you know what they will look like once planted.

We don't use any kind of hormone sprays or growth regulators. So sometimes, we sell marigolds and other annuals while they are still green, without blooms. It involves a little more work because we have to have pictures of the marigolds around the greenhouse and we have to explain why we do it, but really it much better than using  a bunch of chemicals.

Here are some of the new varieties we are doing this year.

I really love marigolds. I know that they are not unusual or rare, but they fire up some sort of ofalctory memory center for me. Maybe my grandmother had them, or my parents planted them. I have no visual memory of them that is as strong as the scent memory. Their pungent, almost citrus-like aroma is a deterent to some and appealing to others. How do you feel about marigolds?

Anyhow, here are a few that I am excited about.

crackerjack Mix Marigold

Creamy Vanilla African Marigold

French Bonanza Flame Marigold

Jolly Jester Marigold

This last one is, Jolly Jester, is one of my favorites. It is about 4 feet tall, and not at all a typical marigold. The striped blooms are a contrasting play of lively yellow and deep orange, and they sway gently in the breeze. They do not at all have the stiff appearance of many marigolds and kids just love them. This is an old-fashioned variety - we find the seeds at Seed Savers Exchange which specializes in heirloom seeds of harder to find plants. 97 of our 679 varieties come from them.

Plants for Honey Bees

Calendula

Cleome

Cosmos

Heliotrope

Hyacinth Bean Vine

Salvia

Mints

Scarlet Runner Bean

Sorghum

Basils

Borage

Catnip

Chamomile

Chives

Cilantro

Dill

Germander

Lavender

marjoram

Oregano

Rosemary

Sage

Thyme

Savory

Clematis

Dicentra (Bleeding Heart)

Eupatorium (Joe Pye Weed)

Verbena bonariensis

Lemon Balm

Asclepias

Liatris

Ajuga

Allysum

Echinacea

Perovskia (Russian Sage)

Nepeta

Salix (Willows)

Sambucus (Elderberry)

Physocarpus (Nine Bark)

Lyng's Giant Grey Stripe Sunflower

Fennel, Bronze Leaf

In general, bees like plants whose colors have alot of contrast and they go out to feed off one type of plant at a time, so it is a good idea to plant multiple plants of one type in an area. Creating a pollinator friendly garden will not only help the bees, but will also help your yields in the vegetable and fruit garden. The more pollinators come visiting the better your results...you will see it in the fruit set of squashes, cucumbers, melons, etc. Pollinator gardens help the bees, help our food supply and add beauty to our worlds.

Please visit the resources section of our garden journal for a growing list of resources pertaining to bees and pollination.

Salix nana or the Willow Wonder

Certain plants look just right in the snow, and since I am home so much more in the winter than in the summer, I like to make sure there is some winter appeal to our gardens. We have a hedgerow of Salix nana, or Arctic Blue Willow. They are a fast growing plant, perfect for privacy screens, bird habitat and bee forage.

Here is the same shrub in winter. I love how the snow just hangs in the branches. Birds perch here and get out of the wind. And the twiggy nature of these willows keeps them well employed as a privacy screen all year long.

A Time of Acceptance

I love garlic planting time.  You can really learn a lot about your soil when it is fall and the garden has spent a summer being tended (or not).  This is the second burst of good intentions, the first one being the entire month of May when ideas run ecstatically through the garden plan .  Garden cleanup is a confessional time in the gardening calendar. It is a time to look at mistakes, assess and swear to never make them again, renew your commitment to gardening, and prepare to let the passage of a long winter slowly rekindle your optimism for that spring burst.   Or you can  just learn to live with your shortcomings and realize that the garden is a very forgiving place, where perfection, motivation, and execution don't have to be the priorities.  In other words, it's time to take the pressure off.  There is so much of it in our lives, why not let the garden be a place where we accept and embrace imperfection. Garlic planting is a perfect way to mark the impending doom of winter and the shortening days.  Tucking those fat cloves deep into the earth, I feel unbounded optimism, a deep sense of satisfaction that I am punctuating the calendar with an earthy tradition, full of meaning and metaphor.  The garden is a great place to create your own traditions that are in step with changing seasons; it's a place of rituals that are private and intimate,  between you and your dirt. When I plant garlic, I imagine winter as a time to prepare for spring, as a passage in the circular cycle.  The thought of those cloves, tucked into their bed and nestled in straw, remind me that it is alright to take time to just rest and renew come those cold and bleak days.

I always start by selecting a site for the garlic that will benefit both the garden, the garlic and future crops.  Garlic brings a full  9 months of cultivation to the garden, much more than other vegetable plantings.  With it also comes a deep soil work up, a thick layer of composted manure, and another thick layer of straw.  These are all great ways to treat your soil and whatever is planted in that spot, in your garden's future, will feel the love.  As part of my garden rotation, I spend the winter imagining what will be planted where the garlic once stood, which crop will benefit from the extra organic matter and nutrients and care that the garlic received.  Many people think that garlic is a healing food with all sorts of immune boosting properties....I think it does the same type of work in the garden.  Once again, I am reminded of the way gardening is a microcosm of life and of the body, following the cycle not just of the seasons, but also, of growth and acceptance.

The Rototiller and the Gym

Every year, around October, I join a local gym and start to do arduous things indoors.  I don't love to exercise indoors, but it's a way to keep myself from going a little batty and  it means I can't use our foul weather as an excuse.  This year though, I am waiting a little longer to submit myself to the four walls and the machines and instead I am tilling my garden by hand.  With a fork.  You may be asking, what, pray tell has come over her? Well, two things....rototilling is bad for your soil and, yes,  I like the workout.  Those rototiller tines break up the titlth and structure of your soil, churning everything up too finely and forcing all of the organic matter to decompose too quickly, thereby not leaving the nutrients in the ground for next year's plants.  It also only works the top layer of the soil and leaves an untouched hard pan just a few inches below the surface--not ideal for root crops or any plant with a tap root. You can read about no-till agriculture here and here.  It is the newish trend in organic farming systems that copy how things were done a long time ago, before big farm machinery,  and has been proven to reduce carbon emissions by using fewer fossil fuels, and by storing carbon in plants rather than by losing it to the atmosphere when plant matter breaks down too quickly.  All this sounds like a great reason to park the rototiller permanently, but the truth is, I do it for other reasons as well.  I don't own a rottotiller; I don't like having to ask someone to do it, and I like the messy workout.  Here's how I did it this year. Back in the spring, I invested in about 20 bales of straw.  My garden is broken up into an odd assortment of rectangles connected with meandering paths.  It is a place that encourages inefficient wandering and discourages straight ahead speed. I love my garden for these qualities that make it an antithesis to the hassle and bustle of most days. And it's another reason a machine just doesn't work for me: I don't want one big rectangle with a bunch of straight rows.  Rather, I like my garden to have a series of mini gardens with their own mini rows and blocks. It makes for a beautiful patchwork quilt of vegetables.  So when I started to plant everything back in April and May, I covered up the paths and all the bare soil around the plants with lots of straw.  This did a great job of keeping down weeds and limiting the amount of water the plants needed.  I added more straw and pulled a weed here and there, but for the most part, found that the initial investment more than paid for itself in time spent swimming.

Now that the plants are done, I am going through and cutting down dead stalks, composting them in a corner along with some of Rosie and Pokey's donkey manure.  For crops that can be planted in fairly coarse soil, I will just leave the straw in place and come next spring, I will push the straw away, add a big scoop of compost, incorporate compost and soil, dig a little hoel,  and plant right into that.  I will add more straw too since so much of it will break down over the winter.

For prepping areas where I am going to be seeding first thing in the spring, I'll need a finer bed preparation which will be done in two phases.  Fall phase, now, is to push away the straw, churn up the soil with a four pronged pitchfork, smash it up a little, rake it smooth, and place the straw back on top.  This keeps the soil in place and does not allow erosion to do its thing.  Come April, I will push the straw back yet again, hoe and rake the bed to make the top layer of soil fine and not too chunky, and plant some seeds in little furrows.  The straw just waits in piles along the edge of the rectangle and gets spread out again once the seeded plants are about 6" to 8" high.  This requires a little weeding around the plants in between straw replacement times, but it's not too much.

This sounds like a lot of work, but it saves time come spring to prep as much of the garden as possible now.  I really like the benefit of seeing the soil texture improve year to year and each little rectangle of my garden seems to have its own characteristics.  It all feels very wholistic, a little messy, and not at all perfect.  I don't feel bad when some weeds get through the system because I will just pull them out or chop them down and layer them into the accumulated straw.  It's about your mulch being part of your fertility plan and it is about gadening without guilt.  The gym can wait another month while I play in the dirt a little longer.

Extra! Extra! 85 pounds of food from one plant.

Help!  Today has brought in a rainy September morning and a houseful of the ubiquitous butternut squash.   I just can't believe that one plant could produce 17 (!!!) giant squashes (85 pounds).   Some will go to the food shelf and some will go to friends (watch out). The truth is, I thought that I had planted delicata squash, which is my favorite, not butternut.  Whoops.  Soups, gratins, and stuffed squash will be on our table this fall and, thankfully, the squashes keep well into winter, but I am sure my people will be tired of eating butternut long before it runs out. Here is a recipe I love, and it will use up about 1/17th of my harvest....

Butternut, Cheddar and Sage Gratin

This needs only a green salad.  It's a hearty dish.

• one peeled and cubed (1/2" or so) butternut squash
• 1 TBS butter
• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
• 1 clove of garlic minced or pressed
• 1/4 cup of finely sliced, fresh sage leaves
• a drizzle of olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 c heavy cream
• 6 oz grated cheddar cheese (I like sharp)

Preheat oven to 350.

Melt butter in a cast iron or other heavy skillet.  Over medium heat, add onion to melted butter and stir until it begins to soften (about 4 minutes). Add sage leaves and garlic.  Drizzle in some olive oil (about 1 or 2 TBS) and stir until fragrant and onions start to caramelize. (About 12 minutes)

Add squash to a butter or oiled 9 x 13" baking dish.  Toss in the onion and sage mixture, the cream, and salt and pepper to taste. Use your hands or utensils to get a good blend of all the ingredients.  Cover with foil and bake in preheated oven for about 40 minutes.  Take out the dish, remove the foil, turn up the oven to 450, cover squash with the cheddar cheese and return to oven until brown and bubbly, about another 20 to 30 minutes.  You can even turn on the broiler for a minute or two at the end to really make the top brown.

This freezes well.  It's great for potlucks and any other time you want to feed a crowd.

Planting the Perfect Pumpkin

We all want that giant, magical pumpkin come harvest time.  Here are a few tips to get you there.  Pumpkins are related to cucumbers, melons, summer squash, zucchini, and winter squashes and all of the vegetables in this family will benefit from this treatment. Warm soil. In Vermont wait until early June to put out the plants--a good rule of thumb is to wait until we have had a few nights above 50 F degrees. Transplants do better than seeds since you will have a head start on the season and don't risk having seeds rot in cold soil or be eaten by the local rodent.  It's best to keep two plants together when transplanting since the larger volume of foliage will help shade out weeds later in the season.

A raised bed or mound. This will help warm the soil and improve drainage.  It also gives the plants' shallow roots a place full or looser soil to spread without strain.

Lots of fertility. Compost is a  must for successful pumpkins, squashes, cucumbers and melons.  At home, we use rotted donkey manure (thanks to Pokey and Rosy) mixed with well composted yard debris (leaves, grass clippings) and food scraps.  More can be learned about compost at the Vermont Compost Company website.  A little granular fertilizer can be used as well if you do not have access to good compost and/or very poor soils.  A soil test is always a good idea, and can be done easily at your local extension office.

Adequate water. One inch a week.  That means that if it does not rain, you should gently pour about 3 gallons of water at the base of your plants.  A slow drip irrigation system or soaker hose is a great option as well.

Full sun. There is no compromise on this one.  The plants must have at least 8 to 10 hours of full sunlight.

Lots of room.  Plants (actually, groups of 2 plants) should be at least 3 feet apart. They need that much space for proper ventilation and so that the flowers and foliage are exposed to pollinators and sunlight.

Pollination. Plant a few bee friendly plants such as calendula, borage, mint and salvias around your garden to attract bees and other beneficial insects.  Cucurbit plants have male and female flowers on each plant and have to be pollinated by insects.  Welcoming bees to your garden will help yields since more female flowers will become pollinated--the only way for them to produce fruit.

Harvest at the right time. Winter squashes and pumpkins should be harvested when the skins are hard and cannot be pierced by your thumbnail.  Summer squashes and cucumbers and zucchini should be harvested at whatever stage you like to eat them, from baby to baseball bats.  Watermelons are harvested when the tendrils on either side of the attaching stem are dead and the yellow spot on the bottom of the fruit (where it rests on the ground) is a deep yellow, and when thunking the fruit with your knuckle produces a hollow sound.  Cantaloupes are ready when they slip off the vine with a gentle tug (called the "half slip stage").  Melons take a little trial and error to learn to harvest at the right time, but a good rule of thumb is "if in doubt, wait."

Don't Fear Frost! Extending Your Growing Season

Here in Vermont, we can count on just a few frost-free months. But with a little bit of planning, strategic planting, and getting the right tools, you can harvest through a bit of frost and snow. But by planning out crop planting so that crops are mature before the short days and cold weather hits, you can then protect them and harvest them well into winter.

Row covers such as reemay are usually used with hoops made of #9 gauge wire so that the fabric does not rest right on the plants. These covers breath and come in various weights. They allow light and water in, but raise the temperature of the soil and air inside the cover.

Cold frames are simple boxes that are filled with good quality soil and are covered with windows (called "lights") or clear plexiglass or sometimes plastic. They are used for season extension, plant protection, as mini-greenhouses, and as a place to overwinter tender perennials. The covers are closed at night and opened on sunny days. Lettuce, spinach, hardy greens, and herbs can be grown most of the winter in a hot bed with a south facing light. "Hot beds" are deep cold frames that hold a thick layer of manure below the soil. As the manure decomposes, it lets out a tremendous amount of heat which keeps the frame very warm at night even in the winter. Cold frames can be made out of wood, straw, stone, concrete with old storm windows on hinges. The windows must be small enough that they can be opened and closed easily by raising them up and propping them with a stick.

Straw mulch is a great way to extend the season for vegetables such as kale, spinach, carrots, beets and other root crops. Once the crops are matured, a very thick layer of straw around the base of the plants will keep the ground from freezing so that the roots may still be harvested. The straw also keeps the top of the crops from freezing in extreme temperatures. Spinach can be overwintered under straw so that an early spring crop can be eaten. Kale lasts well into winter and is also helped by a deep straw layer so that the cold wind does not completely dessicate the leaves.

Every home garden has microclimates. It is a good idea to take advantage of these when planning the fall garden. A south-facing foundation wall is a great place to prep a small area for greens and herbs that will be well sheltered from cold, northern winds. It's a good place to situate a cold frame as well and to plant it with radishes, greens, and other crops that will benefit from the micro climate.

Containers are another great way to extend the season. Herbs, greens and lettuces can be planted in pots, apple crates, milk crates, or window boxes and moved inside when the weather gets too cold. While they might not last all winter long, they will certainly give you some fresh eating for a few months longer...all you need is a sunny spot or some simple grow lights. Thyme, parsley, rosemary, and sage all do well in containers in the home and will last all winter. Kale and lettuce will last up to 5 or 6 weeks longer than they would outdoors.

Photograph by One Green Generation . Creative Commons license.