Planting Under way

Eat your greens!

It’s a very full share this week, mostly because of the greens still attached to your kohlrabi and root vegetables.  Root vegetables store best if you remove the greens so they do not continue to draw water out of the root.  But don’t toss them in the compost!  Beets, turnips and kohlrabi all have delicious greens.  Beet greens are similar to chard.  Like the turnips themselves, hakurei greens are sweet and mild and can also be eaten raw.  Kohlrabi greens are like kale or collards, being a close relative of those two greens.

Planting summer crops is underway

Good news!  The weather has been dry and we got some beds for planting summer crops made this weekend and have already started planting out tomatoes, cucumbers and squash.  I’ll have these beds filled in no time so now we just need MORE!  It is a major relief to see crowded greenhouse start to empty out.

Always trying new things

We are constantly trying new things and making changes.  Sometimes it is just a minor tweak.  I changed the spacing on the kale and the collards to give each plant more space and it has worked brilliantly.  The plants are looking better and harvest has been easier.

Sometimes it’s hard to remember to give myself credit for the successful changes, because I am already

thinking about new changes and tweaks and improvements.  Another winner has been a new system for transplanting beets.  Anyone who has worked here in early spring can tell you transplanting beets is no fun.  They form weak, sparse root systems and the transplants are impossible to get out of the trays.  To get enough root to plant, we have to leave them in the seed trays longer than we would like.  Enter the paperpot.  The paperpot is a paper seed grid that is filled with soil.  Since the paper is biodegradable, you just pick up the whole plug and plant it, paper and all.  It made transplanting the beet and chard (which has the same problems) a breeze!

What else have we tried this spring?  We have retired our antique tractor Rosie from her one remaining job of hilling potatoes due to a crack in her cast iron belly, and are using the big blue tractor.  Turns out the modern tractor is dramatically more efficient, although it is a bit sad to retire our old Farmall Cub.  To germinate carrots this spring, I covered them with silage tarps instead of fabric row cover in case we got a “gully washer”.  Heavy rains were the bane of our carrot crop spring and fall last year.  That worked well, and we are heading for an abundant carrot crop in June.

The jury is still out on our new tomato trellising trials in the high tunnel.  Another experiment that is just getting started is planting buckwheat in the pathways between beds instead of using wheat straw mulch.  Will it turn out to be a genius breakthrough or a huge mistake?  I’ll let you know in a couple of months.

Some of these great new ideas are a product of my own mind and Randy’s, but often we get ideas from other farmers.   Farmers are smart, creative and innovative people.  As a grower, we are always flattered when other growers ask us how we do something.  It means we are doing something right!  I don’t know many farmers who are protecting their trade secrets.  Most are happy to share – and show off – their successful ideas.   I get ideas from talking with other farmers in person or in online groups.  I also get ideas by following other farmers on social media.  I’ve already got some ideas borrowed from other farmers that I am itching to try out next year.  And you know I’ll be shouting it from the rooftops if our living mulch idea pans out.

Our csa

Small Shares

• Beets with Greens
• Muir Head Lettuce
• Arugula
• Hakurei Turnips with Greens
• Kohlrabi with Greens

• Beets with Greens
• Cabbage
• Muir Head Lettuce
• Arugula
• Hakurei Turnips with Greens
• Kohlrabi with Greens
• Chard