I just attended my sixth Winterfare ! got to do my small part, giving a talk about the basics of extending the growing season, but mostly I just enjoyed the crowds, visiting with people I haven’t seen in a while and marveling at all the fresh produce that is available in February in Franklin County. Of course I shopped, too. Carrots, onions, salad greens, apples and salad toppers, a flat of arugula that I can snip over the…
Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how fast does your garden grow? The 208 page Speedy Vegetable Garden by Mark Diacono and Lia Leendertz (Timber Press) will give you a whole new view of how fast you can grow something to eat. This means we can keep some food growing all year long, if only on our windowsill. Impatient children will find that they can harvest some greens in less than two weeks. I have grown sprouts in my kitchen…
Saturday more I went down to Greenfield for Winterfare - always a delcicous success. People in our area are so happy to be able to buy fresh vegetables directly from farmers, even in winter. Of course, this winter farmer's market isn't limited to vegetables. Real Pickles had a booth selling - Pickles! Sunrise Farm was selling maple syrup, Apex Orchards was selling apples, Warm Colors Apiary was selling honey and other bee products, Barberic Farm was selling lamb…
What is a hybrid vegetable? Hybrids are compatible plants that have been intentionally cross pollinated to create a plant that will combine the best attributes of both parents. This thoughtful work by plant breeders or hybridizers has brought us hundreds of new vegetable varieties that have more disease resistance, heat resistance, different coloring, or some other desirable trait. Hybrids have been created over the eons when plants naturally cross pollinated because pollen had been carried by the…
One beautiful day this fall I was driving around doing my errands when I passed a farmhouse shaded by trees. I was forcefully struck by the beauty of the well kept house in a peaceful shade. I was also struck by the thought that this is what prosperity looks like. As we have traveled through the political campaign season, and the harvest season on our way to Thanksgiving I cannot help thinking about what it means to be…
When we finished the remodel of our kitchen a few months ago I took Mr and Mrs Vegetable out of the drawer where they have been living for the past two decades. I remember these from my childhood when they hung on the kitchen wall in New York when I was about five (1945) and then in the farm kitchen in Charlotte, Vermont. My brothers and I found them in a big storage closet along with our childhood…
We had our first frost last night. It was not a heavy frost, but the lawn was slightly frosted and the temperature was 37 degrees at 6:30 am. It was severe enough to kill the tomatoes and squash, but nothing else was much affected. Even the basic in front of the house, where it is protected, wasn't nipped. The sun is brilliant today although probably not as hot as the Arizona sun. The frost quickly melted. These petunias…
Tillage radish is a cover crop I had never heard of until this summer. One of the amazing things about the tillage radish is its rapid growth. After my neighbor Rol harvested his garlic he planted this bed to tillage radishes in mid-July. Already the wide row is completely covered with lush foliage that will die down once we have a killing frost. The long daikon radish roots that have developed will also rot over the course of…
Spring planting did not go happily for me what with the rabbits coming along and eating each little shoot as it came up. Since spring we have added new resources – a big fence around the vegetable garden, and row covers. Therefore I am going to try for a fall crop in ways that I have not before. I took a look at the seeds I have leftover from the spring and realized that many of them can…
Rol's vegetable garden is one of the wonders of Heath. His is one of two very different gardens that I visited last week. My neighbor Rol is the garlic and onion king. This spring he coordinated a group order of onions from Dixondale Farm. I bought 60, and though we planted at the same time I can tell you that my onions look nothing like his. Weeding and watering seem to be key elements to success. Many of…