Garden Planning

The blog has been put aside for the past few days while I happily plan this year's garden.  

I've been using Johnny's Seeds Interactive Tools to help me figure out how many seeds and transplants I'll need for each garden and seed starting dates for transplants.  

The three gardens I'm planning include:  the "Inside the High Tunnel" garden (roughly 26 by 96 feet), the "Outside the High Tunnel" garden (30 by 70 feet), and the "Triangle Garden" (which is 16 feet wide at the narrow end, 70 feet wide at the wide end, and 150 feet long).  My husband is putting strawberries and raspberries in the other high tunnel - with an experimental corner where I would like to try to overwinter rosemary, lavender, and a couple of dwarf fig trees.  

Whew!

Just writing it down makes me realize the size of the operation!  The majority of the work is done by hand!

When I plan my gardens, have to plan for my own use and for the Farmer's Markets.  This means I'm growing a few things I don't like, but I think they'll sell, such as cauliflower and cilantro.  There are a few things I considered growing - like fennel and rutabagas - but I just don't think they'll sell at the Farmer's Market.    

Here's what's going into this year's gardens (it's a looong list!):

Carrots: Danvers 126, Kaleidoscope Mix

Kale: Red Winter, Blue Curled Scotch

Parsnip: Harris

Beets: Early Wonder Tall Top, Bulls Blood

Onions: Bunching, Cipollini, Cortland, Flat of Italy

Tomato: Burpee Big Boy, Roma, Yellow Pear, Super Sweet 100, Green Zebra, Beefsteak, Black Prince

Peppers: California Wonder, Jalapeno, Pepperoncini, Happy Yummy Hot and Sweet

Cucumber: Picklebush, Orient Express, Sweet Burpless Hybrid, Marketmore

Eggplant: Traviata, Rosa Bianca, Japanese White Egg

Watermelon: Sugar Baby, Orangeglo

Cantaloupe: Honeyrock

Beans: Rocdor, Royal Burgandy, Tender Green, Dragon's Tongue, Italian Flat Pod Jumbo

Flowers: Marigold, Court Jester; Zinnia, Bright Jewels Cactus; Sunflower, Zohar, Mammoth

Summer Squash: Crookneck Early Summer, Zapallo del Tronco, Zucchini Black Beauty, Goldy, Lemon Squash, Zucchini Lungo Bianco, Zucchini Rampicante

Corn: Luscious, Red Beauty

Winter Squash: Acorn Ebony, Delicata, Kabocha Black Forest, Buttercup, Butternut Waltham

Pumpkin: Kakai, Charisma, New England Pie

Peas: Lincoln, Sugar Snap

Drying Beans: Vermont Cranberry

Radish: French Breakfast, Watermelon, Cherry Belle

Okra: Clemson Spineless

Broccoli: Di Ciccio

Cauliflower: Snowball

Cabbage: Farao, Red Express

Brussel Sprouts: Long Island

Celery: Tango

Celeriac: Brilliant

Leeks: American Flag

Turnips: Purple Top White Globe

Asian Greens: Pak Choi, Orient Express Cabbage  

Lettuce: Buttercrunch, Black-seeded Simpson, Lollo Rossa

Spinach: Baby's Leaf Hybrid, Bloomsdale Long-standing

Herbs: Italian Dark Green Parsley, Italian Large Leaf Sweet Basil, Long Standing Cilantro, Bouquet Dill

I would love to know if there is anything where other Market Farmers have had particular luck, or if you live in my area and don't see something you'd love to have.

One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides.  

~W.E. Johns, The Passing Show

In the next few weeks we'll be busily getting ready for the maple season.  This will be our first year boiling our own sap!

The Growing Season Has Begun!

Immediately after the first of the year the seed catalogs start coming in and I start planning my "paper garden".

Oh, it's a lusciously beautiful garden with lots of perfectly grown vegetables of every shape and size and nary a weed in sight!

A girl can dream can't she?

Coming along

I'm hoping to have enough vegetables to be able to go to the Farmer's Market next Saturday, August 14th. I had to put in my garden late this year because I had to wait for the high tunnel to be finished. I couldn't even plant outside because the outside garden is right next to the high tunnel and would have been trampled in the process of putting on the plastic. But finally, finally I'm starting to see some results!

I've pulled radishes and lots of basil. The parsley is coming along well. I've found that watermelons LOVE high tunnels and may plant more next year. Beans have gone crazy. They're loaded with flowers and I hope to start picking beans very soon. Cucumbers are loaded. There's a lot more and it's all coming along great!

My tomatoes are loaded with green tomatoes and I'm doing a bunch of pruning to encourage them to turn red. I'm just crossing my fingers that the late blight doesn't get them. I swear I'll be sick! I'll take most of the cherry, Beefsteak and Brandywine tomatoes to the Farmer's Market, but the Romas are all mine and will be made into loads of lovely tomato sauce, tomato paste, ketchup, barbecue sauce (do you know I found only one barbecue sauce that didn't list high fructose corn syrup as the first ingredient? It tasted horrible!) and other tomato-ey products.



I got a butcher date of October 25th for the piggies today. Now I have to feed, feed, feed them!

4 eggs