plants

In the unheated greenhouse

2021-03-16 by farmer

It’s mid-March and there’s still almost a foot of snow on the ground. We’ve had some days in the upper 50s this month, but then it dropped back into single digits!

Every year around this time, I take a chance on some cold-tolerant plant seeds. If it works out, I get a little head start on the early spring garden. Otherwise, I just have to start over with those plants.

I keep track each year how the really early stuff goes. The Brassicas that would normally come up in 2 to 4 days can take three weeks…but they come up. Then I have to get them outside so they don’t bolt when the greenhouse temps hit the 80s.

This year, I got a soil thermometer, so I actually know what’s going on when I do these plantings. I was amazed that the soil in the containers in the greenhouse had gotten up to 60°F as of a few days ago. The min/max thermometer said the air wasn’t going below freezing in there from around the 10th to the 12th of March (when the outside lows were in the 20s). But then… the weather went back down to single digits, which brought the greenhouse’s air temp down to 9°F, and the soil temp to about 40°F. Sigh…

This year’s list of seeds planted either in the unheated greenhouse, or in a taped-up milk jug for winter sowing outside:

Echinacea Purpura
Cardinal Flower
Chives
Onions, nodding
Onions, bunching (old seed, thickly planted_
Feverfew (also really old seed)
Garlic, wild
Spinach, Bloomsdale Long Standing
Good King Henry
Chives, Garlic
Claytonia
Lettuce, Kweit
Lovage
Swiss Chard, Ruby
Escarole
Lemon Balm
Butterflyweed
Celery, Amsterdam Seasoning
Watercress, English

Added to that list are the mâche seeds I put in the ground back in December, and some older thyme seeds I put in a pot in the house.

Let’s see how they do. The rest of the week is going to be much warmer; we might be done with single digits for the season!

Farm Life: Chicken and Dumplings

2021-02-22 by farmer

This is the first time I’ve ever made chicken and dumplings. I was inspired by a podcast I’ve been watching a lot of lately, from Roots and Refuge Farm. Jess and her family live in Arkansas, and they just got a foot of snow with that big storm that hit the South. I used her recipe for the dumplings (just putting the herbs in the soup, though, not in the dumplings).

The broth was made last night in the Instant Pot from the bones and giblets of one of our chickens that I butchered three days ago, and included the feet and neck and head. Our dog Trixie, who is not doing well at all, got the chopped-up heart and gizzard for what might end up having been her last meal. She was refusing other food, and water, but gobbled those parts right up.

I used the Instant Pot to cook six diced carrots for 10 minutes of pressure in enough of the strained broth to cover them, then added the rest of the broth, garlic powder, dried basil; oregano and thyme from our farm; previously-frozen dill, pepper, salt, the rest of the chicken meat I roasted last night, and a small chopped onion. I made the dumpling batter while that was coming to a simmer, still in the Instant Pot. I dropped in globs of the dumpling batter, then added some onion greens that I’ve been growing in a south-facing window. At the last minute, I read about adding a flour and milk mixture to thicken up the broth, and did that. This is the best-tasting broth I’ve ever made, possibly even the best soup.

The dumpling recipe, adapted from Jess’s video:
2c flour
a few T of cold butter, cubed
1/2 tsp baking powder
some salt
pulse in food processor or cut butter in manually
add 1 cup milk, mix
(I did those two steps manually to not disturb the dog resting in the kitchen)
should be sticky and stretchy, not a mushy mess
take a glob at a time and drop into the simmering broth
(the dough was too sticky to flatten out as Jess recommended)

Here’s her video, jumping to where she describes how her chicken and dumplings recipe is a hybrid of the Arkansas style she grew up with, and the Indiana style her husband was used to.
https://youtu.be/fc17QxwCjvk?t=1364

2021 Seed Purchases

2021-01-12 by farmer

Starting sprouting peas, grown for their leaves

I’ve placed my first set of plant orders: from Fedco and Prairie Moon. I got these orders in earlier than usual because of the the dramatically-increased demand in 2020. I put more emphasis this year on getting non-hybridized seeds, because we’re still a little nervous about the supply chain holding up. We did more seed-saving in 2020 than I’ve done before: lots of cucurbits, and some lettuces which probably cross-bred. (But hey, we’ll still get lettuce from them!)

Allium seeds (like chives, onions, garlic) don’t last as long as other seeds, so my Prairie Moon order included two native perennial Alliums: nodding onions, and wild garlic. I already have chives and a row of Egyptian onions, which are both perennials and produce a lot of seeds (or top-bulbs, in the case of the Egyptian onions). Many other Allium species are biennials, so it’s rare that I get seeds from those.

There were some seeds I wanted that Fedco just didn’t have, or I knew I could get cheaper locally. I’ll be checking the hardware stores and WalMart for some cheap zucchini seeds, pie pumpkin, Brussels sprouts, and rosemary seeds, plus some more tomato seeds (Roma and Fourth of July). I’ll be buying an orange pepper at the grocery store for its seeds because the small variety I kind of wanted from Fedco was really expensive, and a hybrid, so I couldn’t even justify it to myself by saying I could save the seeds.

If I can’t find what I want at those cheaper stores, we are lucky enough to have a great source for less-common seeds right near us: Gardeners Supply Company. I expect to be getting at least the Malabar Spinach and some edamame seeds from there. Fedco sells edamame normally, but didn’t have any available when I placed my order. Those are delicious when steamed and salted.

FEDCO order:
295A — Blue Coco Organic Pole Bean, 1/2oz — 1 × $2.50 = $2.50
818A — Oregon Giant Snow Pea, 2oz — 1 × $2.50 = $2.50
826B — Oregon Sugar Pod II Snow Pea, 8oz — 1 × $6.00 = $6.00
1226A — National Pickling Cucumber, 1g — 1 × $1.75 = $1.75
1392A — Telegraph Improved European Long-Fruited Cucumber, 1g — 1 × $3.00 = $3.00
1504A — Saffron Yellow Summer Squash, 1/8oz — 1 × $2.00 = $2.00
2558A — Winter Bloomsdale Organic Spinach, 1/4oz — 1 × $2.75 = $2.75
2592A — New Zealand Spinach Specialty Green, 1/4oz — 1 × $2.25 = $2.25
2712A — Black Seeded Simpson Organic Looseleaf Lettuce, 1g — 1 × $2.25 = $2.25
3022A — Arugula, 1/16oz — 1 × $1.75 = $1.75
3159A — Gigante d’Italia Organic Parsley, 1/16oz — 1 × $2.50 = $2.50
3203A — Garland Serrated Chrysanthemum Asian Green, 1/16oz — 1 × $2.25 = $2.25
3335A — Speedia Brussels Sprouts, 0.25g — 1 × $4.50 = $4.50
3443A — Champion Collard, 2g — 1 × $2.00 = $2.00
3465A — Dazzling Blue Organic Dinosaur Kale, 2g — 1 × $3.00 = $3.00
3688A — Rosita Organic Bell-shaped Eggplant, 0.2g — 1 × $3.00 = $3.00
4140A — Amish Paste Organic Paste Tomato, 0.2g — 1 × $2.75 = $2.75
4250A — Sun Gold Small-Fruited Tomato, 20 seeds — 1 × $3.00 = $3.00
4471A — Flowering Thai Basil Organic, 0.5g — 1 × $2.50 = $2.50
4536A — Fernleaf Dill, 0.5g — 1 × $2.50 = $2.50
4592A — Lovage Herb, 0.5g — 1 × $2.25 = $2.25
Total: $57

I REALLY like Oregon Sugar Pod II, and don’t care about growing any other peas (other than “sprouting peas” grown for their leaves, because they do great in a windowbox in the greenhouse really early in the year–see the picture above this post) but I wanted to try the Oregon Giant to see whether it’s as sweet and tender.

Prairie Moon order:
Allium cernuum – Nodding Onion
Allium canadense – Wild Garlic
Asarum canadense – Wild Ginger
Cimicifuga racemosa – Black Cohosh
Total: $12 ($3.oo each)

All of the Prairie Moon seeds I ordered are documented as native to my area: either our home county specifically, or just a county or two away from our farm. They should all do well in shade, too.

Garden put to bed, but still some plants to harvest

2020-12-152020-12-15 by farmer

So…it’s mid-December. We’ve had hard frosts and snow, and melt and more snow several times, killing off MOST of the garden, but not all. The kale and the Egyptian onions are still thriving and plentiful. There’s still a nice little patch of parsley, and some cilantro that needs to be picked because I doubt it will revive whenever the next warm spell comes. There’s some spinach and chickweed under a “solar plant cone,” which is a season-extender I first read about in the Solar Gardening book by the Poissons.

We also still have a small patch of radishes and Hon Tsai Tai under a larger plastic dome. Hon Tsai Tai is like a purple-stemmed, Asian version of Broccoli Rabe, but mild. I picked a sprig of it today, and it’s almost sweet. The frost has removed all of the sharp brassica taste.

Other than those cold-tolerant plants, mulch covers the garden. Under one section of mulch, next to the row of Egyptian onions) there’s a small bed of mâche (Valerianella locusta, a.k.a. corn salad, nut lettuce, field salad, and so on) that I planted at the beginning of this month, hoping for a nice little crop in early spring, when there’s not much else poking out of the ground except dandelion leaves.

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Late autumn flowers

2020-10-26 by farmer

chrysanthemum bloom in front of brassicas

There’s an article in the local paper about late-autumn flowering plants. There are still some asters and goldenrod blooming here, but most of it has gone to seed. Henry Homeyer mentions some late-blooming shrubs. I’ve had Witch Hazel growing elsewhere, and can’t wait to get some here for Sunny Woodlands.

What we do have now is our fall crop of Shungiku, an edible chrysanthemum. So bright and cheery, with beautiful foliage. It makes a beautiful, edible bed border about 20 inches tall.

We’ve also finally got some Jersusalem Artichoke flowers, which didn’t even really start to bud until the weather got chilly.

And then there’s the fall foliage. Now’s the time of year when you can most easily see all the places the invasive burning bush has escaped to! Our Japanese maple is the same brilliant red.

October gardening

2020-10-152020-10-15 by farmer

About 5 or 6 nights of light frost have hit so far. Not all in a row; there’s been nice weather, even 70°F days in-between. So what’s still growing in our part of New Hampshire?

We covered up the basil to protect it from the first few nights of frost. We processed a lot of it for freezer storage. There should be enough to make Pho all winter and Spring. Then we brought most of the remaining plants into the greenhouse, which still gets up to 90°F at times!

We’ve been covering up the tomatoes and tomatillos when frost is expected. Their leaves have been taking hits from the light frosts but are still ripening a bit more. Some tomatoes that have started to turn have been brought in to ripen indoors. The volunteer plants are ripening slightly more quickly than the others. The tomatillos continue to get bigger inside their husks as the weather gets cooler.

Tomatiila — Tomatillo (the husk starts off way bigger than the fruit inside)

We had already harvested the squash from the new clearing we made this spring because their leaves got hit by frost and the stems shriveled up during an extended period with no rain. But the Butternut squash in the compost bin held out longer and yielded two very large squash. What a great volunteer!

The Malabar spinach got hit earlier by the frost than the New Zealand Spinach. Both are not true spinach varieties, but heat-loving substitutes. As of mid-October, the NZ spinach is still thriving under a clear dome we use to protect plants during the early and late ends of the growing season.

The beets and regular spinach I planted in early August are thriving. I take a leaf to nibble now and then when I’m in the garden.

We’re getting a great crop of Shungiku, which is an edible chrysanthemum. I use the leaves in stir-fries. I’m leaving one plant to go to seed. The scattered chamomile and Jerusalem Artichoke (a sunflower with edible tubers) are still going strong, too.

Shungiku, loving the cool weather — The Shungiku is loving the cool weather

What’s in your fall garden?

Squash in the Pick-up Truck (2020)

2020-10-062020-10-01 by farmer

We were expecting a big rain about a week after some light frosts killed all the leaves on the squash except the butternut growing on the compost pile. So we grabbed the ripe ones that remained unpicked and got them into dry storage to cure.

The results confirm our interest in specializing in Blue Hubbard squash in our newly-cleared cucurbit patch. We have until June (2021) to work on the usability and fertility of that area so we can have a field full of large blue alien eggs by the end of next fall!

Also see: Plants we grow and recommend for our climate

Notes on a Videocast about Mermaid Hill Vineyards; and Our Attempt to grow Grapes at Sunny Woodlands Farm

2020-10-222020-08-27 by Bonnie

I’m listening to the NOFA-NH Zoom presentation about Mermaid Hill Vineyards‘ methods, and something they say about leaving certain native wildflowers in place when they weed, and not leaving areas bare reminds me of my own “selective weeding” practices.

We’d love to have a small vineyard area

We tried planting some grapes 2-3 years ago (just enough for our family). It was on a south-west-facing slope with, as it turned out, giant rocks in the soil. Those two Springs in a row were incredibly wet, with water draining down the slope mostly under the topsoil, and pooling in the holes we dug for the vines. We didn’t have enough fill handy to replace the volume of large rocks removed, and then as the months went on, not enough time or mulch to keep the weeds away from the small vines.

So when I read about this Zoom presentation, I was interested, because we need to re-start that project from scratch.

I took some notes on Mermaid Hill Vinyard’s presentation:

* They are using biodynamic methods, transitioning to organic
* Copper and Sulphur are the only things sprayed on the plants
* Natural pest control:
* nettle, horsetail,
* experimenting with yarrow, elder buckthorn, dandelion tea

* They don’t prune off the lead section of the vine. The hybrids they grow, grow a lot, and they let them grow where they want during the growing season.

* They start pruning in February, cut 80-90% of the growth.

* Rebuilding the environment for the grape vines:
* It was a dustbowl when they first got there, no cover on the soil
* They try to mimic forests, riverbanks
* Species to plant in the understory (of the grape vines): vetch, clover, deep-rooted plants
* Species growing naturally in the understory: Queen Ann’s Lace and Goldenrod
* They remove thistles from the understory
* They have native dewberries, which are also spikey, but they keep them around anyway under the vines.

* What to look for, for your grapes:
* South-facing-facing, sunny, good air and water drainage
* It’s important to have enough sunlight (both for growth/ripening and to deter fungus).
* They like their elevation for the microclimate. [Sunny Woodlands is at 1300 feet, which gives me hope for our second attempt with grapes.]
* Winds dry out the plants (which is a good thing in a wet climate. Where we are, technically qualifies as a rain forest).

It was a great Zoom conference–a video tour of the vineyard followed by Q&A. The session was recorded and will be released at the end of their tour season.

Mermaid Hill Vineyard is in Concord, NH. They offer tours, tastings and wine bar by reservations (See: https://www.mermaidhillvineyard.com/events)
They are on Instagram @mermaidhillvineyard

Grapes for us, Take Two

At Sunny Woodlands Farm, we shall attempt table and wine grapes again, probably in a different location after we cut some more trees down on a drier slope, and probably after a tour and wine-tasting at Mermaid Hill to see first-hand how they do it. The Marquette grapes they grow are one of the types I tried to grow, and I’d love to see how wine from them turns out in a New Hampshire climate.

This year [2020], my goal is more modest and low-effort. I’m thinking of lashing together (with my son, a Scout) an arbor out of some of the birch staves we cut while clearing some land this Spring. I want to make the most of the wild grapes that grow elsewhere in that “bowl” that I made my first grape-growing attempt in, and maybe we can make some jelly out of them next year.