French Market Gardens and Heirloom Melon Varieties

"Always tend the smallest amount of land possible, but tend it exceptionally well." - The first principle of success as given by a leading Parisian grower in the 1870's. I have been reading Eliot Coleman's The Winter Harvest Handbook.  Mr Coleman is an organic market gardener in Northern Maine, USA, producing very high quality produce year round.  He is also a champion for new growers like ourselves.  His book are manuals on small scale, organic vegetable growing techniques, tools, rotations and historical inspiration.

Here is a summary of what he has to say about the "French garden system". Practiced by Parisian maraîchers (market gardeners), it reached it's height in the mid to late 1800's with around 1800 growers producing food on one to two acre blocks.  Covering about one-sixteenth of all land within the city limits of Paris, the gardens fed Paris year round with a huge variety of produce, both in season and "out" of season vegetables and fruits.  This system not only incorporated incredible intensive planting techniques, it was sustainable.  The Parisian maraîchers were referred to as "goldsmiths of the soil".  Both the heat for winter production of vegetables in hotbeds and the amendments to maintain the fertility of the soil were by-products of composting another by-product - the horse manure mixed with straw that came from the city stables.  After delivering crates of produce to the market,  wagons would collect the manure on their return to the garden.

Paris was home to 2.5million people in 1891 and these small, intensive, "organic" market gardens provided all the produce, and produced enough to export to other neighboring countries.  And not just any sort of produce...last week the latest Diggers magazine arrived with a wonderful article on seeds before genetic engineering and the re-printing of the French seed company Vilmorin's album of exquisite drawings.  The diversity of varieties known and grown by the French in the late 1800's was extraordinary.  As Clive Blazey writes, "Vilmorin listed over 1400 vegetable varieties in 1885...when compared to the 236 varieties offered by The Diggers Club today."

I love learning these sorts of facts.  I love knowing that we, as farmers, are not re-inventing the wheel.  We are trying to learn practices that once thrived on a large scale.  We are trying to grow produce for the local community while continuing to build soil fertility.  And we are also trying to keep alive varieties of many vegetables which are not being offered to the consumer, varieties that make eating vegetables and fruits a real experience.

As Blazey writes, "The rock melons offered in today's Australian supermarkets are a travesty of the delights that 'could cause drooling' to quote melon expert Amy Goldman.  The latest melon from Seminis (Monsanto [the makers of Round-up and one of the leading corporations involved in genetically modified seeds] ) is actually called Hard Rock so completely and humourlessly has this multinational bred the latest hybrids."

And that brings us to our 2013 melon varieties...Most are heirlooms and we hope they will all be that small slice of juicy, perfumed summer sun...We transplanted them last week and they are loving this heat.  Depending on the season, they should ripen by the beginning of February and continue into the Autumn share. Honey Dew    "Eden's Gem"   Heirloom. Small, round, netted fruit the size of a softball.  Spicy, sweet flesh. Honey Dew    "Early Hanover"  Heirloom.  Sweet, sugary flesh that can be eaten right to the rind. Cantaloupe    "Hearts of Gold"  Heirloom. Highly aromatic, sweet, firm, juicy, salmon coloured flesh. Cantaloupe    "Schoon's Hardshell"   Sweet, flavoursome, apricot coloured flesh. Cantaloupe    "Hale's Best"  Sweet orange flesh. Cantaloupe    "Delice De Table"    Heirloom. Very sweet orange flesh. Cantaloupe    "French Charentais"   Heirloom. Sweet, thick, deep-orange, flesh.  Flesh has deep, aromatic, flowery aroma. Watermelon    "Criss Cross"    Heirloom. Attractive, pale green skin & jagged, dark green markings.  Flesh is deep, rich red with excellent flavour & crispness. Watermelon    "Crimson Sweet"   Large, round, light green melon with dark green stripes and firm, deep red flesh with high sugar content. Watermelon    "Sugar Baby"   Round - oval melon with dark green rind, juicy, sweet, bright scarlet flesh & firm texture. Watermelon    "Moon and Stars"  Heirloom. Very sweet, rich, red flesh. The rind is patterned with yellow markings and the foliage can be speckled yellow as well. Watermelon    "Klondike"   Heirloom.  Large, striped, oval melon with sweet, scarlet coloured flesh & thin, tough rind.

Summer Share Tomato Planting

We thought we would introduce you to the 2012-2013 Summer Share Tomato Plants....from their beginnings as tiny seeds, to the strong plants transplanted into the new land.  Here are old Italian favourites, heirloom varieties, and some of the most "exquisite" tasting tomatoes we found to grow... It all started back in August when Rye and I seeded the tomatoes.

Once they germinated and had their first true leaves, I pricked them out and planted them into 4 inch pots.  And through the hail and frost and rain and cold, they grew bigger and stronger in the greenhouse.

We planted some early cherry tomatoes under row covers in September in the hopes of Christmas tomatoes.

But the big tomato planting happened this week.

Peter used the tractor as a ladder to hammer in all of the stakes.

Our favoured technique of trellising the plants is called the San Diego Weave.  The weave uses twine to gently cradle each plant as it grows.  We move up and down the rows of plants weaving in and around plants and the wooden stakes through the field. Our hope is to support the plant and keep it away from soil borne diseases and fungi...and also make it easier to pick the delicious fruits. Here are the varieties we are growing this year: Marglobe - Old American heirloom variety popular in Italy. Large, deep red, juicy fruit. Excellent taste. Marglobe is the ancestor of many of today's hybrid tomatoes. Saint Pierre - French salad tomato. Round, good sized, renowned for it's super flavour. Principe Borghese - Small plum shaped fruit. Eat fresh in salad or dry for sun dried tomatoes. They also make outstanding oven roasted tomatoes. Roma - Plum tomato used primarily for sauce, but also good fresh. Scipio - Plum tomato ideal for sauces and cooking. Tommy Toe - Attractive medium sized red fruit. Tommy toe is a renowned great taster. Those that judge these things use words such as “complex”, “tight” and “oh! just so sweet!” to describe its flavour. Sun Gold - Exceptionally sweet, bright tangerine-orange cherry tomatoes. Yellow Pear - Petite, distinctive salad tomato. Black Cherry - The flavor is dynamic...much like an heirloom. Red Cherry - Small, round tomatoes with very good flavour Lemon Drop - Lemon shaped small fruits with a zesty sweet flavour. Wild Sweetie- Stephanie Alexander and other top chefs preferred this to Tommy Toe.  The world's smallest tomato is also the world's sweetest with a Brix level twice that of others.

Hoping for another bumper crop!

Planting for the Summer Share

It is October - planting for summer harvest is in full swing. Here is a walk around the farm in photos from the greenhouse, to the cold frame, to the fields...the beginning glimpses of what we are planting for the summer share boxes-

Many of the varieties that we are growing are heirloom.  Heirloom plants are those that are openly pollinated.  Given their full life cycle, they will produce seed.  This is not the case with F1 hybrids and genetically altered seed, which have been hand pollinated and produce sterile seed.  Not only does growing heirloom varieties protect the biodiversity of seeds, on a global scale, but also fans of heirlooms will argue that many of the best tasting crops come from heirloom plants.  In many cases, hybridizers have chosen properties like disease resistance and heavy yields over flavour when they are making new varieities.

We have tilled in our autumn cover crops and are preparing the soil for planting.  Other crops that will be sown in the next few weeks are beans, corn, cucumbers, lettuce, melons, pumpkins, spinach, spring onions, and zucchini. We are excited about the soil warming up and the spring growth. The soil looks and smells wonderful, healthy and full of life. We are also excited about the response that we have had to the beginning of the CSA.