Planting, Planting, Planting

I worked on a small vegetable farm in Vermont, USA after I graduated from college.  At the time that I started, they were in their 6th year of providing locally grown, seasonal produce.  The  conversation around the lunch table on Crossroad Farm was all about how to grow a huge variety of  produce to provide to the local community.  Starting this CSA, I am reminded of those conversations daily.   Pete and I are lucky to have people to talk with who have done this before.  We are not re-inventing the wheel but applying tried and tested farming practices to different soil and climate conditions and noting what happens. One of the things that I learned on Crossroad Farm was that locally produced vegetables can and should be varied.  Take salads, for example.  Besides the cooked staples that we have in spring like artichokes,  asparagus, bok choy, broad beans, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, peas, and silverbeet,  a spring staple are greens.  Lettuce and other greens love the coolness of this season and our bodies love the gentle spring cleanse they provide.  In our garden we have several lettuce varieties, spinach, rocket, mizuna, chicory and a huge variety of herbs like borage, calendula,  chives,  corriander, fennel, parsley, thyme and sorrel.   These provide for colorful, varied salads that need only a simple vingerette to preserve the delicate flavors.  It is this kind of variety that we are trying to bring to Transition Farm and our CSA share boxes.

Lettuce “Goldrush”Lettuce "Salad Bowl Red"

Chicory / Radicchio "Red Treviso" (heirloom)

This summer trial is about planting a range of varieties to see not only which ones produce well in our area and during different seasons but also which ones our members like.  We are hoping that all of the summer share members will embrace the conversation of being a part of the food that we are growing and that your families are enjoying.

These are planting weeks here on the Peninsula.  The frost hardy plants like brassicas, onions, leeks, spinach, rocket, radishes, silver beet, coriander, parsley, and lettuces have been and continue to be planted in the field.  The soil is warming up to 20 degrees here allowing carrots, corn and beans to germinate.  We have been talking with other growers in the area and reading information in the Biodynamic Australia Newsletter.  All of us agree that this month is set to be filled with moisture.  With a high chance for cloud cover, comes the added benefit of spring frosts not being able to settle on those tender plants like basil, capsicum, cucumbers, tomatoes, pumpkins and zucchini.

Everything is moving out of the greenhouse, getting hardened off (the process of slowly acclimating plants to "unprotected" weather like rain, cold nights and drying winds) and being planted.

The broccoli and cauliflower seeded last week for summer harvest have popped up.  We are trialling several broccoli varieties as well as a few colored cauliflowers.  We are also trialling a variety of summer melons for the summer share boxes which were seeded this week.  The mandala planting continues with beets, beans, corn, leeks, quinoa and spinach.

We are posting garden notes each week before Wednesday.  Last weeks can be viewed at Gardening Notes 5 -11 October. This weeks can be viewed at Gardening Notes 12 - 19 October.

We are also posting our herb of the week, companion planting article each Friday of the week.  Read about this weeks Herb of the Week.

Please use this link to post any comments.

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.

Can you taste that smell?

Being a descending moon in a fruit sign meant the perfect day to transplant our tomato seedlings.  As opposed to seeding directly into pots, we bunch some seeds in lines on seed trays.  This allows for more seeds that require warmer temperatures for germination to be on the heat pad.  Before we had the greenhouse, though, I still seeded like this to fit more seeds into our sunny window.  Once the seeds have germinated and have their first true leaves, I pluck them out and put them into pots. They are still tender and need nurturing so back into the greenhouse they go to form more roots and to grow into thick, strong seedlings.

Ohhh the smell of those tomato plants as I was teasing the roots apart-  It is one of those smells that lingers with me....a distinct smell of summer-

More about Companion Planting next time...

It's Spring...New Beginnings

How do you know it's spring?  When I was a child, it was the new growth on the seagrapes and the delicious smell of citrus in bloom- In my twenties, it was the fading daphne, tete a tete daffodils blooming and the glorious spring "snow" as the wind blew the petals of the plum blossoms!  And here in Australia...our true measure of spring are the wattle trees- Spring is coming when the wattle trees are blooming...and the 1st of September, so the old timers and school teachers say-

Not to mention the noticeably longer days, knee high garlic, the daily measure of growth in the artichokes, blooming broad beans, budding sage, asparagus and new roots sprouting from the over-wintered carrots- Time to roast the last of those root crops and mix with the tender spring spinach and move into seedlings!

This is a warm spring- We have seeded our capsicums, eggplants and tomatoes on a heat pad...but we also did them not on the heat pad this year and they have all germinated- Our greenhouse is filling up with the beginning of the "summer" crops, like the peppers and tomatoes, as well as the leeks, onions, lettuces, spinach, celery, brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi), beet root, peas for transplanting in the mandalas, herbs and flowers-  We have spring frost here-  If you do not wake to fennel leaves covered in sparkling crystals, you could start your seeds in a a sheltered sunny spot outside or a sunny inside window -

Biodynamic Notes

While we still have a waxing moon (until Full moon on Monday 12th), the moon has started descending- The earth is again breathing in, drawing growth forces back down below the soil- If you have any fruit trees left to prune, prune on fruit days- - Spread compost and spray horn manure preparation 500 on descending root sign days- Harvest root crops for storage on an earth day- Cultivate soil and transplant seedlings and trees-

I feel like this is the calm before the storm- Time to finish the last of the "winter" jobs and prepare for more seeding when the moon starts ascending again on Tue 20th-

Fruit Days Tue 6th - Wed 7th

Earth days Thurs 8th- Sat 10th

Flower days Sun11th- Mon 12th

Hoping for rain to germinate our new pasture!