Whitsend Market Garden

Hey Folks:


What a lot of work has been accomplished over the past five days.

Compost piles have been turned. Growing plants have been fed their share of the pile. New crops seeded. New beds made, older ones cultivated. In addition, many weeds fed back into the compost to be turned into food for next year’s crops.

A week ago, I was beginning to feel like this year was a lost cause. As I stepped into the field this morning, I looked around and wondered at the difference these past few days had made.

The next couple of harvests will be somewhat smaller than I had planned for, but many of the crops are coming along. The Carrots appear to be about three weeks away from their first harvest. The Beets and Turnips likewise. Not long after that, we should start seeing our first potatoes.

Most exciting is the appearance of our first Garlic Scapes – expect some of these in forthcoming harvests. I am also thrilled to see the Fennel starting to take shape.

If there is still a dark note in the field, I think that the Tomato plants have not done well at all. I really should not have been so optimistic about getting them started early. As well, the Switch Grass continues its relentless march on every bed, and I have no doubt that I will be pulling more of it by week’s end.

I have started planting Calaloo. This is a leaf vegetable from the Amaranth family. It is common in soups and stews in Caribbean cuisine. You may also find it as a baby leaf “green” (actually, the plant is a reddish color) in gourmet salad mixes. I chose it as an option for mid-summer produce as it is very heat tolerant, which Mache, Spinach, Cress, etc are not. I have no idea what it tastes like. Partly as I cannot afford the gourmet salad mixes. We will have to make our own and find out!

Speaking of heat tolerant, the Cress went to seed just as I was thinking it was time for its first harvest. Too much heat already. To better prepare for the next round, I have begun opening up what I refer to as the “cold bed”. Originally, I had planned to get this bed into production for July, but the weather seems to be unseasonably warm already. On Monday, I started pulling the straw mulch off it and pulling out whatever weeds had managed to get started.

This bed was designed for keeping produce cool. It is located between my raised early spring beds to the north, and the tomato beds to the south. Its lower elevation (in relation to the raised beds) and the shade from the Tomatoes should allow it to stay out of direct sun for much of the day. As well, the trunk hose (which leads from the well to the cistern) has been placed right down the middle of it. As it is often full of ice-cold well water, the hose should act as an additional source of cooling in the bed. In theory, this bed seems like an ingenious solution to getting cool weather crops to thrive in midsummer. As with everything I have experienced, the big question is “Will it actually work?”

I am picking July 7 as our open house. I intend to run two tours, each about an hour long. One starting at 10 am, the other commencing at 1 pm. It is open to all customers, family, and friends. If you know of anyone who is interested in purchasing a share, or just wants to learn more about small scale organic growing, pass the news along. I will have more details in the next couple of weeks.

Once again, check the “This week’s Harvest” page for a peek at what to expect for this Friday. All shares will be delivered.

Talk to you soon,

Bob