Whitsend Market Garden

Hey Folks:

A note about your Basil this week.  I was just about to leave the farm Thursday evening when I noticed that the sky was quite clear - one of the conditions that coincide with frost.  I knew the temperature was going down, and so gave the weather a quick check.  Sure enough, the revised forecast was now calling for lower temperatures and a risk of frost.  I went back, and covered up what I could. As I tightened up a row cover over the Beans, I caught a whiff of the Basil in the next bed.  What a reminder, it had not occurred to me.

Basil would turn black with plus 3 degree weather, even if not exposed to frost.  What to do?  It was getting late, and I knew that I would need an early (before dawn) start to the next day in order to hose down the Tomato and Pepper plants to prevent frost damage to them. (An old gardeners trick).  With so little time to do anything else, I grabbed the nearest buckets, and pulled all of the plants - roots and all - I figured with the roots still intact, the plants would not dry out as quickly.  I hauled the buckets to the car, tossed them into the back, and turned for home (Half way home I was wondering if the hoses were going to freeze overnight...)

So the Basil scented our apartment for the night.  I should have placed a cover of some sort over them, as the plants on top did dry out somewhat.

They were a bit messier than I wanted, and the well water is a bit too cold to really clean them but at least they were saved for a third harvest this year.  I debated whether to distribute the wilted portion of Basil, and opted to in the end.  Everyone received some.  Let me know if you would rather have less of this aromatic leaf (in better condition) in the future.

It is a tricky one to clean up with the particular facilities we have.  The heavy rain we have had of late also splattered the leaves, contributing to their appearance.

With the fall season here, there will be a lot of work preparing the field for next year, protecting the fall crops against changes in the weather, and getting as much as I can out of the shorter days.  A challenging time - my favourite season to farm.

See you soon,

Bob