Whitsend Market Garden

Hey All:

The field looks a lot different from two weeks ago.

Row covers, hoses, clean beds, and beds with FOOD in them.








The rock garden has begun to 'grow'.  Another plot for more perennials has been dug out, and the central path now has a layer of flat stones capping 8 inches of loose rock.

I have a couple of extra zucchini plants from last year.  They cannot grow too close to this year's zukes as they would cross pollinate and yield a fruit that might not be palatable.  There is nowhere else for them to go, so I will put them here for this season.

Not everything goes as planned.  I mapped out a more efficient setup for the hoses this season.

Unfortunately, none of them are 105 feet long.

The stump that is dug into the ground at the edge of the rock garden has supported the splitter tap in past years.

Moving it a couple of feet is no problem, but then I will have to work on building the path and base up around the stump, to ensure that i have a level place to put the watering cans while they fill up.  Three more (unanticipated) hours of digging and collecting rock!

I use row covers for a number of different applications.  Keeping bugs out of beds, retaining warmth on cold nights, and providing shade for heat intolerant plants are a few uses.

The bed in the background is freshly seeded with fennel, these seeds will get washed away by the heavy rain that could come with the predicted thunderstorms tomorrow.

The covered bed in the foreground is seeded with brussels sprouts.  They too can be washed out by the rain.  Furthermore, like all brassicas, they are susceptible to flea beetles at this age, the row cover will keep most of these little bugs out.

Leek moth is the one insect that I haven't yet figured out how to beat.  For now, keeping the garlic and onions covered as much as possible is the only way to prevent them from damaging the onion family crops.

Despite their uses, I don't care for the appearance of row covers.

I grow a little coriander at a time, as it is consistently requested by a few customers for much of the season.  To make up for the extra space, I intersperse them with green onions, dill, and a few other limited quantity crops.

Here, I've used hoops to protect the transplanted onions; the coriander seeds are protected from rain.






The green onions are transplanted in clumps to make harvesting quicker.

I've had a lot of success in the nursery this year, though I am finding that the green onions are still challenging me.








Like many transplanted plants, these lettuces look pathetic when they first go into the ground.

It took me a couple of years to get used to this. It's hard to believe that these will be healthy lettuce heads in six weeks.

Transplanting is very tough on many crops. Cool, cloudy days are ideal for transplanting.  I did not have much of that this past week, so I created some shade with the covers and hoops.

By leaving the ends of the covers open, the cover does not retain the warmth that would be too much for this cool weather crop.

On very hot days, I've sprayed water onto the cover to evaporate heat away from lettuces.

Look carefully - around the plants, the soil looks slightly different.  That's freshly applied compost (and straw).  Leaf crops prefer to have their compost applied the same year they grow in the amended soil.  The straw helps to retain some moisture on the bed as well.

I planted our first peas a week ago.  They are just starting to sprout.

Peas are not heat tolerant.  Early last week, I was looking at the forecast and thinking that there might not be any point in trying to grow the second round of peas, and prepared the first green bean bed.

When bean planting time came, I saw the forecast was now calling for cooler weather, and so went back and planted a few more peas.  The beans will have to wait a week until the warmth returns.  as a result, they may be a week late getting to your table (Hopefully the peas will make up for that).

I was ready to give up on the spring spinach as well - at 30 degrees, I would be very surprised if the spinach seed germinated, the beds would have been put to better use growing something else.

As soon as I saw an extended period of cooler weather on the way, I raked down the bed and started planting.

I had assumed that with such as early heat wave, there would have been a bounce back in the temperatures at some point.  Deciding when the optimum time to plant is part instinct, part experience, and much guessing.


Some gardeners use string to 'draw' their seeding lines.  I learned this technique at Elmtree Farm - a couple of tubes (old hose) inserted onto the rake tines, draw consistently spaced lines that are fairly straight.

Planting in straight lines makes cultivating the beds much quicker when the crops have started to grow.

Some of our customers from two years ago may remember me raving about a variety of spinach called 'samish'.  I took a chance with the cool weather and planted it (as opposed to a heat tolerant variety, which will get planted next week - unless the temperature foes back up to the high twenties again).

Infrared Transmitting Mulch (or IRT).  This covering allows heat to get into the soil but blocks the light wavelengths that promote growth.

These are new beds and are not as 'tame' as the more established beds and will take a lot more work to prepare

In this case, I'm using the IRT as a means of keeping the beds dry and suppressing the weeds.

The IRT will buy some time while I attend other tasks.


Beds 1 through 8 and the (future) trellis bed are still a year away from being fully rehabilitated.

These were some of the first beds I prepared five years ago.

Everyone makes mistakes, beginners make more mistakes.

This is a job for two pigs...





It seems ironic that as an organic grower (and as someone who considers oil as old fashioned) that i am relying on spun bound nylon row covers and polyethylene irt mulch - and rubber hoses and plastic zip-lock bags, and a nylon mosquito jacket...

Traditionally, pine boughs were used for shoulder season crops, but there are no pine trees on Dick's land.

I have tried using straw whenever possible to protect plants, and particularly for cold protection and moisture retention, this works well.

Unfortunately, it does leave the leaf crops quite messy on harvest day.  I'll try straw in the fall, though I suspect you will notice the difference.

An alternative material to oil based row covers could be corn-based fibre.

I question the use of corn for manufacturing materials.  It is a very heavy feeder and would require a lot of good cropland to be reserved for non-food use.

I am certain there are alternative methods out there, hopefully inspiration will strike.

Talk to you soon...

Bob

PS - All customers, I will be sending out an e-blast in the next week or so to ensure that all of our new customers are getting their email alerts from Whitsend.  I'll have a few more details about the forthcoming season...first delivery is five weeks away!