Whitsend Market Garden

Hey Folks:

First harvest is always a bit nerve racking.  Much of it is so routinized that it just happens. But there always a few little details that slip by.

This year was the need to hydro cool the leaves a little longer - I realised this during delivery, after seeing a few leaves look a bit wilty.

The new prep station is a pleasure to work in.  More shelf space, easier and less time consuming to set up, clean, and all tools and supplies within easy reach.

The station still requires some work, but I figure using it a few times will allow me to figure out how best to arrange shelves, cabinets, etc.


Cleaning the vegetables is far more time consuming than the actual harvest.

Selling food is all about presentation.  If it doesn't look good, the customer won't want to eat it right away, and then it looses its best qualities in the fridge.

Cleaning the produce provides an opportunity to retain fertility for the farm.  Soil from the plants is redirected back to the compost, water from the cleaning is drained back to the beds, and cuttings are also sent to the compost.


Onion (and garlic) roots are a great addition to the compost.  As well, soil that grew onions is great for conditioning the soil mix used for seed starting.

With a little practice, packing the food for delivery has become an efficient task on harvest days.  Iv'e tried several ways of packing to allow for a quick delivery, and gradually I am finding the best ways to pack it all up.

Here, I have places the garlic shoots in a crosshatch pattern so as to grab the three stalks for each customer.

Garlic scapes are ready for harvest when the scape reaches it's two curl stage.  About half of the scapes are ready for next week.

Scapes are the 'flowering' head of the plant.  If allowed to 'bloom', the garlic bulbs would shrivel up to provide the plant with he energy to create it's bulbils.

Garlic can be propagated from the bulbils, but it is a long term process.


Bulbils are not seeds in the usual sense, they are not pollinated and only carry the genetic material of the parent plant.

New varieties of garlic only occur by genetic accidents that are viable enough to continue to propagate.

Meanwhile, out in the field, the food keeps growing.  These cracks in the ground indicate that the potato stalk and leaf crown is about to emerge.

The young plants are very susceptible to potato beetles.  Keeping the row covers on helps, though the plants still have to be checked regularly for adults, larvae, and eggs.

The row covers also reduce the sunlight for the plant, which in turn causes the plant to put more energy into its leaves than its tubers.

Each year, I start taking the covers off earlier and earlier.  This may be one of the reasons why my yields are going up.

As for the beetles, they seem to prefer the onaways, so the first generation of the year goes to this variety first.  THat allows me to reduce their numbers by destroying their eggs.  Last year, this reduced almost the entire population in the field.

After the onaways were finished, the beatles then went to the nicotiana flowers.  There they remained.  the nicotiana was so vigorous that they just outgrew the beatles, and despite three rows of red chieftain being a dozen feet away, the beatles remained in the rock garden.

The first two successions of potato, the early 'Onaway' and the mid season 'Dakota Pearl' are starting to flower.

We are a couple of weeks away from harvesting the onaways!

I was astounded the first time I tried 'real potatoes'.  They have flavour!

Speaking of insects, I have been noticing something amiss this season after I transplanted the squash and cucumbers.  No cucumber beetles.  I have also noticed a distinct absence of cabbage moths.

I must be one of the few growers that would find a lack of bugs worrisome.

Until the other day I had only seen one frog and two toads.  Usually, there are quite a few more.

Two days ago I saw a red frog.  What's up?




This is an example of companion planting.  Here are the basil transplants settling into the tomato bed.

The row cover behind te plant reflects more light onto the tomatoes.  This is an unintended benefit.

Gives the thinking part of my brain some ideas for a few other light loving plants...

Everytime i mow (or harvest nitrogen for the compost), I always feel like the place looks less like a field of vegetables, and more like a farm.

So much to look forward to, so much to look after...

See you soon,

Bob

PS, yes this is a short blog this week, but I'm starting to tire out and should leave the farm alone and enjoy the rest of the week-end...