Whitsend Market Garden

Thanks to those of you who are checking out our site for the first time.

First of all, a note about our flyers:

If you received a flyer on your doorstep, thanks for your patience (particularly if I upset your pup!)

I do not deliver to households that request no flyers, if I missed your sign, please accept my apologies.

As I deliver to specific neighborhoods, print advertising doesn't work for me...I would have to turn down quite a few inquiries.

I realise that my flyers are a bit rough and ready.  Most will wind up in landfills/recycling, so I don't spend money on slick plasticized prints.  I prefer to invest in quality seed and tools.

If you are interested in learning more about our produce, and are considering becoming a customer of our farm this season, peruse the website and feel free to contact me at the email or phone number below.  I look forward to answering your questions.

We still have room for two customers.  If you are interested in eating some certified organic vegetables this season, give me a call.  I will be happy to answer your questions.

Hey Everyone:

Work continues here at Whitsend.  The field is almost entirely clear of snow, and should be dry enough to walk upon in about a week or so.

My first tasks will be to do some work around the periphery.  A fence rail needs to be repaired and a fourth electric line added.  

This is also a good time to cut away some of the  weed brush, chiefly grape vine and manitoba maple that threatens to short out the electric fence in a couple of places.

Pictured to the right is one of the evening primroses.  Having overwintered, it should start to send up new shoots and start flowering this season.

Another flower that overwintered is the leopard flower.  Look very carefully at the base of last year's stalk - our first shoot for the season.


This plant is also called blackberry lily or leopard lily.  Genetically, it is an iris.

Much used in traditional chinese medicine, the common thread I find in its use is as an anti-inflammatory.

Seed procured from Sunshine Farm in B.C.




Some grass turf needs to be torn out for the next rock garden, and a small drain trench dug.

Speaking of the rock garden, it is a mess! Reminds me why I prefer autumn.  This time of year, everything is rotten and soggy.  

I don't know how everything gets so out of order when  snow is holding everything in place.  Must be the mice...

Meanwhile, the nursery is very busy, and almost at capacity.  The hardening off 
shelter has been insulated somewhat, and holding the hardiest plants to make up for the lack of space.

No matter how much experience I gain, there are a few little details that I still miss.

I planted 'extra' beets in the nursery, to make up for a less than 100% germination rate. When the began to germinate, I was reminded of something I learned the first time I planted beets.  

Beet 'seeds' are technically a little fruit with 1 to 3 seeds within them.  So I have a lot of twins (pictured) and a few triplets in the cell packs.  There are a lot of beets in the nursery, we'll have quite a first succession of them.

Usually when these are planted in the field, the first seed from the 'beet fruit' to germinate dominates and outgrows it's twins.  

I gingerly teased the twinned beets apart and promoted them to empty cell packs, at last count, there is approximately 350 plants (My target was 300), so a couple extra for everyone.  

Our first succession of beets will be a combination of striped chioggias and sweet kestrals.  Kestrel is a variety that has not done well when I have direct seeded it, and even in the nursery the germination rate was a little low.  But the flavour is worth the extra work.


Now that the first successions of  our crops are becoming established in the nursery, it is almost time to start planting the second successions.  Succession cropping is a technique that ensures a continuous supply of a crop throughout the season.  I’ll use lettuce as an example.

In mid April, I plant two 45-day lettuces for each customer and two 57-day lettuces for each customer, plus a few extra in case some fail.  This provides lettuce for the first two weeks of delivery.   They are transplanted out to the field at the same time.  

As lettuces grow very slowly in the spring (due to the shorter day length), they will have to be harvested a little smaller, hence two per customer to allow for a decent quantity for the first deliveries.

Two weeks after the first succession is started, I sow another succession of lettuces to cover the next two weeks of delivery.  This activity continues through to early July, when the last lettuces are sown.  

At that point, I start enough lettuce to cover the rest of the season, planting varieties that can tolerate shorter days and cooler weather.

Generally speaking, this describes succession cropping.   There are little details to think through. 

A 45-day lettuce (a lettuce that is harvest ready in forty five days) will take up to a week longer in the spring to reach its harvest date, due to the shorter days.

During the hottest part of the season, the lettuce may only have a forty day period of growth before heat forces it to go to seed early.  Excessive heat usually happens in late July and early August, though brief periods of heat (such as last May) can also alter the lettuce harvest date.

In the fall, leaf growth slows down considerably, most lettuce requires an additional three weeks to reach its harvest date in the late fall.  At a certain point in the fall, leaf growth all but stops, due to the shortening days and the cooler weather.  So for the last sowing of lettuce, I have to estimate when to plant based on when I expect my last lettuces to be harvest size by the time this period of growth ends. 

However, if I plant too early, these lettuces might go to seed before the growth period finishes.

These are factors that have to be considered when sowing the crop in the nursery, three to four weeks before transplant and several more before harvest.

One way around the planting first harvest date variables are by planting four varieties instead of two, each with different maturity dates.  Instead of two 45-day and two 57-day lettuces, I could plant one each of the 45-day, 48 day, 55-day, and 57-day varieties lettuce (Thankfully, there are thousands of lettuce varieties to choose from).

Worst case scenario, if I lose one or two varieties, I will still have some lettuce to deliver.  Best case scenario, the customers receive twice as much lettuce.  This does use up a little more bed space, but it is offset by the potential for some farm gate sales or very happy customers.

Recall I plant more than needed to offset poor germination or the occasional plant lost due to field damage – ie dug up by a vole, clipped with the whipper snipper, squashed if I happen to slip while walking by, etc.  So, there still might be lettuces left over. 

When this happens, I post the overidge on my ‘This Weeks Harvest’ page.  Customers then have the option of requesting this ‘extra’ lettuce on a first email, first serve basis.

If it still isn't spoken for on harvest day, the extra plants are either a treat for the pigs, or sent to the compost to become next year’s food.

As our first harvest day draws near, I will go into more detail about the different types of lettuce varieties.  We grow about a dozen or so, each with their own growing characteristics, shapes, sizes, colors, and flavors.

Talk to you next week.

Bob

Update later in the afternoon:

I pulled the straw off the garlic to get the beds warming up.

The soil is still frozen.  The bottom layers of straw are covered in grass and leaf molds.

Look carefully.  They have started to emerge from their bulbs.

Quite exciting.