Hello everyone:

Lots of progress to catch up on.

The garlic continues to grow well.  I anticipate scapes later this month.  

The green garlic that was delivered in your first basket is grown from the really tiny seed cloves.  If planted with regular garlic, these plants would probably yield small bulbs.  So I use them for the spring garlic, planting them much closer together.  

Between improvements to the nursery and a little more knowledge, I have had better success germinating lettuces in the hot weather than the past few years.  Still not up to the standard that I expect, which means I am going through a lot of extra seed.

How much there is to learn!  It's taken me a few years how to do perrenial herbs effectively.  Finally, the oregano is reaching a good quantity, and I add a couplek of plants each year to augment the stems that I let go to seed.

The next bit of knowledeg to add to my notes this season is cutting back the the rest of the plants to keep a consistent harvest window.  Seems quite straightforward, though I usually tend to us the research time  in the winter for big picture topics, such as soil fertility etc.  So most of my little details are trial and error learnings.  

Speaking of little details, I had success this season germinating Stevia, a herb native to Argentina that is grown for it's intensely sweet flavour.  Here is one of the six plants (from 10 seeds) that survived to transplant.  I'm hoping that by the middle of next year I will have enough of this to at least give a sample.

Because the transplant is so small, I have outlined it with a couple of stones, just so I don't forget it is there and weed it out.

After all, it's a rock garden.

This is your cherry tomatoes - as of this writing, the photo is about 4 weeks old.  The first couple of plants are just starting to flower as of this week.

Gold nugget is a 60 day tomato.  I started these back in March, and transplanted them during the first warm break in May.  I anticipate all of the plants will be in flush about late June - the first few plants will have to cover everyone for a couple of weeks.




Gold Nuggett will be finished by mid August; by then Gardeners delight (small red cherry), Moskvich (medium size red table tomato) and Great White (large heirloom tomato) will be in production.   I have tripled our tomato production from previous seasons - assuming all plants continue to thrive..

I'm still hoping that this is my breakthrough season for the eggplant.  It has not liked the cool weather, so I keep it covered at night.  I chose a slightly sunnier location, and tried to place it in beds that are quite rich (bulb onions get the top spots).

Another trick I am trying on one of the two beds this year is to prune back some of the leaves.  I hope this leads to a larger fruit set.







Still on increasing fruit yields, here is the first of two successions of zucchini this season.  In previous years, I tried to keep zucchini and cucumber going all season, but I have founds that the plant tends to tire out mid summer and yield goes down.  So I have planted a few extra plants for later in the season to make up for this.

You can't fool all the eaters all of the time, but this season I have a disappointment for the crow.

Last year, I was using oats for pig forage and also a a soil building cover crop.  The pair of crows that have claimed our field (as there own)  were quite capable of finding the seed and consuming it before it germinated.

I planted twice a much, but that just attracted a pair of black birds.





I finally used IRT mulch to cover the seeded areas, and discovered that a - oat and pea seeds can germinate in darkness; and that the birds "knew" that the seeds were under the cover and would pluck under the edge of the cover to get at the seeds; or waituntil the wind blew hard enough to expose some of the cultivated soil.

However, this year I am just using the IRT mulch as a weed suppressant until the crop is ready to go in.

Crows are smart birds, and I have spent many hours wondering how I can train them to hunt the mice, another unwelcome visitor that has so far eluded my best efforts.

More photos to follow, talk to you soon

Bob

Update June 5 2017:

Toall of our 2017 season customers:    I have sent out your first mass email of the season.  If you have not received it, check your spam in case the mass email was filtered out of your inbox...this sometimes happens with new customers.  If you have any other difficulties, please let me know.

Talk to you soon....

Bob

Update May 30 2017:

Hello Everyone:

After more than a week of no internet, we are back.

I'm not a particularly connected person (by choice, I like to keep things simple and I'm not easily mesmerized by gadgets).  However, it was quite harrowing to be without an easy source of mass communication.

In one sense, it made working at the farm a little easier to focus - communication was out, so I focused on more seeding and transplanting.

However, at the back of my mind, I was wondering if I was missing opportunities for new customers, missing important emails from existing customers (or family or friends), and generally wondering how this would affect my season.

I'd like to thank Jim and Marilyn for the use of their computer during the past week, and Chris for the IT support.

Talk to you soon,

Bob

We are still 5 shares away from our goal this year...if you know of anyone else looking for some great food this summer, have them call soon.


Talk to you all soon!

Bob




Update May 17 2017:

You will notice at the end of this blog I expressed concerns about low germination rate of the 1st round of radish.  24 hours after posting the note, four of five varieties sprouted quite uniformly..  I guess that is the magic of agriculture...





4 shares left...contact us soon if you are interested in taking part in this years harvest. 





If you have received one of our flyers after the payment deadline, please note that I can adjust the three payment schedule.  We still have about eight shares of produce to sell for the season.  Call soon, as in previous years the last few sold quite abruptly.



Why I use Flyers to find customers:

To keep our doorstep delivery cost efficient, I restrict my customer base to particular neighbourhoods.  This renders print and electronic advertising somewhat ineffective. 

I use very simple flyers (printed at home on standard print paper) to keep costs down.  I realise most flyers will wind up being recycled, so I do not create extra expense with glossy, professionally cut flyers.

I do not leave flyers if I see a “no flyers please” sign on your mailbox.  If I did not notice your request to this effect, please accept my apologies.

By far, most of our customers have come to us by word of mouth. 

Hello everyone:


The temperatures are starting to settle.  As this occurs, more seeds and transplants are going into the growing field.

Unfortuneatly, the weather is still unsettled enough to require row covers.

The garlic needs to be kept covered at night as the leek moths are now coming out, the seeded beds need some protection from having the seeds exposed by rain, and the arugula is at a stage where it is very suceptible to flea beatles.

So all we see is a field of nylon.



A couple of posts back, I wrote that I would elaborate on the nursery techniques for starting crops from seed.





The seeds were started in trays, and shortly after germinating, promoted to cell packs.  By doing it this way, I save space.  Example:  If need a minimum of 100 plants of a given crop, I plant about 150 to 175 seeds, depending on the estimated germination rate. This will take up the space of one tray in the nursery.  If I were plant these in cell packs, they would take about two and a half trays.

When promoting, I take the best 120 sprouts, assuming that some might fail to thrive in the nursery.








These are bulb onions.  In the field, I grow these in clumps, aiming for three plants per clump in the field.

To make the transplanting more efficient, I grow the five onions in groups of five in the same cell pack.

I asume 1 will fail to thrive in the nursery, and 1 to fail during trasnsplant.

Sometimes four or even five will survive to harvest, but these are usually quite small, owing to competition with their nieghbours.





As these plants grow, I move them from the hot shelf to the warm shelf; and then eventually to the outdoor nursery.  This structure is not heated, so on cool nights, some trays return indoors.

As these crops approach their transplnat date, I start exposing them to direct sunlight and wind for lenghtening periods of time, until they are spending full days and nights in the hardening off shelter.  I aslo start reducing water at this time, to stimulate root growth.









Last year was the best yield I have had for onions.  I had hoped to double the amount this seaosn, but they take up a lot os \\f space, so I was only ablbe to increase the amount by fifty per cent.

The big challenge for improving is keeping the onions free from insect damage duirng the curing process.

Now that they are tranplanted, i have 80 days to come up with a solution...








Here is the hardening off shelter.  A smaller, less airtight version of the outdoor nursery.
Since taking thsi picture (about four years ago), I have added a few more shelves and a second "lid" that is covered with screen.

During the day, I raise the plastic lid, leaving the screen on to protect the plants from insects such as cabbage moth, which will lay their eggs in the cell packs at the base of brassica (cabbage family) plants.








Time to transplant:  First, we start with a clean bed.  The weeds have been alowed to sprout a couple of times (ideally three) and then ceared out with a small hoe (reffered to as cultivating).  This activity depletes the seed bank in the soil, and leaves the bed relativley weed free for the rest of the season unless the soil surface is greatly disturbed.












I then mark lines according to the plants spacing requirements.  In this case, I am planting baby pak choi in 1 row at 6 inch spacing.  (I'm interplanting with other crops in this instance, otherwise I would have about 4 rows -

I'm using a couple of 5" pieces of old garden hose attached to the tines of the bed rake to mark the lines.

Straight lines make later work much more efficient.







I then remove the plants from their cell packs.  In hot weather, I might water the bed first, to lessen the temperature shock to the plants.

Note the area where I have watered in arugula seed to the left; I have left space in the centre of the bed to transplant winter squash).












One hand pulls back some soil, the other places the plant into the hole, and so on.

After the plants are in, they are given a light watering to ensure the soil fills in around the roots.

Finally, the row cover is placed over the plants to give them a little protection from the elements while they reover from transplant shock and acclimatise to their new surroundings.








Transplanting is best done on cloudy days (again, to relieve some of the stress on the seedlings).  I can't wait on cloud cover all the time, so the row cover provides a bit of shade.

Heavy rain and wind can also take a toll on fresh transplants.

Many plants can outgrow insect damage, but young plants are quickly overwhelmed (happened once to my winter squashes).  The row cover reduces the number of insects getting into the bed.






I look forward to the day when we return to using row cover made of materials other than nylon.  Nylon, like plastic, breaks apart easily.

I recently learned that how a fibre behaves (how well it sheds water, holds or releases heat, allows in sunlight, etc) can be determined by the weave more so than the material it is made of.

With that in mind, all it will take are some entrepreneurs and an engineer or two to start using better materials for row covers, tarps, and many other objects useful around the farm and your home.



A few other notes:

Our first harvest is less than a month away, and I have at least one disapointment to relate.

The lettuce will not be ready for the first week.  Com[pletely my fault, I missed a nursery seeding date on April first.

There is plenty of lettuce ready for the second delivery on June 21st.

I sowed the radish early last week, and I am just seeing a couple of sprouts coming up as of today.  It is possible that I buried the seeds a little too deep, and they are just delayed by 48 hours or so.  If that is the case, then all is well.

Ususally, radish seeds sprout in about 5-7 days, so 10 days is a bit worriesome.  I planted about four different varieties, so it is not the seed lot.  The seeds are a little old - 2-3 years, but I overseeded to compensate (brassica seeds are usually viable for up to four years), and sometimes age is a factor in germination timing.  In either of these cases, we may still have radish for the first week.

However, if I do not see any radish in the next couple of days, I will wipe the bed and start with fresh seed to get the little roots to you on the third delivery on the 21st of June.

Other than the lettuce, not too disapointing, but missing both radish and lettuce for the first delivery will make it quite a small harvest.


The good news is that the spring garlic, arugula, pack choi, and spinach are growing well; assuming these grow well.  There is so much to worry aobut at this time of year...

One other note - due to timing and seasonal climate considerations, I opted to forgo the broccoli shoots for the spring, and reserved them for fall.  Instead, I will be growing kohlrabi for everyone, I assume it will be ready by late June or early July.

We'll know a lot more about how the season is shaping up by then.

Bob

Talk to you soon...

Hello Everyone:

The past two weeks have been a blur of activity.

Beds are getting prepared and the first seeds are gong into the ground.













A sure sign the season is opening is the first day I remove the straw from the garlic beds.

Always a bit of a breathe catcher doing this, as I never know what I will find.

This year, as every year before, almost 100 per cent emergence.

I was particularly nervous seeing mice trails under the straw.  However, they seem to have confined their activities to storing oat seeds under the straw.  I wonder if the owl found them?






Typically, most growers leave their garlic mulched by straw all season.  This keeps moisture in the ground around the shallow rooted garlic, and suppresses weeds to an extent.

However, I need my garlic beds to be clean enough to plant cabbage in within weeks of the garlic getting harvested, so I continue to maintain the beds while the garlic is still here.

Also, due to the Euopean Leek Moth, I have to use row covers on the garlic when the night temperature goes over 10 degrees.  The straw tends to damage the row covers, so another reason why I take the straw out.




The straw is set aside for later use in compost making and mulching crops such as celery, or in this case, rhubarb.






































The rotation pattern I follow is important for many reasons.  By following it, I usually know where crops are going to be planted during the following season.

Knowing this, I can prioritise fall cleaning for the first crops that are seeded, such as spinach and peas.  The peas are just starting to germinate.











The biggest amount of labour goes into cleaning beds that became a bit messy last year.  I expect a few of these every season particyularly late season crops.

Quack grass is the biggest offender, though over th eyears I have reduced the amont in the beds considerably, partly by teasing out the long rhizomes (roots to the lay person), and by starving the rhizomes by clipping off the blades of grass that emerge.








This year, there are many of these beds, as our work flow was quite inturupted last spring.  Loosing time in the spring is

There won't be much effect for this year's crops, but it is delaying me from working on the new beds for next year - I might not have time to capitialize on what the pigs accomplished last year.












The beds developed last year (where we grew potatoes and squash) are looking quite good.  I have given them two cutivations this year to suppress weed growth before it starts, and hoped for one more.

Cultivating is best done with dry soil, so I used plastic mulch as a temporary cover for then next period of rain.

The wind had other plans, despite our attempt to pin down the mulch.  You don't win every game in this sport.



Many growers who use plastic mulch bury the edges of the plastic, but this stirs up the lower layers of soil and expose seeds in the "weed bank", which would negate the reason I use itin the first place.

By the way, cultivating is the process of disturbing the top inch or so of soil, just as weeds are starting to sprout.  Ususally, three passes with a hoe over a period of three weeks will deplete the germinating weeds and leave a relativley clean bed for the remainder of the season, provided the soil surface is not disturbed too deeply.

I can culivate twenty beds in about an hour; weeding mature weeds takes about three times as long; as well, the weed roots pull a considerable amount of soil (and compost and other amendments), and exposes more dormant seeds in the weed bank.

 For a detailed look as the type of hoe I use, check the posts dating back to this time of year, I think 2015 or 2014 has a considerable description of the use and benefits of a co-linear hoe.

Lots happening in the nursery as well.

Chard, Kale, Pak Choi, parsley, celeriac, celery, five types of tomatoes, four types of peppers, green and bulb onions...all of these need to be tended.

Primary concern is ensuring that the seed and seedling trays do not dry out.  It happened once this year, and the egplant was quite wilted looking when I found it.

Jus tin time, a quick soak brought them back to form.  A heart stopper for sure...





Here are the squash plants that germinated last week, now promoted to their cell packs.  As the weather warms, they will move out tot the outdoor nursery to get used to cooler temperatures, and then to the hardening off shelter to prepare for transplant.

Still a bit to write about, but all this writing and thinking about food reminds me that it is approaching 4:30 PM, and it is my turn to get supper started tonight....

Talk to you very soon

Bob

Update as of April 19 2017:  We have eight shares left to sell.  If you are interested in taking part in the coming season, please order soon.








Hello everyone:

Happy Easter to you all, I hope this spring is treating you well.

Plenty is happening at the farm, read on.

I'll be going over accounts in the next day or two to ensure everyone is making their payments on time and double checking where we are at for customer count.  I think there are only eight more shares left, so if you are still trying to decide, bear in mind space is limited.

Call now if you have any questions.


(613) 831-8218.  I'mm usually home by 6 pm, though some evenings I am a bit late.




The nursery is now getting crowed.  The outdoor nursery is now ready for taking the oldest onions for all but the coldest nights (On those nights, the onions are placed on the storage shelves inside the nursery).

The nursery is almost full - we are onto the fourth bank of lights, with kale, chard, tomatoes and the third round of onions just starting to emerge in their seed trays.

Over the next few days, I'll be counting tomato seedlings and determining if any more need to be planted.






Here are your peppers at two weeks.  They have opened their primary leaves and are establishing their roots.

We are growing four types of pepppers this season - Olympus, a standard green bell pepper; Lipstick, a cone shaped sweet peper, Hungarian Hotwax, a banana pepper that is somewhat hot; and Hungarian Black Pepper, somewhat hotter but not extreme, according to our hot pepper experts.







The celery is a little older, having progressed to its secondary leaf growth.

As with the peppers above, much of the growth is in the root systems, so the plant appears to be growing very slowly.

These will be following the onions to the outdoor nursery in the coming week, though spending the first few nights back inside until the weather gets a little warmer.








Along with all the work in the nursery, more tasks for outside are added to my spring routine.

Some of last year's late season beds need to be cleaned out - kale and brussel sprout stems need to be pulled and sent to the compost, and a few blades of grass and a few overwintered dandelions need removing,

Some beds near the edge of the buffer zone were left mostly untended last year until I knew for sure where the buffer zone was.  These beds are first on the list, a task that will only get more difficult if left.




The next beds to get cleaned up are the ones that are direct seeded early in the season - snow peas and spinach; and the first successions of carrots, beets, turnips, parsnip and rutabaga.

After that, the beds that take the first transplants are cleaned up - onions and parsley.

Fortunately, many of these were cleaned up last fall, and only need some light working.










If this is not enough to seem daunting, the rock garden needs some cleaning, compost windrows need turning,  and a broken part needs to be ordered for one of my tools.

A night of sub zero weather was put to use the other day.  I added a bit of grass and clover seed to some paths that had a few bare patches.

Grass and clover seed often germinates better after exposure to some cold, the temperature change helps break the seed open.

I use all the help I can get.







Some beds need deep aeration - the tool pictured here is used for that it is called a broadfork.

The five tines reach 10 inches into the ground and create passages for moisture and air to get into.  The air stimulated aerobic bacteria, which in turn speed up the decomposition process of organic matter, which in turn releases nutrients into the soil.

The passages also allow worms, bugs, and amphibians opportunity to move about in the soil easier.






Insects and worms overwinter in the soil below the frost line, consuming organic matter and helping to break down nutrients that are deep in the soil - too deep for most crops to reach with their roots.

When these soil dwellers sense the warmth of spring, they migrate to the surface, bringing these nutrients from below the root zone back up to the surface.

This is just one of many activities on the farm that develop soil health, which in turn leads to healthy food.

This is a photo of me using a broad fork in my first year working the earliest beds.  The broadfork is one of my favourite tools to use.  An excellent all body workout that will do the same things a treadmill, stationary bike, and rowing will do...and at the end, one can say the exercise accomplished something.





I have a few perennial crops.  This is a self seeding bed of primroses in our rock garden.
The rock garden also contains oregano, thyme, sage, and amaranth flowers.

I am gradually establishing sorrel here as well.

Instead of broad forking, I use dandelions as my deep aerators.  dandelions are biennial, so when their deep tap root dies, and decomposes, they provide the same kind of hole in the ground that the broadfork does.







Our first crop of the year - rhubarb leaves emerging from dormant plants.


Rhubarb is in the plant family Polygonaceae, which also includes sorrel and buckwheat.

I also grow buckwheat (as a cover crop), and I am establishing sorrel in one of the perennial beds as an additional herb.

The oldest rhubarb plants are ready for harvest in early June, a few of our customers shall receive some.  The other plants will take another year or two to mature.