Fall/Winter Season is here

The fall and winter growing season is here. We have had our first freeze. Usually we slide into a freeze, this year we jumped in with two feet! We had a low of 22-23 degrees. All the warm season stuff is gone outside. The turnips, radishes, leeks and carrots are just fine.

We were able to save the late tomatoes by running a heater on them for two nights. We did have some damage, but they are still looking good.

Here are some pictures of our high tunnels this time of year.

Big Tunnel with carrots, spinach, Kale, green onions, lettuce, bok choy, napa cabbage, arugula and swiss chard.



Another tunnel with Cabbage, Napa Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Chard and Bok Choy


Here is our other building with Spinach, turnips, and radishes



Finally, here is a poor picture of our Late tomatoes.



I hope we can keep them going until Thanksgiving.

Fall/Winter Season is here

Sorry, No Jerry Lewis Telethon for Me

I have so much to do. I usually consider Labor Day as a real LABOR WEEKEND. A three day weeding, mowing, planting and hoping marathon. I am really behind with lot's of it!

This weekend I am hoping I can get some of my broccoli and cauliflower transplanted. It should have been done 3 weeks ago, but the plants weren't ready and with triple digit heat, I couldn't make myself do it. SO, we will go with plan B. Transplant them inside one of the hoop buildings instead of outside. I hope it works.

I already have 1,100 square feet of carrots started. They aren't as thick as I would like, however the weeds are really trying to make a go of it. MUST WEED if I want anything.

The peppers are coming out way early. They were a complete bust. Between getting them in probably too early, aphid problem and then record heat. I wrote most of them off and gave up. I kept watering them, but weeding went to the way side. I am going to rip them out along with the weeds and get ready for spinach. Probably not plant it, but get it ready to go.

I have 1400-1500 plants started in the basement to go out, but not until it cools off some. Maybe next week.

However, I do have some fall projects taking off. I have a late fall planting of tomatoes going well. I hope to be picking a few by Sept 20-25th.





A fall planting of zucchini is going nuts. I was hoping to start harvesting it by September 15th. I started picking on the 28th of August, 50 pounds first picking. Exactly 30 days after planting the seeds. I am amazed what a hoop house can help you do!






I am trying out some new varieties of Tumbling Tomatoes in hanging baskets for next year. This was a last minute thing. Last minute being early July. They will be ready late October. I should be able to keep them going until mid November without much problem.



I have two 40 foot beds of Radishes and Turnips. The radishes are getting close, but they are a little spicy.



The Okra is going crazy. I am picking about 20 pounds each picking. I pick it every 2 days or 3 days a week.




Winter squash is going well. We have lots to pick, but the vines are starting to die. It has been dry and hot. It doesn't seem to matter how much water we put out, they are just slowing down.

We harvested these two little cuties this week. They aren't quite ready, but they are close. The one on the left is a Sweet Dumpling and the one on the right is Delictia.



This was from a few weeks ago.



The velvet leaf has started back, I am giving up on it and just focused on water and harvest.

Sweet potatoes are doing well. We have been digging them for two weeks now and they are selling great. We started to dig the Georgia Jets. They can get really big and they crack a lot, if not careful.



We started some spinach and lettuce outside. They are growing, but grasshoppers love spinach. They leave the lettuce alone for the most part. I am going to have to replant the spinach, but I knew that might happen. I didn't get it covered in time, oops!

Still need to get out, Napa Cabbage, Green Cabbage, Red Cabbage, Green Kale, Red Kale, Spinach, Green onions, Bok Choy, Flat leaf Parsly, Cilantro, Romaine lettuce, 7 other types of lettuce, Swiss Chard, Tatsoi, Radishes, Turnips and maybe some Arugula.

Here is to a busy labor day.

Sorry, No Jerry Lewis Telethon for Me

Thinking of Cooler Weather

It is hard to think of cooler days and snow on the ground when it is 110 outside and rain hasn't fallen in weeks. Luckily, we have gotten some rain and I hope we will be able to follow that up with some cooler weather. But don't worry, cooler weather will get here. It always does.

What does that mean with our garden and high tunnels, it means it is time to start to transition to planting and starting seedlings. We started hundreds of Broccoli, Cauliflower, Napa Cabbage, Hanging basket tomatoes two weeks ago. This week we will be starting lettuce, cabbage, more Napa Cabbage, Bok Choy, Kale, and direct seeding green onions. This week we have put in the final planting of Zucchini and started 5 beds of carrots.

What will we have to offer this fall and winter. We are planning on having the following crops growing into this fall and winter.

Until it Freezes Outside:
Cucumbers, Okra, Zucchini, Green Beans, and Peppers.

Until Thanksgiving time (earlier or later depending on the weather)
Broccoli, Cauliflower, Tomatoes, Cherry tomatoes, peppers, and Zucchini

Until Christmas:
Romaine, Rouge D'Hiver Red Romaine, Red and Green Salad Bowl Lettuce, Red Sails, Black-Seeded Simpson, Buttercrunch, and Winter Density, All-Star Salad Mix, Tatsoi, Space and Tyee Spinach, Rubicon Napa Cabbage, Green and Red Cabbage, Winterbor Kale, Red Russian Kale, Napoli and Amarillio Carrots, Haikuri Turnips, Everbunching and Guardsman Green Onions, Lancelot Leeks, and Radishes.

Until we run out:
All lettuces, Carrots, Green Onions, Leeks and Spinach.

This year we also will be offering the following crops from storage:

Butternut, Acorn, Spaghetti, Delicita and Sweet Dumpling Winter Squashes, Sweet Potatoes, Onions, Potatoes (maybe the heat has done some damage) Jams and Jellies, and Pork.


I hope it will be a productive fall. I know it is going to be challenging to get crops started, but I will pull out every trick in the book to make things work! I don't give up very easily and I always find a way to make things work. Sure there may be some late nights, early mornings and lots of weeds to pull but the best thing of all is to see the look on everyone's face when we deliver our orders and see the smiles of happy customer receiving the freshest, best tasting and healthiest food possible. It makes all the work worth while!

Stay Cool!

Thinking of Cooler Weather

The difference a week makes

When spring rolls around and gardeners plant out their transplants or put seed in the ground, it doesn't seem to matter if you get it planted this week or next week, by the time it comes to harvest, they both seem to produce at the same time.

However, when you are growing in the fall, it is said every day a crop is not growing can translate into 2-3 days later on the harvest time. That is why it is important to get your fall crops planted in a timely manner.

WHY? The reason has to do with day length. Every day, after the summer solstice on June 21st, the days start to get shorter. While at first it isn't very noticable, it does make a big difference the later you get in the season.

I have a great example of what the difference a week makes with carrots.



The carrots on the right were planted on August 16th. The carrots on the left were planted on August 22nd. The same seed was used, they were watered the same, they were grown in identical situations, the only difference is the planting date.

You can also notice a difference in whole garden plot.

August 16th



August 22nd



So the next time you hear the saying, "What difference does a week make" you can say it means alot when talking about fall gardening.

The difference a week makes

Fall and Winter Garden

To all my RVP customers, I wanted to share where all your produce is coming from this fall and winter. Want to learn more, www.rvp.locallygrown.net My fall and winter garden consists of 3500 square feet of high tunnels and 1000 square feet of low tunnels.

Here is Hoop A
From left to right, Radishes, Beets, Swiss Chard, Spinach, Haikuri Turnips, Some left over broccoli, Lettuce, Napa Cabbage, Joi Choy, Red Choy, Tatsoi, Longevity (a type of tatsoi I guess), and Arugula.



They all still need mini hoops and row cover to cover them, but that is on the to do list.

Hoop C
My most mature crops and most recently planted.
Left to right, Lettuce, Kale, Spinach, Under the cover Green onions, Bok Choy and Napa Cabbage, Freshly Planted Haikuri Turnips and Carrots



Hoop D
This building grew Bell peppers and Cherry Tomatoes this spring and summer. I tore out the cherry tomatoes. Too overgrown and slowing production. The bell peppers are great. They are loaded and I have been picking bunches every week for the Farmers Markets.

Outside rows are bell peppers and under the row covers I have spinach and lettuce. I just transplanted the 250 plus lettuce plugs yesterday and the spinach is coming up or getting its true leaves. I still have grasshoppers in here and they love spinach. They don't mind the lettuce, but they will eat the spinach down.



On to the Movable Buildings. I have two movable buildings and I have crops growing outside and I am going to move the buildings over the crops soon. One probably this week and the other one once I loose the green beans or in about two weeks.

M1

Haikuri Turnips, Beets, Carrots, Carrots, Haikuri Turnips


M2 Has the same crops growing in it as M1.



M1 also has green beans growing inside.


Low Tunnels Broccoli and Cauliflower.
I have over 400 broccoli and cauliflower planted. They will go under row cover soon. I have to get a lot of other stuff done first!





The first low tunnel hoop.



Brussel Sprouts

They go planted too late, but we are going to see what happens.




Last outside planting of Green Beans.

This was a last second Hail Mary Planting. I have rinsed the frost off of them once and I have picked 40 pounds of beans off of the first picking. I am hoping to get 1-2 more pickings!

Fall and Winter Garden

Fall Harvest Begins

I don't know if fall harvest is beginning or summer harvest is just continuing, but we have some new crops to pick this week. The habaneros are ready, in full force. We have red, chocolate, and orange habaneros and a tiny but powerful pepper called White Habanero. And now you know what goes in the Habanero , Chocolate, Hot Lava Jelly and White Lightning Jelly!

The second round of carrots this year are possibly more beautiful and plentiful than the first. Check out the result of picking just five feet:

And it's not just the garden that's looking good. The soybeans surrounding us are huge, especially for dryland beans. I grew up in an area where the only soybeans grown were double-cropped beans (aka planted after wheat harvest and harvested in time to plant the next wheat crop). So, these huge soybeans continue to amaze me. We can't take credit for any of them, but it's a nice sight to see out your window.

Coming soon: spinach, lettuce, Napa cabbage, and Bok Choy.

Fall Harvest Begins

Busy bees, busy bugs

We are so very busy right now. The garden and market business is Jay's summer job, but for school teachers, summer is over. I'm also in school full-time now, and we don't have any paid hired help. So, gardening is done in the evenings and weekends.

Thankfully for us, the garden slows considerably in late August. Because the high tunnels put us ahead of season in the spring, it also makes our end of season one come sooner. Season two, however, is in it's infancy. The fall crops are all planted and the weather has been favorable. The bugs, however, will be our problem this fall. It seems they have "found" our garden spot and are feasting away. The sunflower plants looked ideal on Sunday night; on Monday night, the leaves looked like Swiss cheese. And, let me tell you, the very hungry caterpillar is  cute in a book, when he eats all those lovely picnic foods, but in real life, he is one ugly contender. Even the pretty white butterflies are looked at with disdain in our household. If only us busy bees can stay ahead of the busy bugs, we should have produce for months to come!

Busy bees, busy bugs

Planting time?

Even as most of the vegetable crops are wrapping up for the year and this is considered the end of garden season, it’s also planting time on the hill. These new plantings are all for our fall harvest, attempting to keep produce coming in for as much as the year as possible.

In the past two weeks, Jay has planted 200 broccoli, 175 cauliflower, and 700 row feet of green beans. In the next few weeks, we need to plant napa cabbage, bok choy, arugula, brussel sprouts, more cauliflower and broccoli, radishes, carrots, beets, haikuri turnips, green onions, kolorabi, totsoi, lettuce, and spinach. What makes this goal even more challenging is Jay starts back to work as a teacher today and I start school full-time the following week. Most of this will need to be done in the nights and weekends. In other words, this year our Labor Day Weekend will have lots of labor and not much weekend.

Planting time?