CSA Session 5 week 2: Thanksgiving!

 

In this week's CSA baskets we have Lettuce, Carrots, Purple Sweet Potatoes, Orange Sweet Potatoes, watermelon radish, purple daikon radishes, and a bunch of red radishes.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner. This Thursday, if we want to be exact. This week's basket is full of vegetables to make your Thanksgiving great! The sweet potatoes can be made into a delicious sweet potato pie. Like most recipes for sweet potato pie, this one calls for the orange sweet potato,  However, you could also use the purple ones and have a pie with a pop of color on your table of Thanksgiving goodies. 

Pie isn't the only use for sweet potatoes you can make Sweet Potato Casserole, or make some Baked Sweet Potato Fries, or make a Sweet Potato Carrot Bake, which all of us loved.

Of course, there's more than just sweet potatoes this week. The lettuce, carrots, and radishes would make for a delicious salad for Thanksgiving. With how beautiful these heads are, I'd hate to not use them. If salads aren't really your thing, you could eat them plain in a veggie tray!

 The vegetables are so colorful that you just have to try one (or maybe all) of them. My favorite is the watermelon radishes and purple carrots. The flavors of the two are just absolutely delicious. If we didn't have to sell them, I'd probably be eating the purple carrots all year long. The watermelon radishes are full of color and flavor- it brings a delicious punch in such a pretty package. It's one that you wouldn't expect at first, but once you try it you can't get enough.

For our family's Thanksgiving, we're always the ones in charge of bringing the vegetables. We normally would bring a salad or two, a veggie tray, and some pie. By the end of the night, the veggie tray would be gone, the salad pretty much gone and there would still be plenty of pie left for tomorrow! Of course, this year since we're staying at home, its going to be a little different- but we're still going to have our sweet potato pies.

I hope that you and your family have a great Thanksgiving!

By Maggie

CSA Session 5 week 2: Thanksgiving!

Just thought I would share some pics of what we have growing. These are about a week old, but you get the idea. Tomatoes Cherry Tomatoes 2nd planting of lettuce, starting to pick this week 3rd and 4th plantings of lettuce outside Outside tomatoes and peppers, still more to plant! Inside Peppers Potatoes Hilled up Garlic Inside Squash Inside little cucumbers Sweet potatoes and okra Jay

Plastic Mulch

This year I am experimenting with using plastic mulch.  I have been using drip tape for several years,  it really changed how I water my crops.  Last year I used landscape fabric for Sweet Potatoes and Okra.  I was hooked.  Less weeding and earlier crops, I knew I am using more of this next year.

This year I am planting Tomatoes, Peppers, Okra, Cucumbers, Zucchini, Sweet Potatoes, Watermelon, and Canteloupe all in plastic mulch. 

It takes me 30 minutes to 60 minutes per bed to lay the plastic.  The plastic in the high tunnels is much easier than outside. 

Why Plastic Mulch? Here is a nice list of advantages from
http://uconnladybug.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/plastic-mulches-for-the-vegetable-garden/

Advantages:

1. Increases soil temperature, allowing earlier planting and earlier harvest, and promotes plant growth in cooler climates.
2. Soil compaction is reduced which improves root growth.
3. Fertilizer leaching is reduced because excess water runs off the plastic.
4. Water logging from excessive rain is avoided.
5. Drying of soil from evaporation is reduced.
6. Crops are cleaner and less subject to disease caused by soil-borne pathogens because they are not in contact with the soil or rain-splashed soil.
7. Weed control with black plastic eliminates the damage to roots caused by cultivation to remove weeds.
8. Weed control (black and colored mulches).
9. Harvest of crops can be 2-14 days earlier with black plastic and as much as 21 days earlier with clear plastic, depending on the crop and the temperatures.
10. The “chimney effect”:  CO₂, which is required for photosynthesis, builds up under the plastic and can only escape through the planting holes, causing a higher concentration around the growing leaves.

There are some disadvantages too.

 1.   Cost of mulch and irrigation equipment.
2.    Soil erosion can increase between the mulched rows.
3.    Weeds may grow through the planting holes close to the crop plants.
4.    Must be removed from the garden annually, along with the drip or   soaker hose irrigation tubes.  

However I believe the advantages over power the disadvantages.

 Here are some pictures from this year, so far.

Here is "Hoop B"  the big tomato building.




Cherry tomatoes


Cucumbers and Zucchini




Peppers




Watermelons








Okra




Sweet Potatoes





Enjoy!

Plastic Mulch

No Rain, Day 44 and Counting

The title says it all.  Today is day 44 without significant rainfall.  We had 20 or 30 drops several times, but that doesn't count.  To go with that, we have been having highs in the 90's and south winds at 25-35 sustained for the past 4 days.  Starting to understand what the Dust Bowl went through.  Wheat harvest is starting, (a month early), center pivots have been running non-stop and dryland crops look poor.  Nonetheless, I am pushing forward. 

I have been watering almost around the clock to stay ahead, most things are looking good. We are really starting to harvest a crops and sales are picking up at the markets. 

How dry is it, I spend 4 plus hours today putting down plastic mulch for my outside peppers.  I had to run the tiller back and forth to pulverize the clods.  I ended up with a decent bed, but the soil to cover the plastic looked like this.


Here are the 4, 70 foot rows.  The plastic mulch is covered with dust, that is why it is gray and not black.


The peppers in the high tunnel are really looking great!





Pickling Cucumbers are looking really good and I am picking every other day to keep them at the right size. I have sold out for the last three markets.  They are blooming and setting like crazy!



Inside Zucchini is looking good, Kinda concerned, it isn't blooming as much as normal. 


We have been picking zucchini outside for two weeks too.


Cucumbers are looking rough, the wind has really hurt them. I am hoping they start producing soon.


Not planted in this picture, but I got half of my melons planted and they are up. I hope they didn't fry in this heat in the plastic mulch.


Not planted in this picture either, but my Okra is really popping up.


Sweet potatoes went in on Thursday, not in this picture. Waiting for the last 100 to come in the mail soon.


Inside onions are looking nice, some really huge onions in there too!


Outside onions are bulbing up nice, like the crack in the ground?  They got a good soaking after this picture.


My pride and joy, tomatoes are LOADED!


Picked a few Cherry tomatoes tonight, big ones aren't quite ready.


Sold our first Green beans of the season on Saturday also planted the 4th planting on Saturday. 


Still need to transplant peppers (later this week), get more cucumbers and zucchini planted. 3rd planting of tomatoes are suppose to go in this week.  Also need to weed some things and dig potatoes (plants are already dieing too hot!)  I also have 3/8 of an acre of winter squash to plant.  Finally, I have to get thing harvested and sold.

Sorry for the long post, but I need to share some success.  We have had too many failures already.

Enjoy!

Jay

No Rain, Day 44 and Counting

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