Bringing in the harvest in March

-
We love that our customers want to know how does our garden grow! We had a great tour of the hydroponics house and the high tunnel on March 23, along with sunny, windy weather. People had a chance to see beautiful vegetables grown with no pesticides and no herbicides.

March is fickle---Snow on March 1, rain, some super chilly mornings, whipping winds, sunshine, a teasing day or two of warm weather, more rain and more chilly weather. March has it all!  Sometimes it seems our main crop is mud.  But temperatures are creeping upwards and the sun feels stronger, and everything under cover is growing very well!

The hydro house is producing an abundance of greens, enough for the CSA shares as well as the market. Watercress, bibb lettuce, leaf lettuce, romaine, arugula, cilantro, parsley, and thousands of seedlings which are transplanted into the ground or into pots. Thousands of lettuces—very exciting for us. We are learning the growth cycles of the different plants and how to space the plants for optimum growth.

The high tunnel is producing an abundance of snap peas, scallions, kale, and chard. Thousands of scallions were planted in-between the tomato rows. The snap peas, which had looked unlikely to produce at the beginning of the month, are now producing far more than expected. The tomato plants which went in the ground on the last day of February are showing clusters of blossoms and growing very well. The chard and kale are bigger than ever. We are harvesting beautiful Chioggia and golden beets.

March brings the first harvest of perennial crops—such as sorrel and other herbs-- and vegetables that have wintered over—such as kale and cilantro from outside. No hoop house, row cover, or other protection, just great plant hardiness. Rhubarb is not quite ready for harvesting, but it is up and looking great!

For the last week of March, the tempo of everything seems to double and triple—more seedlings, more transplants, more planting, for the hydro house, the high tunnel, outside, and for you, our customers, who are ready to plant as well!  The first herbs and vegetable plants are out of the greenhouse and on display. After a few days, the plants are adjusted to the cooler temperatures and can tolerate frosty weather. I love hardy plants!

In just a few weeks, spring weather will make ALL the gardeners anxious to get out and play in the dirt. We are crossing our fingers that we get some sunshine and dry weather so that all the planting can happen close to schedule! The last weekend of March is teasing us with the promise of 70 degrees on Saturday. Bring it on—we are ready!






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

And a fig for you!

-
Image
O nce upon a time, a long time ago, back when there were classified ads in the newspaper and people read those ads, my mother saw an ad for fig trees in Wilmington. “Hmmm,” Elaine thought. “If he can grow figs in Wilmington, so can I.” Definitely a competitive streak in the family. Elaine and my youngest brother, Matt, drove to Wilmington to find this gentleman (using a map and my mother’s knowledge of Wilmington) who had fig trees growing in his back yard. “Here they are,” he said. “Which one would you like?” They picked out a tree, dug it up, and brought it back. This happened 1978 or so. This fig tree is still with us, a variety called Celeste, small, very sweet, and delicious. And that was the first fig tree. My mother, of course, is not alone in loving figs. Figs have commanded a dedication and following that borders on the cult edge of devotion. Fig fossils are dated to about 9400 BCE in the Jordan River valley—about 1000 years before evidence of wheat or barley cultivation, ...
Read more

All About Chickens

-
Image
Chickens are funny birds in many ways. They share a common ancestry with Tyrannosaurus Rex. They have a gizzard (and you thought your grandparents made up that word!), which is a small part of the stomach that contains tiny stones and grinds up their food.   They can fly only a few feet (enough to get over a fence!) and are officially classified as flightless birds. There are over 24 billion chickens in the world. A group of chickens is a flock, a female is a hen, and a male is a rooster or cockerel. Young females are called pullets until they start to lay eggs at 20 to 24 weeks of age. Usually first eggs are smaller sized.  Roosters can crow any time of day, starting at o’dark thirty, about 60 minutes before sunrise, and then continue All. Day. Long. Roosters can become very aggressive, usually after one year of age (full maturity). This is one reason why we rarely have a rooster in our flock. They are protective of their hens and will often have a group of followers. I...
Read more

What do we do in January?

-
Image
January is a busy month for planning, planting, harvesting, and clean up for us at Highland Orchards Farm Market. I remember my grandfather walking around the farm, just thinking and looking. He would tell me he was remembering what had grown there and imagining what might grow in that spot the next year. Imagination! A great tool to use. We are fortunate to be able to draw on generations of experience to help guide us as we work. The end of the year prompts review of crops: what was successful and why, what was not successful and why, what we want to continue growing, what we will discontinue growing.  This results in what seeds are started in flats in the  greenhouse, what is planted in the ground in an unheated house (hoop house), and what will be planted later in the spring.  We have over 200 different crops to consider for the farm market and for our CSAs. Winter care of plants is challenging, even though we are growing the cold-tolerant plants that usually t...
Read more