Warming up

Well its been pretty warm for this time of year, but none of the veggies seem to be complaining...

The leaf garden is chugging along.  Unfortunately the potatoes have failed to pop up, with the exception of one.  The likely culprit in this instance is burrowing creatures like moles and voles.  Luckily there is a secret patch of potatoes elsewhere which might be appearing in the blog soon.  In place of the potatoes we will be planting black beauty and white ghost eggplant. 

...the collards are going crazy, as are all of the other leafy greens like kale, swiss chard, bok choy, and mizuna.

... a beautiful contrast of swiss chard, curly green and black kale, and red sails lettuce.  Never heard of red sails? How about deer tongue...

I am trying to produce lettuce year round, we will see how it goes.

Here is the years first stand of pole beans, delicious raw fresh off the vine.  The beans are interplanted with radishes, which will be fully harvested by the time the beans need the space.  The leaf garden has a similar story, with one row of mizuna in between two rows of bush beans.

...cilantro is thriving, as are the dill and carrots...

   

 The darker green, dill, was not planted, but rather is volunteering.  Dill was planted in this area last year and it has reseeded.  Hopefully the carrots will be able to thrive amongst it, because i'm surely not planning on removing it.  I have not yet sown any dill this year and these few plants will grow into quite alot of dill.

 

...The kohlrabi is doing its kohlrabi bulbing thing, as are the turnips... 

Its friend, the beet, is a much slower grower, and although they were sown at the same time, no bulbing has occured yet...

Although most of the arugula went to seed before it could be harvested, it is still edible, only with a threefold spicyness.  Some hardcore arugula enthusiasts actually prefer the post bolt flavor.

 

The tomatoes seem to be on steroids, but its really nothin more than some good ol fashion compost, rock dust, dried manure, and crushed up shells. The other summer crops are still young, but will soon catch up to the tomatoes.

Bell peppers, eggplant, summer squash, and zucchini.

And finally a few eye pleasers...

 fuzzy lambs ear buds

 the roses are in bloom

beautiful zinnies and celosias, next to a more than cool miniature japanese maple

We love leaves

Behold the Leaf Garden.  It was not planned, but once the garden was all tilled up, we noticed that the shape resembled a leaf.  We added the stone paths to be the veins.  The only raised bed in this section borders the parimeter. It is separaterd from the rest of the area with a narrow, one foot path.  The inside section, minus the stone paths, will be entirely planted up, with little room to move around. It is a maximum bounty area.  And just as the leaf is the part of the plant that captures sunlight, this is one of the sunniest areas of the entire garden!  So far its been planted with beets, swiss chard, parsley, green onions, mustard, mizuna, lettuce, bush beans, and yukon gold potatoes. 

Looking up from the leaf garden, you can see that some of the beds are covered again.  Since the attack of the root maggots, we have replanted most of the crops that the maggots destroyed.  The covers should prevent the adult flies from laying eggs near the base of the plants.  Only time will tell if this method works.  There is kale (green, black and red), collards, and bokchoy.  We didn't plant any broccoli, cauliflower, or cabbage.  It is getting too late for these temperature sensative crops, and lately it has felt more like summer than spring.  Where did spring go??    Other than these crops, we have also planted more swiss chard, spinach, carrots, beets, and radishes, deer tongue and red sails lettuce, and sown pole beans.   Next will be updates on the summer crops... aka tomatoes, eggplant...

ATTACK OF THE ROOT MAGGOTS!!

It all started like any other fine day here at the Broad Bay CSA.  The sun was shining, weather was sweet, and I was walking barefoot around the garden checking things out as I normally do.  The day before I had given the whole garden a nice dose of Neptune's Harvest Fish and Seaweed fertilizer.  Plants just love this ocean smelling liquid and show their thanks with lush green growth; which is why I was a little surprised to find a few of the cabbage plants looking a little droopy.  They had just recieved a nice dose of water and fertilizer, and weren't showing the love.  The real horror occured when I gave a little tug on one of the cabbage plants to test its all around health. Up came the plant with the greatest of ease,along with, to my disgust, hundreds of little white maggots.

Upon further investigation I have learned....surprise surprise, that these things are called root maggots, or cabbage maggots.  The adult female fly hatches in the spring and then proceeds to lay eggs at the base of brassicas (though brassicas are not their only targets). Once the maggots emerge from egg, they make their way down and start munching on the roots,until the roots are no more!  From above root damage below is displayed in the plant through its stunted growth and the discoloration of leaves.

While staring at these horrible little root maggots I had a memory from a few weeks back when I had just tilled the soil. I was observing little flies, slightly larger than gnats, hovering all around the freshly tilled ground.  I had made a mental note of this because it seemed strange.

In the dealing with the root maggots I have had many casualties. To my dismay, I have ripped up nearly a hundred plants; kale, mizuna, cabbage, brocoli, cauliflower,...........  the heading plants  (cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli) are unfortunately now too late to replant and get a decent crop, they just cannot handle the heat. 

Af for the control of these pests a few things are possible

1. Ripping up all infested plants and destroying them, therefore breaking the lifecycle

2. Covering all newly planted plants with horticultural cloth

3. Spraying diatomaceous earth on the freshly tilled/planted soil.  This is like shards of glass to an insect stopping them from landing on a surface.

4. Populating the soil with beneficial nematodes that like to eat the maggots in their larva stage

With a combination of all the above I will protect my brassica plants from this enemy species.

...cabbage plants not thriving, the maggots are busy munching away root..

Look very closely and you can see many maggots...

 DIE MAGGOTS DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rain Rain...

Well as you know, the circle garden is full.  But the sunroom and greenhouse are once again bursting at the seams with anxious greenery.  The swiss chard is sitting, the parsley is perculating, the cabbage is feeling cooped up, and the lettuce would love to stretch its legs.  These plants want out!!!

 

So every chance I get, when the soil dries out in between rainy days, I am out there working on the next section.  This area will be done a little differently than the circle garden.  Instead of removing each chunk of sod by hand, I am shredding everything into the soil with the tiller.  This requires a bit of wire grass removal, but is much quicker and easier than the intensive hand method.  The soil won't be dug as deeply, but will still produce nice crops of the smaller plants like chard, lettuce, kale, and spinach.

    

As you can see, the triangularish shaped section is not yet finished... the tips still need some work.  After the tilling is complete, I will use a rake to shape the beds and paths.  Then I will add compost, clay (the soil here is just too sandy), and organic fertilizer.  Only a few more days of work and this baby will be all planted up!   Meanwhile.....   spinach and kale looking like a sea of green....

  

Chocolate mint and Spearmint

ROSEMARY!!

Any one want a radish?

Bok Choy

Arugula

Tatsoi

Collards

Broccoli

 

All growing steadily and happily.   Adding to the diverse list is the new onion section that we recently created down by the water, next to the dock...

These terraces are a combination of sandy soil, added clay, and compost.  Although not pictured, baby onion plants have since been planted here, two rows per bed, 4 inches in between each plant.  Some time during the summer, hundreds of onions will be harvested here.  The seed potatoes are growing eyes like crazy and will be cut up and planted soon...

And try to contain your excitement, but the seasons first tomatoes will also be ready for planting soon...

Have you started your gardens yet???

Circle garden... full

The paths have been dug up, the beds amended with compost and organic fertilizer, and as the first days of spring roll in, the circle garden is being stuffed full with leafy green vegetables...

Heres whats gone in...  sweet peas, red cabage, green cabbage, collards, green kale, black kale, purple kale, bok choy, tatsoi, chinese cabage, broccoli, cauliflower, green onions, leeks, cilantro, swiss chard, beets, turnips, radishes, mustard greens, and arugula!

...The sweet peas that never came up

 above...mint, below.. bokchoy (left) and tatsoi (right)

 kale is growing like crazy...

 luscious lettuce...

 me fixing the pea trellice, and looking forward to that first crunchy bite of sweet delicousness...



The sunroom is the only thing not looking so full this week...

Which means that it is time to start sowing summer crops!! Tomatoes and eggplant have already been started.  Soom to come will be cucumber and squash, and many types of herbs and flowers.

Tasty Leafy Greens

Well the weather is certainly starting to warm up a bit.  People might be starting to think about and plan their flower and veggie gardens.  Winter jobs like mulching, leaf gathering,  and bush trimming are still happening everywhere.  Lawns haven't started to produce much greenness yet. Meanwhile over here at the BroadBayCSA, food has already begun to be harvested and served at the table.  A head of lettuce a day to munch on, and micro salads of arugula and kale.  Not a valumptuous feast, but meager rations that are bridging the gap between fall storage crops like squash and potatoes, and the gush of spring bounty.  A visual tour of the recent plantings...

Tyler and I barely finished planting these collards today as the sun faded.

Arugula and Bok Choy are loving it under the frost cloth...



Lettuce enjoying the protection from the two newly built cold frames (Found the windows on the side of the road as trash... neighbors re-did all of their windows and I harvested about 20 of them)

Also from the windows... My very own homemade greenhouse!! 

On the left, kale mingling with root crops and on on the right, kohlrabi chillen with baby spinach sprouts.

 Kale...                                                                              Beets, turips, carrots, and radishes...



It seems that I spoke too soon about the peas, for a couple of plants showed their baby heads today...

And looking very similar, and happy about the recent warmth is the seasons first mint...

Has anyone else planted any edibles yet???