Hi, Jay and all,

We haven't planted out until last week, our son planted the week before. We were still getting frosts until then. Our temps aren't near as high, but still warmer than usual for our highs.

Markets are very slow, actually the worst that I've seen in sales for plants, which is all I've had. Everyone says they're waiting til mid-May before buying, too many people are expecting one last killing frost. Calling it a 'blackberry frost', first time I've heard that phrase.

Hopefully this next weekend will be better, or I'll have to look into other ventures.

Marla

Our plant sales are off too. I just figured that everyone who is planting has already planted. The first 6 markets we had highs of 94, 71, 92, 74 and 58. It has been a roller coaster!

I usually plant a later planting of tomatoes for sale, this year I didn't. I just don't think there will be a market for them.

Jay

Super busy here - and late planting everything except the tomatoes and peppers I started in March. I bought some lettuce starts (Cos and Salad Bowl), beets (just a 6-pack, for the leaves) and chard since I didn't get around to starting mine. Still have 12 Great Lakes head lettuce (which may have been a mistake) to plant but it's been raining 3 times a week here and we HAD to plant the bare-root raspberries (that I stuck in a pot in the garage right after we bought them b/c of 2" of rain followed by 3 freezes!), blackberries, and 6 potted blueberries plus some currants I got from someone back in April!

I picked my 1st ripe strawberry yesterday, doesn't look like we'll get too many (freezes) but blueberries are looking good, wild blackberries are starting to bloom and it looks like we'll have a lot, Triple Crown we just planted 2 weeks ago are leafing out, the raspberries may or may not make it - a few leaf buds on some, shoots on others.

Tomato plants are doing well, starting to harden them off in b/t showers but it's been slow. Peppers are smaller and have aphids. Peas and kale are coming up but tiny (planted more than a month ago but it was dry and hot then), I don't know when/if we'll get anything from them.

Just planted potatoes (about 10 lbs, 3 different varieties) yesterday - still have to plant onion sets I've had hanging around. May not be able to get full-sized potatoes before frost, but at least we should have new potatoes. Some sprouts were getting leaves, sitting in paper bags in my garage!

Highs 60's mid-70's, lows have been anywhere from 40's to 60's at night so hard to plan on even putting tomatoes out overnight, probably won't transplant til Mem Day (usual date) even though could do it earlier if I had been able to harden off.

Trying to sell my extra tomatoes, no takers from other women farmers, I hate to sell same varieties that I'm growing at same market but I just don't have room to plant them all. Still have to get T posts and get the fence up too. I decided it's more cost-effective to trellis the big ones up on remesh "fence" rather than cage or weave them - I'll let you know how that goes.

Market starts June 1 - still early enough to sell some starts if they're hardened off. I guess I'll donate any extras to church tag sale 6/16 - don't expect to sell any more after that.

Things are on their way.

We don't plan on attending market until May 26. I will have flowering columbine, rhubarb, horseradish and possibly some bagged greens for the first market day.

I have quite a lot of lovely lettuce that is ready now, but I think will be past it by May 26 so I have been giving it away to family. I have a lot of lettuce that'll be ready in a month or so and then quite a few seedlings that will be put in the ground within a few weeks.

My brassicas are all coming up and it's just a waiting game until they are big enough to sell.

Same story with the spinach and chard and carrots.

My leeks seemed to have not taken off and I do have onions but they are not flourishing. Hopefully, once we get more rain they will get going.

Potatoes have popped there heads up and the peas are doing OK. No luck with any of the parsely, cilantro or dill that I planted. May have to try again.

I am starting the tomatoes outdoors this year - they are 85 days so based on recent years weather they should fruit before frost. I just coudln't be bothered to do them indoors.

For my cuts I just seeded zinnia. I have lots of columbines which will bloom shortly and the next round will be foxgloves in June.

I also have seeded some salvia, emilia, and bunny's ears to sell dried in the fal since I will be off at t the end of summer with the new baby. Will wait a few more before seeding my perennials for next year and the hot weather annuals.

It's been really dry so I am having to do more watering that I would like at this time of year.

Can't wait to get started at market though!

It's been a mixed bag out here. Being new at anything is going to be challenging.

We got some breaks, first a farm inspection that will allow me sell about 50 different crops. No more hands tied behind my back while I try to learn how and what to grow and sell better.

I am working with another producer/vendor. We are doing a little selling for each other while he is holding down one market for me an I am holding down a spot to share with him at another. This is a big deal because neither of us have enough to work two of these good markets until about July. By then it would be very hard to get in either.

We only lost 2 out of 100 baby chicks and the hens should be laying in July. I should know how many are roosters soon...it looks like 3-5. I should get someone who knows out here and relocate the rooster. Profit over costs not counting labor should be good. Rhode Island reds do great here. The set up could easily be made to work for another 100 and give them each 3 square feet in the coop and 30 square feet or so in the run, which is a small olive grove.

Some of my leeks are getting tired before getting big and one type of onion did well and another not that much. Texas 1085 are between 1/2 to 1 pound each while about 25% of the creoles sent up scapes. The good ones will be about 1/2 pounds.

Blackberries are ready and I will need to learn how to best harvest and hold them for the market. I'll start a thread with this question.

Four kinds of summer squash are almost ready, beans a little latter.
Turnips, beets and carrots, have been selling good and can be grown year round, so that is a huge break. Brassicas are almost done but I bought some F1 magic broccoli from Johnny's to see if it can grow in heat, as touted. I am going to try Tyee spinach under shade cloth...Maybe even lettuce in a trench for cool soil and with shade too.

Peppers and eggplants, ground cherries, tomatillos are all getting establish.

I froze about a pound of basil through ignorance! I put it in the fridge uncovered and below the inlet vent from the freezer....Ouch! It is growing like a weed know. I should get a pound a week and am about ready to plant more seedlings. It may get to be more than we can sell.

Everything gets succession planted out here so I'll planting heavy(for me) until late June. My wife is taking the summer off to help move produce...so that will be nice for the family...especially me.

One last thing, someone had posted a thread about a summers green mix from baby brassicas. It seems like a very good thing to do. I'll bump it if I can find it.

Best to all,
Russell

Spring crops are winding down. Spinach is about done, and the lettuce mix will be history by the end of the week. I'll pull all turnips and radishes as well. Kohlrabi and beets have a week or so to go, but the chard is ready to pick. Brassicas are progressing nicely despite some flood damage. Lost 2 large later plantings of beets, carrots, chard, and radishes. Probably just as well as the deer would have gotten them anyway. Potatoes received a little flood damage but are coming around. Some are flowering. Put in nearly 200 assorted tomatoes this weekend, 170 pepper plants, and 300 sweet potatoes. Onions, garlic, shallots, and leeks need weeded. Peas are coming out of the flood but won't make much. Carrots and parsnips are looking good, and we started an herb garden. We're looking at an extended dry period, so I hope to get in all summer crops this week. I've suspended the asparagus harvest but am really pleased with this year's results. It is always in high demand.

As to the fruit, it's been a decent year so far. We're munching daily on blueberries, and I'll pick the gooseberries tonight. Black raspberries are looking good--the reds are just decent, but we'll end up w/several gallons. Peaches are really filling out nicely, and for the first time our many pears have fruited. Even our young apples have decent fruit. Only one plum has set. We're still a couple years away from having enough to open up sales, but we'll enjoy them ourselves for now. Grapes were severely frozen, but most have come back and will set a small crop. Rhubarb was poor as were currants. The real star of the farm is our blackberries. If hot, dry weather doesn't wipe them out, we should have at least a couple hundred gallons this year--and this is the first bearing season for the majority of the canes. I've never seen blackberries blossom like they did this year. The wild blackberries were loaded too.

My school ends tomorrow, so I'm on parole for a few months and can hopefully catch up. I'm in the middle of a couple unfinished projects that have to get done. My pond builder showed up Saturday, and I wasn't nearly done w/my tree clearing. I've also started a curing shed, which needs to get finished before the onions and garlic are ready to be pulled. Then there's a new roof on our house, and the list never ends.

Sorry to hear that us plant growers sales are off. I was worried that it was just me, glad to hear that wasn't the only problem.

I'm planting much less than I have in the past. Just can't keep up with everything, so am scaling back. I won't need a lot for personal canning, but will plant items that I can preserve or feed to chickens or cattle, in case nobody wants to buy.

Marla

Well, Marla, maybe it will be like I hope it is here - people got excited about warm weather and rushed to buy transplants, then we got too much rain or too cold (Jay, our last 28 degree night was April 30 - can you believe we're in same USDA zone??) and now they'll be replanting. Or old timers like my dad will hold to traditional planting date (Mem Day) even if the next week looks warm. Like you said your customers were waiting til mid-May - maybe you'll have better sales this week? Let us know. I never heard of a "blackberry frost" either. Around here the blackberries don't usually blossom til June!

I wish we had some earlier markets, would be nice to sell the starts at though as I said I haven't been able to harden off with the freezes the last week of April and the rain in May. I did sell some tomato plants a couple of weeks ago to another farmer (who had table next to me last year), she hasn't even started hardening off yet.

I planted Snowbird snow peas and Red Russian/Dwarf Blue Kale, all supposed to be ready in 60 days (less for baby kale) and it's been 35 - hope I have some to bring to market June 1, that's just under 60 days (peas said 55 days). Don't know if those and the lettuce, chard, beet greens will keep me going til tomatoes come in - again, have 55-60 day early tomatoes, but that means late July? Early July might be tough - and wouldn't you know, that's the month we have 2 markets/week. Maybe I'll be able to fill in with blueberries and blackberries (blues look like June/early July and blacks might be mid-late July if I'm lucky).

Seems like perennials are running a month ahead (if they didn't get taken out in late April freezes) due to March heat wave, but high season veggies/annuals will be just about normal (again, if people are waiting to harden off) and at least for me the cool-season are behind due to the March heat wave and dry spell. Strange spring!

Hello,

I had a new greenhouse built this winter and it has really extended my season! I do love it!

My first summer market was on the 11th and it went well. I don't think the traffic was as big as previous years, but I still sold most of my stuff, which was mostly vegetable plants, herbs.

This friday I plan to take plants, herbs, onions, lettuces and peas.
My tomatoes have blooms and we've ate a few cucumbers and there are several squash to pick.

jrslick: I have a question for you since you are a zone lower and have experience with hoophouses/greenhouses. When you plant tomatoes, etc...do you cover inside the hoophouse when there are freeze/frost warnings? My greenhouse is made of polycarbonate and heats up nicely. Night time temps are usually around 10 degrees higher than outside.

Andrea,

I usually put up low tunnels inside the high tunnels. Then I cover everything with Agribond 19 row cover, one or two layers. I also put 2 liter bottles of water between every two plants, by every plant would be better. Finally, if it is going to be really cold, I cover up everything with another layer of old greenhouse plastic.

With all this said, I have been able to to keep it around 48-50 degrees over-night when it has been in the low 20's. However, there are many other factors involved. Was it sunny the day before, sunny the morning after? Was it cloudy, windy, snowy? You get the idea.

I planted out tomatoes, in the tunnel on March 17th this year. It could have easily been the 10th or before if I was ready and if my plants were ready.

I usually start plants around February 1, maybe I should back that down to January 20ish?

Funny thing is this year I didn't cover a single tomato. Not even with row cover. I could have several nights, but I had already put up posts and started to weave them with string. It wasn't going to be easy to do, so I didn't.

Here is a picture from last year.
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Jay

Jay,
Are those peppers in the flats? They look great. At least some of them look like 72 cells. Did they work out well letting them get that big in 72's. I think it might not work for me because our air is so dry...might struggle for water. I now do 72's but don't let them get that big.

Thank you, thank you!! I will definitly implement the bottles of water and need to invest in some row covers!

I have a gravel floor and have lots of hanging baskets of cucumbers and rows of tomatoes and squash in grow bags.

I also have a coldframe the length of the greenhouse that has been great for lettuces, radishes, etc...

I realize that I need to makes changes. Get rid of the growbags and baskets next year and make rows of raised beds, for several reasons, cost being the biggest. I have several raised beds outside and love them for garlic and potatoes.

Andrea

This is my second year doing the market garden. I'm doing a SPIN farm, with four urban plots rented (plus my own).

Here's what I'm growing:

Spring-Summer-Fall rotation

Spinach- Eggplant -Tatsoi
Spinach- melons - kale
Swiss chard - okra - spinach (hoophouse)
Spinach - okra - spinach (second hoophouse)

Other minor crops I'm growing: chives, amaranth, beets, peas, tomatoes, German Butterball potatoes, sweet potatoes (containers), edamame.
Not doing squash or corn this year - they take up too much space.

Our first market was May 2 and we attend once a week. So far, I have only been harvesting spinach, chives, and sorrel. Chard and kale should be ready in 2 weeks.

Hi Slimy Okra. I am growing sorrel and blood sorrel. How do you package yours and how much do you charge for it? Size of package? Anyone else? thanx!

Andrea, row covers are wonderful. One of my sons found some last year, don't know what weight or anything about them, but they have worked wonders this last year. At times, we doubled and tripled them for really cold nights. Without the covers, plants were either frosted or killed.

Things are busy here and things are changing.
The land I am growing on is being sold, so soon I'll be split between two locations.
The new location is bigger, 4.5 acres, so I'm happy. I don't have a big tractor so I'm going to hire someone to plow and disc it the first time. I am sticking with my 50-share CSA plan, but now I am going to bump up the Fall garden to 1.5 acres and plant another half acre for a Winter market garden(hopefully I will have great markets like you Jay). I have a good location so I'm thinking of setting up a market at my garden instead of selling somewhere. What do you think?
At the current location, I'm pretty much just harvesting, putting shares together, and trying to keep the insects under control. I did one last weeding and put a heavy layer of mulch on the beds last week in preparation for Summer. I planted 200 sweet potato plants a couple days before I found out about the plans to sell the land. Hopefully development won't begin until late Fall.
The cool season stuff is about finished, and all of the warm-season crops are being harvested except, Okra, watermelons, cantaloupes, and cowpeas. I started my peppers really early this year and it paid off. I'm picking every type of pepper except for the habaneros and Red Marconis.

I've already ordered some Winter squashes, melons, cucumbers, and summers squashes for the Fall and have seeded peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes. What type of Fall tomatoes have been your best? I started a lot of cherries because they are fast and set fruit good in the heat. I also started a lot of Early Wonder, Kimberly, and Fla 91 as well as a few early and mid-season heirlooms. I plan on leaving the cherries uncovered. With the rest I am going to use 20 ft pvc to make 10 ft-wide high tunnels covered with greenhouse plastic once lows dip into the 50's.

Pete

Hi teauteau, we pick individual leaves that look good, wash them immediately in cold water, spin dry (or towel dry if we have a small amount) and package 4 oz in 5 lb bags for sale the next day. It is a minor crop though, because not many people look for it in my neck of the words. The milder red-veined types are good in salad mixes for adding some bulk and colour.

Forgot to mention we sell it for $2.50 a bag.

Thank you so much Slimy Okra. I decided to grow it on a whim because I saw some Asian people at the greenhouse growing it and it has a cool color pattern. I know regular sorrel is used to make the soup, although I've never tried it. But, some of the Asians like to grow the bloody sorrel and there seems to be a bit of a market for it here in the Kansas City area. I'm told it has a citrusy taste to it? I didn't know one could use it in salads. Or cook older leaves with butter to make sauces for fish and chicken. What do you use it for? So, $10 a pound seems about right. Kind of like spinach. Thanx a bunch!

Personally, I don't eat sorrel that often. When I do eat it, I like to make potato leek soup flavored with sorrel and butter. It's a variant of the way Russians eat it - cold or hot potato soup with sorrel and topped with hardboiled eggs makes it a meal in a pot. It does have a lemony tang but there is also a slight bitterness.

Interesting. Thank you for the information. I'll have to try that too. You are in 2B in Canada. Are you in Saskatchewan? Just curious.

I sure am! How did you guess?

Slimy Okra,
I thought I remembered seeing one of your posts and you mentioned being from Saskatchewan. Do you have a lot of people of Eastern European extraction in your area? The reason I am asking is you mentioned how you use sorrel and Russians. I have this sorrel and the bloody sorrel growing now and I want to start using it and marketing it. I know the Asians around here use the bloody sorrel. Thanx for your input.

Yep, we have lots of 2nd and 3rd generation people of Ukrainian and Polish descent who are still very much in touch with their roots. Also lots of folks of German descent, but the links there are weaker. The problem is that even those who use it don't use large amounts of it at any one time, so it never is more than a minor crop.