In preparation for Mother's Day, I cut several peonies early in the week, before they were opened completely and put a wet paper towel on the stems and wrapped them in newspaper, closing the top and bottom with rubber bands. I have not tried this before but I was pleased with the results. The only thing I think I would change is putting the wet paper towel in a baggie to keep it wet. But the flowers were still in great condition, albeit a bit squished but they fluffed up nicely. I also picked more peonies yesterday morning. Those went into a jar of water and into the cool-bot overnight.
We were at the farm earlier yesterday because I knew there was a lot of lettuce to pick. David started while I jumped the fence into the neighbor's field and helped myself to some wild daisies. There were several nice clumps to choose from and one was all I needed to get enough for some bouquets. I also picked some of the yellow wildflowers I often find growing next to the daisies but I cannot remember the name and I'm not sure how to look them up in the database if you don't know the name.
Normally we take the lettuce directly to the sinks to wash and spin but we had so many things to harvest and it was going to get really hot so I wanted to harvest everything by lunchtime so we put it directly in the cool-bot while we picked the butter head lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, turnip greens, radishes and some Chinese cabbage. I also got a few bunches of chard and one customer requested some broccoli leaves so we cut a bag full of them. I had a few carrots and I did find some at the house in our raised bed later in the day. We had a few turnips ready but I opted to keep those for us.
We cut all the rest of the Chinese cabbage because it started to bolt. We got twelve heads, soaked it good and removed a good deal of the outer leaves. It had quite a bit of holes from the flea beetles so we figured we'd have a hard time giving it away but we did sell all of it!
We ended up with 28 bags of spring mix, five broccoli, two cauliflower, four bunches of carrots, greens and I'm guessing, but I'd say over 50 heads of lettuce. We had to pick so many because one variety, almost all of them bolted from the heat and I was worried about them all going. No, we didn't sell all of them but we did sell a lot and we donated some to the food pantry. I have an ice chest full that I'll bag and put in the refrigerator tomorrow, give away as many as I can and possibly see if I can get it to last until next Saturday. I don't like taking it to market after a week but sometimes if it's in good shape I will because I know the stuff you get in the store has been picked at least a week previous.
After we ate dinner I did the bouquets. I got 18 regular bouquets and when we got to market this morning I made 11 more with the peonies and Sweet William. People were coming up before market officially opened and started snatching up the peonies. Several people were buying multiple bouquets too. We ended up selling every last one of them! I think that's the most I have ever sold except once when someone pre-ordered a bunch. Can't remember exactly how many it was then.
Market was very busy all day but the time went by fast. We had taken some of the better looking tomato and pepper plants but we decided today would be the last time for them. As it turned out, we sold quite a few and another vendor was telling me about his seedlings dying so we did a trade, tomato and pepper plants for pasta. Win win because he got plants for his garden and we got rid of the plants without throwing them away. Of course, after we did that I remembered a different vendor told us he would take the leftovers. We told him we forgot but we still had some at home so we'll take them to him in two weeks. When I got home I looked them over and there's still some pretty good ones to give him. We did set aside a few to plant at our house too.
After market we usually come home and take a short nap. I couldn't sleep so I went outside and watered everything. It's pretty dry because it's been so hot and I lost a few of the seedlings I had planted. I gave everything a good soaking and then went to the greenhouse and watered. It was 115 degrees in there! I have to get everything out and potted up tomorrow. At least out of there. But the tomato growing in there is doing really great and has some pretty nice looking and good sized tomatoes on it. I have been watering that twice a day.
When I finished watering we went back over to the farm to water there and put the shade cloth on the two rows of lettuce. Hopefully between the watering and shade cloth we can extend the harvest a couple more weeks. The beans have little beans on them but I'm sure it will take at least two weeks before they're ready to harvest. I did pick two cucumbers from the greenhouse cukes today. We also got a few more asparagus spears and about a pint of snow peas. Oh, and then we had to pick strawberries again. Got about three quarts.
We'll be going over every night this week to try and get a bit done. It's only a couple more weeks before we won't have Jackson for the summer. I think we'll still have Miranda on Wednesdays. She likes to help me garden so maybe we'll make a small garden here for her.
Tonight we went to the farm to water after Jackson left. I didn't feel like going but once I got there I was okay. I watered the two lettuce rows, the newly planted cukes and melons and where I planted radishes, beets and watermelon. David picked three quarts of strawberries.
I picked all the open peonies, some with buds, and wrapped them in newspaper and banded each end. I am trying to see if I can hold them for selling at market on Saturday. Pretty sure the buds will be okay, it's just the open ones I don't know about but I figured I had nothing to lose.
I am really tired but I want to keep up this blog for my records so no fancy writing, just the facts, ma'am!
This week I worked hard to find moments of time to plant some of the many seedlings in my flower beds at home. Some I put out too early, without hardening off and we had a few cool nights so I lost some. Natural selection I guess. We worked half the day Thursday here and half at the farm. Mostly we mulched the potatoes, or rather hilled them up with the chopped straw from bales we had around the greenhouse for winter insulation. I picked a couple of quarts of strawberries.
On Friday it was our usual routine of getting ready for market. We had two heads of cauliflower and three heads of cabbage and four bags of broccoli shoots. Also 22 bags of leafe lettuce and about a dozen looseheads. They were exceptionally pretty and sold very quickly. We also managed to get two packs of asparagus and enough turnips, carrots, parsnips and onoins with a few radishes and asparagus to put together some roasting bundles. They sold immediately.
We came home and took a short nap and then loaded the truck and I made 15 bouquets. It amazes me that I manage to come up with the flowers this early but we did stop by the road again and pick wild daisies.
Saturday was just beautiful and people must have been so tired of all the rain they all came out. We were busy up to lunchtime, when I finally had time to take some pictures of the other vendors. We sold all the flowers and all but one lettuce bag and one butterhead. I think the tomato plants are multiplying though! I want to be done with them but there are always a few stragglers who want a plant or two. I did add some perennial flowers to the mix this week and will have more next Saturday.
My peonies were ready enough for me to get three bouquets. Of course they sold first. I hope I have some for next Saturday. Ennie picked a big bouquet today because I told her she may as well enjoy them since they would be too far gone by Saturday. There are several buds but I may try cutting them now and wrapping in wet towels and newspaper and putting thm in the refrigerator so I have some for Saturday. If I had 100 vases I could probably sell them all!
When we got home from market, after a short nap, I potted up new basil seedlings and a few other things I sowed in vermiculite. David mowed so we can take the mower over to the farm.
This morning David put together two new raised beds here and I planted more of the many seedlings. I will try and make sure all the plug trays either get potted up or planted this week. Also I will pot up some Baby's Breath and St. John's Wort to take to market.
We went to the farm after lunch even though we were tired. I picked three quarts of strawberries. Clearly the new ones, Sweet Charlie are much sweeter and preferred, if they hold up to freezing. We shared the berries with the family and our neighbors. I also planted my cucumber and melon seedlings and got the artichoke seedlings in the ground! Not sure if they were held too long in pots. Time will tell.
Not getting tons done at the farm but a few things here and there. The beans are setting buds and I planted a few sweet potato slips I started. The tatsoi and bok choi have bolted and we probably should cover the lettuce with shade cloth this week. Oh, the peas are finally coming around. They are loaded with blossoms and one pea was picked today. Sure seems like they took a long time!
I will just post photos for now, too tired to write. First, our booth then the other vendors.
Busy market today. I couldn't get free to take pictures until almost noon so some vendors were light on product. A good thing!!!
Well, it was raining cats and dogs with a little bit of lightning when we left for market around 6:15 a.m. We had the truck packed full. So full I had to hold the carrier with my 15 flower bouquets. I was thinking it didn't look good. And we sat in the truck for about 20 minutes when we got there, as a few more farmers trickled in. Finally it let up enough to set up the tent and tables.
I didn't rush to set up since I figured there wouldn't be much of a crowd. We weren't even sure we were going to unload all of the plants. Eventually we did though. We sold an awful lot of tomato and pepper plants. I think people are thinking it's finally time to plant. Or they're afraid we're going to run out of the kind of plants they want. And I did have to tell a lot of people we were out of the type they wanted.
It didn't take very long for the sun to come out and the people to start pouring in. We were selling plants, not produce though. And I had over 20 bags of lettuce to sell. Oh, and I brought the holey Tatsoi too, just in case, and believe it or not, people didn't care. It all sold but one head. We did have bok choy and a few bags of lettuce left and we donated some to the people who come around from Fayetteville Samaratins. We finally got to bring some lettuce home for us and we enjoyed a big salad tonight for dinner.
A lady came up around 9:30 and asked if she could buy all of my flowers. I told her, sure, I didn't care who I sold them too. I think she thought I would want to spread them around. And when she went to get her money I did have two more people come who wanted to buy flowers and I had to tell them they were all sold. That's a nice problem to have.
I pulled a few parsnips that I had planted last Labor Day weekend. They're pretty crowded so there were only enough big ones to make three bunches but the tops were probably two feet high! Most people knew what they were and they sold quickly. Another vendor who collects seeds and sells them wanted to know if I would collect some seeds for her. I do a seed swap in the fall so I told her about that. I'm not going to make a commitment to her but if I have extra I will share.
I did try to take photos of market but it wasn't a very good day since there were so many vendors that chickened out coming when they heard the weather report so I'll try and get some next week. I did take a picture of our booth though.
2015-04-26 PLANTING SEEDLINGS
Today I debated whether or not to go over to the farm and mulch the tomatoes or to work on getting my seedling ghetto planted. I ended up being able to do a bit of both.
I have so many seedlings and many of them are in dire need of being planted or getting potted up into a bigger pot. I concentrated on the vine seedlings first since they were already winding around themselves and anything nearby. I have three sections of iron fencing that came from Baltimore that David let me have for my flower garden to put the climbers. I had Thunbergia, two varieties, and Asarina, mixed. I should have a red one too but I didn't see it today. I'll find it eventually. I had three clematis Jennifer had taken cuttings of last fall that I wintered over in the GH and were doing really well. I found a spot for them as well. And I even got my new Agastache Heatwave and new Salvia planted!
I have one area that I was trying to concentrate the agastaches to attract the hummers and I had lot a few over the winter so I planted a bunch more to replace them. I also got some Kew Blue Salpiglossia and another annual whose name escapes me now, planted.
Last year we made a hugelkulture bed with a water feature and I have a lot of open space to plant flowers so that can take up a lot of my seedlings. Now, to just find the time. I'm going to try and get a few planted here and there while Grandpa swings Jackson tomorrow.
