The more I grow komatsuna, the more it impresses me. The komatsuna pictured at right was sown in September, and did not have the luxury of any sort of protection over the winter. It is now starting to form delicious flower buds and seems generally unperturbed that it is growing in a bed that is [...]
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Tagged: Plants
Most yearsI seed leeks in early march, then transplant them top open ground in April. Last year, due to the delays inherent in bringing a fallow field back into productivity (and…um…chopping my foot with an axe), I didn’t get around to seeding any leeks until late June. One month later, I transplanted them into a [...]
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Tagged: Plants
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Tagged: Cover Crops, Plants
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Tagged: Cover Crops, Plants
Jessica and I just returned from Powell River, where we pruned my ailing grandfather’s remarkable collection of espliered apple and pear trees. They have been maintained with tremendous attention to detail over the past couple of decades, and this was the first time they have been out of his care. It was a little daunting, [...]
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In early September I found some old seed packets of cool-weather greens and mixed them together in a bowl. I broadcast-sowed this seed mixture onto a bed recently-vacated by a harvest of june-sown beets. I didn’t have high hopes for the bed, as I generally plant my fall and winter greens well before early September. [...]
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The minor thrill I experience each time I harvest something I’ve grown myself has not diminished over the years, though it isn’t hard to harvest homegrown zucchini in August, and I try not to pat myself on the back too often. I feel most satisfied when harvesting delicious vegetables in late winter, when the wet, [...]
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Jessica and I arrived back on Quadra late yesterday evening. It was night, and the first thing we did upon our arrival was to take a headlamp out to the frosty field. The floodwaters have receded, and our extensive fall planting of garlic survived the wet winter. Many other crops survived along with the garlic, [...]
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Tagged: Plants
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Tagged: Family Memories, Parenting, Plants
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Tagged: Plants
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Tagged: Cover Crops, Plants
The Rouge de Verone radicchio I direct-seeded on the 3rd of August hasn’t formed heads yet, which is a minor disappointment. The spinach and romaine lettuce I planted in the same bed grew beautifully, and have now all been harvested, and now I’m left with a bed of immature radicchio. My plan had been to [...]
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Tagged: Plants
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Tagged: Cover Crops, Plants
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Tagged: Plants
In early September, I broadcast-seeded some mache/corn salad/Valerianella locusta into a small section at the end of one of the main beds. This section had been growing lentils, which we cut down and harvested in late August. Currently, about two months later, it doesn’t look like the corn salad is doing much to suppress the [...]
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Pictured at right are some of the ‘Lutz Winterkeeper’ beets we harvested today. They were sown on the first of July. The roots in the photograph are the grade-A specimens, which we have now packed in sand for winter and early spring use. Smaller, less-perfect specimens are being eaten now, rather than stored, as they [...]
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My limited experiences with oats as a late-summer-planted cover crop have led me to conclude that they (usually) don’t survive the winter, an attribute that makes them a desirable part of no-till and reduced-tillage crop management systems. They are also much more beautiful than the more commonly grown fall rye, with a more graceful, taller [...]
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The bok choi pictured at right has started to form flower buds, which is somewhat disappointing. I had hoped it would wait until spring to begin it’s reproductive cycle, as we plan on constructing a low polytunnel over it’s bed for winter protection. It is ‘Ching Chiang’ from West Coast Seeds, flanked by ‘Tyee’ Spinach. [...]
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Tagged: Plants
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Tagged: Plants
For years I’ve been hearing about how well fall sowings of broad beans work in our coastal climate. For years I haven’t gotten around to trying this out. This year is different, as I’ve reached a new level of seriousness with regards to broad beans. About two weeks ago I sowed a 100-square-foot trial bed [...]
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In late July I sowed some ‘Purple Top White Globe’ turnips for our turnip-loving friend Bruce. If I were in charge of naming this type of turnip, and it may be worth noting that I do one day intend to be in the sort of person who feels eligible to name turnip and other vegetable [...]
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Tagged: Plants
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Tagged: Plants
It has been my experience that buckwheat occasionally forms bright red seeds. While the overwhelming majority of buckwheat plants produce seeds that start whitish, and ripen to a brownish hue, on in a great many plants tend to produce seeds that are not white at all. They are easy to spot.
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Tagged: Plants
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Tagged: Cover Crops, Plants
Pictured at right is the section of field we brought into cultivation in early June. Aside from corn, this section is occupied by cool weather crops for fall, winter, and early spring harvests. A partial list of the vegetables in the photograph: Sprouting broccoli, carrots, collards, chard, spinach, bok choi, raddichio, lettuce, mache, dandelion…
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Tagged: Plants
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Tagged: Plants
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The garden is partway through it’s autumn march into cover crops and mulch. Pictured at right is the first section we developed, back in early April. Most of the summer crops have been harvested, replaced by rye, buckwheat, winter peas, and oats.
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Over the years I’ve grown more and more impressed with fall and winter spinach, and less so with spring and summer spinach. While I have grown good crops of spring-planted spinach before, I’ve often felt rushed to harvest it before it begins bolting, it’s unpalatable response to the increasing daylength of summer’s approach. I find [...]
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In late July I pulled up a spent crop of peas and planted the bed to a mixture of crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum) and phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia). The phacelia has already formed flower buds, and I expect it will begin blooming within the next week. My hope is that both these species are winterkilled, and [...]
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Tagged: Plants
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Tagged: Plants
Our ‘Latah’ tomatoes have undergone four major pickings so far this year, and are still producing very healthy quantities of ripe fruits. Pictured at right is a healthy plant about to have all of it’s ripe fruits harvested.
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This photo is of one of my grandfather’s espalier’d pear trees. His pruning technique is flawless, and the results speak for themselves. If you are reading this, great job, Roger (of course I know you aren’t reading this, because you think the internet is “a bunch of bullshit”).
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Tagged: Fruit Trees, Plants
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Tagged: Plants