April Showers bring a case of the soggies.

Welcome back to another fine spring episode of lost in the farmer’s market where we seek out the great truths of urban farming and present them here for your beneficial usage. As you might figure we have a lot going on this week in Fayetteville as we are rapidly approaching the dogwood festival and as such it’s a heavier than average week for yours truly. Today’s episode will feature an abbreviated discussion about color in plants and an equally abbreviated Market list since the list has to cover more than one market day.

           

Color is often one of those things that acts as a criminal accessory to impulse buying. We know that with the right colors in the land scape you can causes more whiplash injuries then a spontaneous topless carwash. The fact is we live on color, our perception of it literally colors our lives and the way we see true color sets humankind in apart the rest of the animal kingdom. So of course I have to unravel one thing those of you out there who read this may not realize, colors can lie too. Take for instance the presence of the color black in terms of plants. Typically we associate the color as a desirable trait in a flower, as tulip mania and some of the latest orchid breeds will attest. Likewise true blues in some species are very hard to come by, and attaining such a color for instance in the rose family is somewhat of a holy grail. The question is, is that bloom really the color we think or is it so close we refuse to see the truth? To prove that colors can lie I bring to you the first example down below.

 [Picture coming soon, original turned out to be blurred]

Petunia  - ‘Crazytunias’ Black Mamba 

Now that’s a nice petunia isn’t it? This series of petunias came in several varied colors and bicolor blends yet this was most striking. A black petunia is something to see as the foliage is that usual medium green, the foliate is still a bit sticky as is the norm for the petunia family and yet these large flowers…would they even still attract pollinators? I mean pollinators go by color too don’t they? The answer is yes and no in that order, pollinators will still find the flower regardless of color because they do not expressly rely on sight. Additionally even if they did most fo them will probably perceive the flower in a differing color then we do. This is of course where our eyes lie to us consider a picture of the same flower but this time with the camera’s flash turned on to reveal more color information

Petunia  - ‘Crazytunias’ Black Mamba  (Flash On)

            Yep, and there it is, the flower isn’t actually black at all, in fact it is an incredibly dark purple that really is only perceptible up close or with sufficient illumination. How about that, your eyes just fooled you. Not that it matters because the real truth is that there is no true black in the living members of the plant kingdom, which in turn makes say the search to produce a black orchid or tulip really just a sort of long term hoax. Yet we as gardeners fall for these sorts of color-frenzies all the time. Upon closer examination you might find whites aren’t strictly white, either which throws the other end of the spectrum out of whack. In fact one could say that there is no black and white in the plant kingdom but rather a spectrum of hues in between covering what we can perceive. Or in a nutshell something like this petunia below…all at once.

Crazytunia? Youbetcha!

There is always the option of setting your own illusion, rigging things to fool the casual passerby that yes you have plants in impossible hues. The method behind this is simply to combine textures and color contrasts to strengthen those primary perception colors into the illusion of being a pure color. Going from rough to fine foliage textures with some intermediate foliage can also strengthen the effect and further improve the overall presentation. Take the example of two plants growing side-by-side in my own test gardens as pictured below.

Black Fennel & Common Sage – Foeniculum vulgare purpurea / Salvia officinalis

The sage is a silvery-grey color that can pass for white to the casual observer, while the fennel as lush as it is appears to be a black mist of foliage. The Rhubarb in the background serves as a “normal” green to counter the other two plants.  The overall effect is that as you can see the sage practically glows in full sun while the fennel serves as a background to enhance the effect. I might add on the botanical side, the sage is more comfortable in a colder climate and it tends to get too humid for sage here in the Carolinas. The fennel is acting as a partial shade for the sage so that it gets less heat. The sage is actively keeping competitors from coming up beneath the fennel and so we have coincidental companion planting. So in short sometimes bringing out the color in your planet selection isn’t as much the actual color of the plants but how you place them with their neighbors that can sell the effect both physically and psychologically.

So with our short topic covered and considered it’s time to talk market, As you well know this weekend is that of the dogwood festival and as part of somehow the event organizers wrangled the Marshal Tucker Band for our Fayetteville Festivities. Downtown Fayetteville will be a hyper ultra-crazy madhouse on Friday and Saturday. If you’re planning to go get moving early, and in that light we will be present for Fourth Friday this month in the usual spot from 4:00 pm until 9:00 pm. Yeah that’s right selling plants by flashlight! We also will be present on Saturday morning between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.  All of this is at the Fayetteville Transportation Museum on 325 Franklin Street in downtown Fayetteville. Contrary to normal procedure I will not be posting a detailed plant list because of the two sale day’s back-to back. Also as some of you have just found out I will have a Wednesday Market presence at the city market for now and at the end of May in the FSU market, more on that as time passes pending research. Without further ado here is the plant list for Friday and Saturday.

Southward Skies: A northern guide to southern Gardening ($25.00 & signed)

Vegetables

Asparagus, Gallon pot ($6.00)

Bloody Dock, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Eggplant, Casper , 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Pepper, Sweet Banana , 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Pepper, Pimento, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Pepper, Habanero, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Tomato, Tlacolula, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Tomato, Brown Berry, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Tomato, Blue Berries, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Tomato, Amana Orange, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Tomato, Black Krim, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Tomato, Paul Robeson, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Tomato, Hillbilly Potato Leaf, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Tomato, Cherokee Purple, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Fruits

Strawberry- Ozark Beauty, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Strawberry- Ozark Beauty, 36” pot ($4.00)

Herbs

Angelica, 6” pot ($4.00)

Basil-Sweet, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Basil-Thai, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Borage, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Horehound, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Hyssop-White, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Lamb’s Ear, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Marjoram, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Oregano, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Oregano, Bristol Cross, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Sage, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Tansy, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Well, this brings to a close our last episode of April 2014, although it is a compact episode I hope it got you thinking about both the topic and some of your garden choices. As a final thought…if April showers bring may flowers….what’s all this colorful stuff in my yard brought from March showers? As always folks Keep ‘em growing!

Aww come on spring...take your meds!

Welcome back to another episode of Lost in the Farmer’s Market. As you may have noticed the weather has been oddly cold the last few days due to a cold front that of course arrived and created that super torrential thunderstorm plus downpour the other day. For note this week’s precipitation was an average of 2.45”. Ironically about 1.45” of that fell in the thunderstorm specifically so we’re darn well watered.  After such rain events things tend to green up and so for today's blog post, I decided to rove about the garden and take snapshots of everything in bloom right after the storm.

Just in time for easter!

That’s right here is a picture snapped just yesterday. For the longest time I was sure I had a single wild rabbit that visited the property, but as you can see, there's this little one in the picture and above him one in the grass trying to hide behind some foliage.  I realized moments after that I literally had a flotilla of rabbits. Moments later rabbit number three came out of the bushes beside the driveway. That’s three confirmed rabbits and a probable one or two more. What blows my mind about this is that they do not damage any of the crops, they just seem to like the fact I don’t pull weeds so they instead just eat them. More so this group comes through between five and six pm every day and take the same route. They go up the driveway, across the yard, into the shady rock garden for a bit then under the fence into the neighbor’s yard. In the process they drive the neighbor’s dog crazy but most of all they never damage anything. So I’ve got a batch of well-behaved wild rabbits that seem not to mind me milling about. There is also the rabbit I often see at night around ten to eleven pm that hides a little less. You saw that rabbit hanging out in the reinforced mound bed during the snow storm when I stumbled upon him and he let me snap his picture. The question is, is the night rabbit of the same group or do I have several groups of rabbits passing through? Regardless of the answer, still very cool I am about one endangered species from being a wild life refuge.

Bunias orientalis – Warty Cabbage / Turkish Rocket

Last year I sold Turkish rocket at the market and this is what a second year plant looks like in spring.  As you can see its leaves are rather uniquely shaped and the plant is much larger than the first year despite black magic application. It did go dormant in the winter briefly during that super cold period but it as has also created its own mounded earth. More study of this perennial leaf green is underway to determine how productive it could be now that it‘s established.

Loropetalum chinenese var. rubrum ‘Daruma’ - Fringe Bush

Fringe bushes in bloom are quite the sight. As far as landscaping shrubs the fringe bushes are tough, quick growing and drought tolerant. This specimen is in bloom now and came into my possession as a surplus item. I lacked a good plant for the spot it’s in (driveway) that could withstand the conditions and thus it was put there. Loropetalums in this climate are evergreens that may go partial deciduous in serious winters depending on siting.

A lone white tulip.

Someone at some point planted tulips along the driveway long ago. I honestly do not know who did it bit this little guy comes up yearly and generally is all foliage with no flower. The super-cold winter probably allowed this bulb to develop more along the lines of a more northern climate and thus we have this fine bloom. But hold on to your hats, the fireworks are about to begin!

Double petaled azaleas, hell I had no idea I had these on property.

Salmon-pink azaleas are where it's at.

wait...are the white ones being photobombed by the pink ones?!

Phlox subulata – Creeping Phlox

This last remaining garden phlox plant bravely blooms every spring and struggles through the August drought every year often going dormant before winter. I took pity on it last year and gave it a few hits of black magic and not only has it bloomed like crazy but it has also gotten a bit bigger. Perhaps this ought be a commercial?

Foeniculum vulgare ‘Purpureaum’ – Black Fennel

This stand of four second year Black fennel plants has become a hedgerow unto themselves. If you look at last year’s pictures of this plant they were tall, impressive but now here near this dense in the foliage department. Numerous side-shoots are what produced this effect and indeed they were evergreen most of the winter producing some impressive foliage against slow contrasts. I cannot state this often enough, Fennel plants are ironclad perennials that are entirely edible but also serve as fine ornamentals; they are a garden must have.

Rumex sanguineum – Bloody Dock/ Sorrel

This is an example of bloody dock that has established in a location. Granted it isn’t as big as it could be because the soil is very much lacking you can see the vibrancy of the leaf color and that the leaves are far larger than the ones I’m selling. Well sited sorrel can get impressively large and thus supply a whole lot of leaves for your culinary uses.

The spring’s bounty is always worth exploring, but then again so is the Fayetteville Farmer’s market. While the weather is not going to be all that good this week, I’ll still show up barring the rain coming down side ways at which I figure we will have other more pressing concerns. As you may know, the market is located on 325 Franklin street in the front parking lot of the Fayetteville Transportation Museum. The market runs from 9 am to 1 pm and you can expect to see some of the venders show up with lots of good food. But let’s move right along to the stuff coming to market this week.

Southward Skies: A northern guide to southern Gardening

This is the second edition of my book, which was published using data compiled from several years of test garden operations. It’s written to aid gardeners of all skill levels in successful garden methods that are targeted for the south east but had proven to be a valued resource for gardens across the eastern coast. It’s certainly a good gift for that gardener you know or for yourself if you’d like to have a reliable field guide. The book costs $25.00 and we do take checks for this item, you can even have it signed.

Black Magic Fertilizer

That’s right you’ve heard about it in trials all summer. This specially formulated liquid fertilizer was made and tested at the test gardens using natural ingredients and no chemicals. The result explosive growth, great harvests and of course no environmental side effects! We’re making batches of this stuff to order, at $6.00 per gallon of fertilizer. You can either order it at the market and pick it up the next week or have it delivered to your home in the Fayetteville area for a delivery charge of an additional $2.00.

Vegetables

2x Asparagus, Gallon pot ($6.00)

3x Bloody Dock, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Eggplant, Casper , 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Pepper, Sweet Banana , 3.5” pot ($3.00)

1x Pepper, Pimento, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Pepper, Habanero, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Tomato, Tlacolula, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Tomato, Brown Berry, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Blue Berries, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Tomato, Amana Orange, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Tomato, Black Krim, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Tomato, Paul Robeson, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Hillbilly Potato Leaf, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Tomato, Cherokee Purple, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Fruits

10x Strawberry- Ozark Beauty, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Herbs

4x Basil-Sweet, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Basil-Thai, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Borage, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Fennel-Black, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

1x Horehound, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Hyssop-White, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Lamb’s Ear, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

1x Lavender-Cotton-Green, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Marjoram, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Oregano, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Oregano, Bristol Cross, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

1x Rosemary, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Sage, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Tansy, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Coming Soon:

Potato, Red Norland

Mint

Bee Balm

The end of the plant list also wraps up this accidentally Easter themed episode of Lost in the farmer's Market. As note regarding the night time temperatures, if you have already planted you can always toss a spare towel over any plant you think might get frosted to protect it from springs apparent multiple personality disorder. At the least make sure all exposed plants are well watered  and thing should turn out fine. I might note that basil is incredibly dramatic about cold so just because it's gone a bit limp does not mean you wont have pesto later. Peppers are notorious drama queens about the cold too but they still need some protecting so with that said you know what to do. Hopefully I'll see some of you at the market and as always keep 'em growing!

April Showers bring....the pollen down.

Welcome to another episode of Lost In the Farmer’s Market, today's episode is sponsored by Coffee! Yes, you know you want to join our Caffeinated Legions!  Ironically this less of a joke then you’d think, most experienced gardeners know that coffee grounds after you’ve made coffee are a useful thing to add to compost as they break down into something resembling less acidic peat moss. More so they are the cheapest “brown” material for your compost possible for the effect they have in darkening soil and leaching caffeine to your drowsy plants. The aforementioned is somewhat of a joke though, realistically their decomposing grounds actually darken soils because they add organic matter and do actually to some degree stain lighter soil components a bit. Plus there’s the bonus of you still having your coffee and getting to drink it too. With that aside we have some spring pictures this week and the beginning of a discussion about garden ecology.

OMG Napa…are you by chance related to canola?!

So first of here we have a Napa Cabbage trying to bolt. Bolting in the case of a plant is a term used to describe any plant with a finite life span (annuals and biennials) that is going to flower and is thus at the end of its life. For note, most members of the cabbage family have a white or yellow bloom, Napa cabbage is yellow clearly whereas Daikon Radish another member of the cabbage family is white flowering. In some cases (Rat-tail radish, broccoli, broccoli rabe and cauliflower) you actually want the plants to bloom because you eat the bloom. In plants such as arugula, lettuce, Swiss chard and spinach blooming is discouraged because the leaves of the plant tend to get bitter after blooming occurs. The act of removing a soon to be flower or a flower after it is no longer pretty is called ‘dead heading’ which the mention of which just now probably excited a lot of grateful dead fans out there. But enough of this cabbage talk; below is the next picture.

Chinese Wisteria – Wisteria sinensis

The picture above demonstrates what all the fuss is about when it comes to Wisteria. Wisteria is positively gorgeous in bloom, which almost makes it’s invasive and prolific habits acceptable. Since Wisteria is in the Pea family it fixes nitrogen somewhat and it’s flowers attract scores of pollinators. I might add the fallen blooms are like high octane compost fuel. The downside is that the seeds of this plant almost always germinate, it puts out runners and can creep into your yard hidden under the pine straw until it decides seemingly at random to sprout and suddenly appear in the middle of a lawn or in a garden bed. Since wisteria is fast growing and hard to kill it can be a problem in your yard for years. This fact has earned wisteria the well-earned title of Invasive plant and ecological threat.

Lemon Verbena – Aloysia citrodora

This is a picture of what I thought was a dead Lemon Verbena plant. In our climate they are tender perennials that may or may not survive the winter. Given the weather this last winter I figured my lemon verbena was a goner for sure. Several times I thought of pulling the plant’s dead remains out and tried once only to discover fire ants had a nest under it. Patience and or laziness won out and it stayed in the ground. To my surprise this is its new growth. The citronella geranium a few feet away in the same bed also is sprouting proving one old saying about plant hardiness. The hardiness of a plant is in its roots, thus if the roots survive so will the rest of the plant most likely. But a lemon verbena that survives winter is bound to be super-vigorous because it’s got a really big root system

Squashes? Melons? Squalons?

I don’t even know what precise plant these are but they are coming up in the new berm and I’ve got no intention of stopping them. I would imagine the likely culprits are acorn, butternut or yellow crookneck squash or a cantaloupe. Either way their willing germination signals that the temperatures are just right which also tells me that is most certainly spring. I’ll have more photos as these little guys develop.

So with the topic of the day filed under ‘completed’ we now move the conversation to other points. The precipitation this week was about 0.3” which is not quite the 1” needed but given prior rainfall it’s ok. As you may know Easter is on the 21^st, which is the last theoretical frost date however I’ve personally had pepper and tomato plants out at the gardens for at least the last week so with some careful siting you all out there should be safe. Weather aside this weekend at the market is a pretty big one, the strawberry plants are coming to market. Behind them are the things you’ve asked for specifically basil, peppers, tomatoes and eggplant.

The Fayetteville Farmer’s market is located in downtown Fayetteville on 325 Franklin Street in the front and back lot of the Fayetteville Transportation Museum. There is a ton of parking about the area so don’t worry about fighting over a parking spot. The weather is supposed to be quite nice and if you are not a morning person the Market runs from 9 am to 1 pm sometimes with a little extra if there are a lot of folks at the market. But with timing set aside, here is what I will be bringing to market this week. As I tell folks who visit the booth, the plant list below is not absolute, more often than not there is more than listed. I pack the truck Friday night starting with what is listed and should something look good it may wind up as an early extra item that goes unlisted.

Southward Skies: A northern guide to southern Gardening

This is the second edition of my book, which was published using data compiled from several years of test garden operations. It’s written to aid gardeners of all skill levels in successful garden methods that are targeted for the south east but had proven to be a valued resource for gardens across the eastern coast. It’s certainly a good gift for that gardener you know or for yourself if you’d like to have a reliable field guide. The book costs $25.00 and we do take checks for this item, you can even have it signed.

Black Magic Fertilizer

That’s right you’ve heard about it in trials all summer. This specially formulated liquid fertilizer was made and tested at the test gardens using natural ingredients and no chemicals. The result explosive growth, great harvests and of course no environmental side effects! We’re making batches of this stuff to order, at $6.00 per gallon of fertilizer. You can either order it at the market and pick it up the next week or have it delivered to your home in the Fayetteville area for a delivery charge of an additional $2.00.

Oh yes the production line in action! Goods stuff, what you see here is Radicchio, Borage, Tansy, Oregano and at the far left Marjoram.

House Plants

5x Aloe Vera ($5.00)

Vegetables

5x Dinosaur Kale, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Mustard, India green, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Radicchio, Crimson, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Swiss Chard, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Bloody Dock, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Asparagus, Gallon pot ($6.00)

Fruits

10x Strawberry- Ozark Beauty, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Herbs

2x Fennel-Black, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Horehound, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Hyssop-White, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Lamb’s Ear, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Lavender-Cotton-Green, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Marjoram, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Oregano, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Oregano, Bristol Cross, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Rosemary, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Sage, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Coming Soon:

Tomatoes (16+ varieties)

Eggplant

Peppers

Basil

Potato, Red Norland

Mint

Bee Balm

Well this brings to a close another April episode of Lost in the Farmer’s Market, spring has clearly gone off without incident save for the immense amount of pine pollen this year. Honestly there’s so much yellow drift you’d think the pines had been celibate for a decade or something. But anyway the night time temperatures are looking good folks so you should be safe to transition to summer plants. Just be wary of temperatures at night below 40 degrees and with some care you should have no problem keeping ‘em growing.