So much for in like a lion and out like a lamb.

Welcome back to another episode of Lost in the Farmers Market. This is the second post of March which by no measure of irony comes just two days after the first official day of spring which was Wednesday the 20^th.  So, as I always recommend, do not jump the gun and plant everything outside just yet, we can still have a freeze all the way up to the Easter weekend which is April 19^th through April 21^st. In short, we have a little way to go but, while you have to be careful about your warm season crops you can start to harden off your cold season stuff so it’s ready to go into the ground over the next three weeks or so.  For note, cold season stuff you can plant includes, lettuce, carrots, parsnips, cabbage, broccoli, kale, radicchio, mustard, turnips and some types of peas.  Now this leads to a question that I get somewhat rarely, ‘why do some plants freeze and die and others survive a front that killed everything else nearby?’  Well the simple answer is that some plants have biological adaptations that allow them to survive frost and cold with little or no damage. This protection is at a cellular level were some plants have

Leather Leaf Mahonia (Mahonia beali) prevents front damage by having both a waxy coating on it's leaves but rigid leaf structures full of fibrous lignin which makes it harder for frost to reach and freeze the water in the plant's vascular system and within it's cells cytoplasm.

The simplest answer for this is that freezing in general effects an organism on the cellular level by preventing the flow and or transfer of water between cells and in vascular pathways. This water once it freezes causes cells to burst which leads to that black color you see on plants that have frozen and thawed. This is literally the cold-induced equivalent to a bruise except the tissue destruction is far worse.  Some plants however have chemical compounds in their sap, and in the water stored in their cells that effectively lowers the freezing point for water so that they cannot as easily freeze. Literally some plants produce a biological equivalent to anti-freeze or something akin to alcohol. Before any of you get too excited about the idea of inebriated plants and consuming them, the reality is that it takes very little of these compounds to alter the freezing point of water within the plant.

Longleaf Pines (Pinus palustris) have waxy coating on their needles that allow them to survive low temperatures and freezing to a certain degree. The waxy coating on a plant's leaf is called a cuticle.

Likewise, plants also counter freezing with waxy coatings on their leaves (e.g. pines) and stems which also makes it harder for them to freeze. A third method is the geometry of the plants as is seen with some forms of cacti and succulents which may arrange their needles and spines in such a way to create airspaces where the temperature is controlled to a certain degree. This is the result of genetic selection for trails that increased the survivability of a given plant species which often produces interesting plant forms that most buyers at a garden center don’t fully appreciate or understand.  The discussion of how plants combat freezing ties into your garden planning by way of considering how wind travels through your yard which will tell you were cold and warm pockets might be allowing for better placement.  One of the interesting ways to spot where the wind forms temperature pockets is to look for where leaves swirl about in a cyclone like circle near structures or the placement of beds. Additionally, looking for spots where fallen leaves are thickest can often tell you that the wind is depositing them there due to the way it flows through your yard. Living windbreaks are the best way to control the movement of the wind and a good way to mitigate hot and cold pockets short of dramatic landscape alterations. But let’s move on to this week’s photographs from the field;

In numerous conversations and lectures I have called mosses an indicator plant because they only tend to appear where two specific environmental conditions are met. It has to be consistently moist and the soil has to be compacted to some degree for moss to reliably germinate and form colonies. the presence of moss is part of a naturally occurring terra-forming cycle where the moss will colonize an area and build up organic matter as it grows which then is colonized by other weeds that further defeat the compaction that initially may have left an area barren.

The above are the blooms of 'Kolibri' Kohlrabi plants in their second year. Honestly the deep purple stems, grey-green leaves and cheery yellow flowers are quite a combo.

Some varieties of Camellias bloom in the later winter and serve as the final indicator that spring is coming. This specimen is in full bloom right now.

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog. With that said, if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic vegetables, herbs and fruiting shrubs come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

Plants & Stuff Available Now:

Soup Kit, Parsnip - $5.00  (Not available after March 30^th)

Soup Kit, Turnip - $5.00  (Not available after March 30^th)

Garlic, Whole bulb - $1.00  (Not available after March 30^th)

Garden Plants:

Lettuce, Cimarron, 3” - $3.00

Mustard, Red Giant, 3” - $3.00

House Plants:

Coffee Plants, 4” - $6.00

Flowering Maple, 4” - $3.00

Flowering Maple, 6” - $5.00

Polka-Dot Plant, 4” - $3.00

Coming Soon:

Basil, Cinnamon

Basil, Sweet Genovese

Cilantro

Carrot, Amarillo

Carrot, Atomic Red

Carrot, Black Nebula

Carrot, Lunar White

Garlic, Jerimiah’s Heirloom

Lettuce, Parris Island

Parsnip, Hollow Crown

Peppers, 11 varieties (TBA)

Potatoes, Dark Red Norland

Tomatoes, 12 varieties (TBA)

Pomegranate, Dwarf

Spice Bush, Calycanthus

Coneflower, Cayenne Red

Coneflower, PowWow Wildberry Mix

Datura, Black Currant

Datura, Indigo (rare!)

Datura, White Ballerina

Lupine, Carolina

Milkweed, (Asclepias tuberosa)

Whorled Milkweed, (Asclepias verticillata)

These days I am generally at Leclair’s General Store once a week, for the weekly Sustainable Neighbors meeting at 5:30pm through 7:00 pm. If you have questions then I will be there to answer your questions. Since our meetings have an open-door policy you don’t need to sign up for anything or join anything, you can come on in ask for us and join the meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market or pay attention to what Sustainable Neighbors is doing at the link below.

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/

                        This brings to a close the sixth LITFM post of the new year, stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 5^th of April. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.