Welcome back to another episode of Lost In the Farmers Market, this episode is a bit late but the production time of a two-part post tends to take a bit longer. The post due on the 30th of April will be on time though because both parts are being worked on at the same time. What is this complicated topic you ask? Well I spoke to the Sustainable Neighbors folks and said ‘what garden questions do you have’ and the response was pretty detailed. For this two-part series I’ve distilled the questions posed into five simplified questions per post, this week we have a nice range of stuff, and you can expect more of the same next week.
Questions from the Sustainable neighbors:
“Is there a schedule of when to plant”
Of course there is! The NC Cooperative Extension has a lovely PDF chart covering all of that right here at the link below.
“How much do I plant per person”
The eternal quandary for any person seeking to feed themselves is summarized by this question. There are many garden guides that suggest things and then there is what you find on the internet. What you end up with is a lot of information that often conflicts itself and is at best confusing and at worst flat problematic for a simplified answer. For instance it is consistently published that it takes ten crowns of asparagus in a 4 foot by 8 foot bed to supply a family of four with a good spring harvest of asparagus for several meals. Other crops make things far more complicated. The chart below covers the basics of most food crops, the area they need and how many individual plants are required to feed a set number of people.
There is however some hairs to be split with that chart. When it comes to peppers, there are two differing types that have to be considered food peppers like bell peppers require slightly less individual plants to produce a pound of food when compared to seasoning peppers such as Chiles and Ghost peppers. You almost need two to three times as many mature plants to produce the same amount of goods so the number listed is an average between the two. From my own research, I find that, for Sweet potatoes, you need about 6-10 starting plants per person on the estimation that you will start with just a few ounces of plant material per plant, and the expectation of producing three to five pounds of finished tubers per plant and enough cuttings to repeat the process next year.
“How do I get my Calla Lilies to bloom?”
There are a few things you can do here, firstly test your soil for pH, it needs to be between 6.0 and 6.5, if it’s not add either lime or a soil acidifier to change that. Second, make sure the plant is receiving adequate light. Calla lilies are a full sun kind of plant and don’t take kindly to shade. Make sure the soil does not stay too wet and that’s about it really.
“When and How do I harvest my vegetables?”
This hinges on the specific vegetable, and what you intend to do with your produce really. For instance you can harvest a bell pepper at any stage of development, but you’d prefer either when it’s at full size or has matured to whatever color it’s supposed to mature to to get the best flavor. The carrots in the picture above are small by supermarket standards but perfectly sized for use in a salad and have full flavor. Leaf greens are a pick the lower leaves kind of deal across the spectrum until the end of their growing season when you harvest the whole head. Knowing when they are ready is something you have to practice at and work up a method that is best for your individual growing conditions. How to harvest also varies too but a universal rule is unless you’re harvesting the whole plant, you want to pick your crops gently as not to cause excessive damage.
“When is an eggplant big enough to harvest?”
Whenever it has full color that matches what color it is supposed to have at maturity. Black Beauty eggplants will be a dark purple that is almost black, at this point they are not bitter. However you might want to avoid green eggplant or any eggplant fruit that is past the mature color stage, for instance Black Beauty eggplants eventually turn yellow (see above), and then orange and are inedible at this stage because the seed has developed. If you let this progress you will have seed for next year once the fruit has fallen off or dried out naturally.
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. Also, as of the start of 2019, my booth can now process credit or debit cards thanks to the acquisition of s a Square reader so your payment options have doubled. 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.
This Week's Market List:
Spring Veggies: ($2.00 each on SALE!)
Black Magic Dinosaur Kale
Red Russian Kale
Summer Veggies & Herbs: ($3.00 each)
Sungold Cherry Tomato
Chocolate Cherry Tomato
Sweet Hundreds Cherry Tomato
San Marzano Improved Paste Tomato
Cherokee Purple Tomato
Canary Island Sage
Ornamental Stuff:
Zanzibar Castor Beans ($3.00)
Special Perennials
Spearmint 5" pot ($5.00)
Bristol Cross Oregano 6" pot ($6.00)
Coming Soon:
Ghost Pepper (Available on the 1st of May!)
Paul Robeson Tomato (Available on the 1st of May!)
Aunt Lou’s Underground Railroad Tomato (Available on the 1st of May!)
Pepper Assortment
Mountain Mint
Oregano
Walla Walla Sweet Onion (Plants)
Lemon Drop Tomato
Wonderberry
Ground Cherry
Chia
Cotton, Erlene's Green
Okra, Jing
We have a new place to share information and work on groovy sustainable stuff! You can look for Sustainable Neighbors in our own Nextdoor.com group under the name “Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville”. You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join but it is a private group so feel free to request to join us if you are signed up on the Nextdoor.com site.
https://nextdoor.com/g/ybvdm226x/?is=nav_bar
Unfortunately, Covid-19 is still mucking up the works in terms of meeting in person. The good news is that Sustainable Neighbors does have a Discord Server. You can request access through our Meetup.com page or you can request access via our Nextdoor.com group. The meetup.com page is below for anyone looking to join us.
https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/
Since our meetings have an open-door policy you don’t need to buy anything or maintain any sort of attendance standard, you can come on in and join the meetings. When this Covid-19 mess calms down we may be able to resume normal in-person meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market. This brings to a close the eighth LITFM post of 2021; stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 30th of April. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.
