Welcome back to another episode of Lost In the Farmers Market, in the passage of Hurricane Zeta we kind of got lucky, it landed as a category 2 and lost strength as it rapidly rolled over the south east. Fayetteville got some rain and a lot of wind and the test gardens had things knocked over and some things damaged. Nothing a little maintenance can’t fix but it is a bit of a surprise what a bit of wind will damage or alter in just a few hours. Of course the field crops are just fine out there acting like the change in weather never happened, but as you will see when we get to the photographs my prize Castor Bean and Saint Kitts & Nevis Roselle are differing matters. This is part of the price of playing the gardening game though, you take some risks in the hope that the garden output justifies what damage you might take from wind, rain, hail or critters and when such happens you salvage what you can. Fortunately for me the damaged Roselle wasn’t one I intended to bring in for winter. In the case of the Castor bean I think I can stake that one up and see what happens after. But, enough lamenting over garden damages delivered via tropical storm.
As I mentioned in the very late last post, its autumn and we’re right up against Halloween and the end of Daylight Savings time. In the case of the former event the spooky holiday is on Saturday, but at 2am on Sunday, Daylight Savings ends, and we roll back the clocks one hour and go back to normal time. I am no fan of Daylight savings and its history is interesting as it was instituted in 1918 in the USA, it was favored by business associations and was supposed ot help farmers who opposed it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time_in_the_United_States
The above article on Wikipedia give a USA specific history of Daylight savings in general, though more states in the US are working to get rid of it. There is increasing evidence that DST actually is harmful due to stress, lost sleep and other factors. I’ve included some articles regarding the matter for your consideration.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7302868/
There are more detailed studies of the phenomena listed in the links above but those are on specific medical profession websites. A number of those aren’t peer-reviewed yet and are behind accessibility paywalls so I won’t bother to put them here but the information is reasonably compelling. Fortunately the era when we’d have to go around resetting everything is long past, and most devices that keep time built after 2005 now take into account the changes by the Bush administration to DST. This was sold as an energy saver but in reality the savings were proven to be dubious at best, but that’s government for you. How this relates to Gardening is the available amount of daylight hours to perform gardening in. DST kind of cheats of an hour so we start later effectively and when you’re in the fall, that loss can make or break your plans to do something that day. Since not everyone is a morning person, and it’s weird to be gardening at night with a head lamp on (yeah…I’ve done this…just not the same.) daylight is key.
Here we have Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) in bloom, the variety is Saint Kitts & Nevis and this specimen was my most robust however, I also have Thai Red. The flowers are simply amazing even despite the fact they last approximately one day and don’t ever seem to open when it’s cloudy.
This is the same specimen Roselle after Tropical Storm Zeta passed by and hit the area with some pretty intense winds. I was not expecting the sturdy looking stems of these plants to bow so much.
Not far off here you see that the same Tropical storm bent the tallest of the Castor beans (Ricinus communis) too. The variety is ‘Zanzibar’ and it may or may not be perennial in our climate, only time will really prove or disprove the rumor.
How about that for foliage! This is a single leaf of the ‘Zanzibar’ Castor bean, two feet across at widest points. If this specimen turns out to be perennial it might make for some striking shade as well as a, odd wind break.
Here we have another Hibiscus relative, Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus), the variety here is ‘Baby Bubba’ which was productive enough and compact enough to warrant the attempt to save seed on this last specimen plant.
Lastly for this post we have the first blooms of Chia (Salvia hispanica) that mysterious sage family relative that is known for its nutritious seeds. Like other sages the flowers undoubtedly attract pollinators and since several sources say these herbs are perennial there's no telling what will happen next.
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.
Fresh Produce:*
Soup Kit: Parsnip: $6.00
Soup Kit: Turnip: $6.00
Food Plants: (3” Peat Pots)
Arugula: $3.00
Cabbage, Ruby Perfection: $3.00
Celery, Tango: $3.00
Collards, Carolina: $3.00
Kale, Lace: $3.00
Kale, Lacinato: $3.00
Kale, Marrow Stem: $3.00
Kale, Red Russian: $3.00
Kale, Scotch Blue Curled: $3.00
Kale, Winterbor: $3.00
Kohlrabi, Cossack: $3.00
Swiss Chard, Mixed: $3.00
Spinach, Avon: $3.00
Herbs: (3” Peat Pots)
Black Fennel: $3.00
Coming Soon:
Garlic Bulbs
Ginger
Seasoning Packets
*You can special order a specific vegetable by the pound if you want anything specific that is in the soup kits or any specific herb contained in the seasoning packets. Vegetables are sold by the pound and seasonings are sold by the ounce when sold individually.
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 twenty-first LITFM post of 2020; stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 13th of November. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.
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