The end of June 2015

Welcome back to another episode of Lost In The Farmers Market. I have to open this post with a bit about weather safety. As you may realize, the recent weather has brought us a lot of rain, but also with it comes a bit of danger. As those of you who live in Fayetteville might have noticed, the thunderstorms while excellent at providing much needed rain, are also perfect conditions for high winds, potential tornadoes, flash floods and or hail. There is also the risk of downed trees, and flying debris to consider. In our last storm we received 1.6” of rain and the one before that 2” and the mega storm two weeks ago 3”, this poses several problems. The fertilizer you applied in your fields may have washed out, yet you’re getting a mega-dose of atmospheric nitrogen. Likewise with all the water flowing through you may have lost some topsoil. These storm cycles are excellent for certain crops such as figs but terrible for more delicate fruits. In the end I advise that all of you who read this remember to take caution during storms, the severe weather advisories seen on TV and the Radio are no joke even if the weird sound effects on the radio ones make them seem so.

With that in mind I did not attend the Saturday market this week because of the weather, we had a line of ugly storms come through on Friday evening and they persisted into the early morning hours of Saturday. Honestly, with the high daytime temperatures and the thunderstorm activity, I think we can officially call it Monsoon season. Despite this, as you know, we are in the middle of transfer season, the spring veggies are nearing their end, but the summer herbs, and perennials are just about to begin. I’ll keep a variety of peppers tomatoes and a few other odds and ends available, but expect more of the fine summer specials, and of course aloe vera plants in three sizes for your medicinal enjoyment. The new plant list should be available and posted up here later in the week.  In the next post I’m going to show you some tricks to help keep your garden irrigated in these difficult weather conditions. For this week I finish this post with a photo or two.

Aloe barbadensis/vera – Medicinal Aloe

This is ‘Big Mother’ the oldest aloe in the collection and the largest potted house plant I own. I’ve had this plant for about five years, and for most of that time it has been in an small 6” pot. The aloe plant was so heavy that it used to top over its old pot so I had to put it in a large thick-walled container made out of terra cotta and weigh it down with stones so it would not tip over. Earlier this year ‘Big Mother’ was repotted finally to a much larger 12” pot as seen in the picture. All the little aloes I’m selling came from this one plant and as you can see, this aloe is now free of pups.  Grown 100% organically, you will have a hard time finding healthier plants.

Adenium obesum – Desert Rose

The desert Rose is one of those plants that a plant enthusiast seeks out for the reward of its blooms. Sort of like a Holiday cactus in use, the Desert rose validates the effort to find one by blooming once a year with stunning blooms that are pink, red or some shade in-between. A well cared for Desert rose will bloom twice a year or in the case of mine twice a year and on every stem. The blooms can be so heavy that the stems bend and desert roses can get so large that they resemble a small shrub with corky bark. As for care, you barely water or fertilize this succulent and treat it like a true tropical. This puts a cork in the bottle for this weeks post, check back for another post later detailing the current plant selection and DIY irrigation tricks.

Farewell to a year

Welcome back to Lost In the Farmer’s Market. This marks the last episode of 2014, and with the start of the New Year we begin the 2014 review.  I think it’s fair to state we had an interesting year and the vital statistics will definitely support this assumption.  As per the new tradition I thought it’d be wise to cap off the year with some unique year-end images and the first of which is a look at what sort of “Tree” we decorated this year. If you looked at this blog last year the plant decorated was a Pencil cactus or Euphorbia tirucali ‘Firesticks’. We picked the plant in question due to its size and the fact that it had developed a cheerful red-orange color by the time it had to be brought in for the winter. Well move over euphorbia for 2015 is the year of the Desert Rose Adenium obesum. The specimen this year was picked because of its exceptional growth, over the year and it’s decidedly much more tree-like form by the end of the warm season.

I did skip putting lights on the plant because let’s face it; the big plant is too good looking in all that bling to need lights.

A close up of the trim placed on our Desert Rose.

For those not in the know, the Desert Rose is a succulent plant classified as a caudiciform or a plant with a swollen trunk or base that serves to store water and nutrients which enables the plant to survive drought or periods of dormancy or bad weather. From a biological perspective a Desert Rose is interesting because as the above images suggest Desert Roses have actual leaves which put them somewhere between broadleaf non-succulent plants and the true succulents indicating a transition between environments in the plant kingdom. They still can get the same maladies as a succulent but when stressed can also suffer non-succulent pest problems so their care is a careful regimen of benign neglect. A bright sunny spot and occasional water is all one of these stoic plants needs to be happy. For those of you out there who are inspired to buy one, don’t be surprised if in your first winter with it the plant drops all leaves and goes dormant. It takes at least a year or more for them to stop doing this as new plants. The trick for handling dormancy when you have a new (less than two years old) Desert Rose is simply to water less often, and allow the soil to dry before watering and then only water enough to moisten the soil slightly.  The specimen plant here at the Test Gardens generally retains its foliage year-round and blooms twice a year. Fertilization during the warm season often produces better growth and heavier bloom set during the holidays. The typical bloom color for this species is pink however red and white and limited bicolor mixes of the aforementioned plants can be found occasionally.  Desert roses grow well in basic potting soil mixes that are not specifically geared to moisture retention and preferably do not have any of those fertilizer gimmicks in them. You may need to repot your Desert Rose every two to three years depending on its health and vigor and this should be during the winter during dormancy after its winter blooming period.  As a final note some publications suggest that Desert Rose is poisonous to dogs, the sap is said to contain glycosides. So it may be wise to surround a desert rose in a limited access area with pricklier companions as a pet defense.

Undoubtedly, you might be asking why 2015 is the year of the Desert Rose.  The Desert rose isn’t for everyone, it’s a plant that has needs and if you are careless it won’t survive but if you allow it to largely live without interference it’ll be just fine. Your reward is a plant that has attractive slightly lemon-scented blooms that it will delight you with at least twice a year for minimal care. In a way the Desert Rose is a little like a parable of interpersonal understanding, if you give it its fair due it will give the same back to you. Even a dormant leafless desert rose has a form and stature that in of itself is attractive and if you’re like me it lends itself to being decorated.  The trunks of these plants with age grow and take on forms and shapes that defy and prediction or logic. As far as a plant for the rigid science of Bonsai this plant excels in its role making do with what it receives. If I had to sum up all that with just a few words, the desert rose epitomizes the ideals of compromise, understanding and patience.

But enough of this end of year talk there is one other thing worth posting here as far as images. The initial cutting of this plant was given to me by Sharon (the cactus-terrarium lady) down at the Fayetteville City Market last year. So I planted the tiny snippets and waited through the summer of 2013, and the plants rooted and began growing. Now honestly I have a lot of members of this plants’ family but this one gave me trouble in identification because it did not match the other plant’s growing habits. I knew then it was a member of the Rhipsalis family but not which one. Late this year I found an identical plant in a nursery, and got ahold of a spare plant tag. Finally this plant had a name! Rhipsalis baccifera ssp. horrida…that’s not an encouraging name, horrida means horrible! The plant was covered with thin white spines that posted little threat so I suppose someone had “cactus-phobia” or something. Well just a few days ago the plant did something amazing really, at the end of my second year of caring for it; it bloomed. The flowers were nothing like any of the other rhipsalis, they resembled queen of the night cactus and other night bloomers but incredibly tiny.  Well take a look below and see for yourself the Christmas Rhipsalis as this one bloomed on Christmas Eve.

I don’t know how I missed the buds, they looked like new growth, but fuzzier.

The flowers pretty much comprise of all white or semi-translucent white parts so they aren't easy to photograph.

It was just after with the plant in one hand that I searched for the common name for this succulent, and there after matching up flowers by size and color a common name for this plant finally was located for sure.  Mouse-Tail Cactus, honestly I was a little underwhelmed, that isn’t a flattering name but then, I think I’ll stick to Christmas Rhsipsalis. As a side note a lot of plants in the trade have botanical Latin synonym names the Christmas Rhipsalis is also known under the Latin name of Rhipsalis quellebambensis.

But of course the overdue part of this post, I will be at the Fayetteville City Market this Saturday (tomorrow) as the last market event of 2014, obviously there is no market on the 31^st so the next time I’ll be out there is January 3^rd 2015. If or if not I continue to do Wednesday markets for January and February 2015 is in debate, the weather and supply status are all in question for those months so for now feel free to ask on Saturdays to find out. In the meanwhile I’m on much needed vacation so Happy New Years, and here is the final product listing of 2014.

Southward Skies: A northern guide to southern Gardening

Southward Skies is a pocket-sized guide to gardening in the Carolina region. It will guide you through the process of having a productive garden in our region using a year-round format that matches the timing of what you should do and what time of the year you should do it. Unlike a lot of garden guides Southward is written in a way that can help even the most discouraged gardener to find success. Southward Skies has been tested by gardeners in other states ranging from as far south as Naples, Florida, as far north as Dorset, Vermont and as far west as Reno, Nevada. As a general guide you can’t lay hands on a better collection of tips, tricks and methods. The book is available on amazon.com as a digital book for the kindle and makes a good gift in print or digital format. The book costs $25.00 and we do take checks for this item, you can even have it signed. During the month of December we will wrap copies of the book at your request if you intend them as a gift.

Cold Season Crops

6x Mustard Greens, India - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Mustard Greens, Japanese Red Giant - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Cabbage, Copenhagen Market  - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Collards, Georgia Southern Creole - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Fresh Foods

2x Bordeaux Blend Soup Kit – ($5.00)

After quite a few discussions with visitors to the booth and other Sustainable Neighbors the lack of a locally available soup-making package seems to be an unaddressed need at our local markets. The Bordeaux blend soup mix contains carrots, purple top turnips, red potatoes, celery, parsnips, red onions. In short, it’s the last word in soup kits because all you need to add is bullion and meat or beans. The best part is that all items in the kit are organic and as much of it is home grown as is possible. Any item that is not homegrown is sourced within the state.

Herbal Bundles

3x Rosemary, Bagged – ($2.00)

3x Eucalyptus Bundles – ($2.00)

1x Mixed Sweet Potatoes – ($3.00)

Holiday Splendor

2x 6.75” Checkerboard Aloe – ($8.00) –SALE

1x 6” Gator Aloe – ($7.00) - SALE

2x 4.5” Silver Ridge Aloe – ($6.00)  - SALE

1x 4.5” Gator Aloe – ($6.00) - SALE

3x Bucket Teardrop Peperomia – ($7.00) - SALE

 

Rocking so hard, the The rain came

Welcome Back to another episode of Lost in the Farmers Market, where we discuss aspects of gardening from an angle you might not have seen coming. To be honest half the time we have no idea what angle we’re coming from; but then that makes each episode more fun than if it had been scripted. For today’s topic I’m going to answer a common question asked about the test gardens and by extension settle a long standing quandary of sustainable gardening.

So the one question I get most frequently comes after I run through the yearly harvest numbers. Visitors to the gardens, market or during the talks given as part of Sustainable Neighbor’s own events often ask me what I do with all that produce. The obvious answer is that by bulk most of it does quite literally get consumed on premises. After all if one went through the trouble to grow produce, then it makes sense that it should be consumed by the person behind it provided there is not some amount of surplus. It should be said that when one harvests several ounces of say cherry tomatoes it’s not as plausible to eat them all before they start to go bad since the plants will just keep producing as long as I keep picking and providing for their needs. So this brings the conversation to other means to enjoy the harvest and extend the useful life of a given harvest.

I notice it’s often at times hotly debated if canning or freezing your produce is better, and indeed most gardeners actually should be using both methods. The fact is canning and freezing both have their strengths and weaknesses as well as processes that need to be observed to produce better final product. Canning in common context refers to the preservation of produce under glass using mason jars. Typically the food is stored with a bit of preservative liquid or broth and once sealed is generally held to last for a few years if all processes including sterilization of materials were completed properly. It should also be said that any food canned and intended for long term storage should be fully cooked to prevent the unwanted growth of fungi and bacterium inside the jars. More often than not you will know a canned batch has gone bad because the pop-up section of the internal sealing lid will bulge out and the jar may leak around the rims. A bad smell may come from a poorly canned batch of produce. With that said the chief strength of canning is the longevity of your product, it needs no refrigeration, it is largely temperature insensitive and can be as safe as store bought product with the advantage of you knowing precisely what all the ingredients are.

In respects freezing is the high nutritional value cousin of canning. The net advantage to freezing foods is that you need less preparation, sterilization and depending on the food little or no cooking. For instance when it comes to most fruit you can literally wash it, cut it to size and freeze it. Once thawed frozen fruit can be used in a given recipe and since it’s been frozen it’s still in whatever shape it was when you stored it. This makes freezing the great alternative for storing acidic foods, and is viable for storing bullion made of herbs or broth concentrates. The down side to freezing comes with unintentional thawing, if the power is out or your refrigerator should malfunction you may be in some trouble.

Personally I use both methods but with a slight modification. Produce from the test garden in late spring through late summer is frozen and anything else is canned. The intention there is to create a stockpile of ‘fresh’ food supplies to add to dry storage foods during the winter. As a trick for this the canned goods are in broth, and that broth is vegetarian base with extra garlic, oregano, basil and rosemary to increase preservative effects. Admittedly if I can get it I often include Perilla with ginger to assist the shelf stability of the canned produce.

That said as some of you might know, I have significant fruit crop harvests and that goes directly to the freezer for use either in baked breads or cakes during the winter or it ends up as a component in brewing. Take for instance this year’s Blueberry harvest, we had a LOT of rabbit eye blueberries to the tune of two and a half pounds frozen, and then some wild picked blue berries came into the picture and this was the result.

Six pounds of blueberries total produced this color, so hard-core!

I’ve no idea what this will end up as, but then it’s all just a fun experiment, and you don’t see many blueberry wines out there either. Who knows this could be 2014’s slammin-ultra-sensation-libation! Ok…channeled Macho Man Randy Savage a bit there….apologies in advance if that blew some of your minds up. But hey how does LITFM follow something that cool up in this post? I know pictures from the field those are definitely gonna finish up the brain-splosion effect.

Adenium obesum – Desert Rose

A Desert Rose in bloom in July, certainly a fitting thank you for all the fuss I put into caring for this fine specimen. For note the desert rose is a caudiciform, or a succulent with a fat trunk that has evolved to store nutrients when the environmental conditions are not ideal.

Aloe hybrid – Silver Ridge Aloe ‘Rare Flare’

For once the foliage isn’t the focus as this aloe is a summer bloomer and in a shade of red-pink that is worthy of note. I sold smaller potted plants from this mover plant last summer and it may return for the summer houseplant season this year. Also some red Gomphrena (annual flower) and Blue African Basil has sort of crowded into the picture.

Ocimum kilimandscharicum × basilicum 'Dark Opal ' – Blue African Basil

In reading the long Latin name above yes blue African basil is a cross between Dark Opal basil and Camphor Basil and bears both of their best traits. This mature specimen is the source of all blue African cuttings I sold this year and has proven to be the fastest rooting plant in the gel propagation tests short of chocolate mint. Because it produces so many flowers the mason bees and other similar insects love this plant.

Aloe deltoides – Checkerboard Aloe

At the corner of the block-row beds, is my Checkerboard Aloe specimen plant. But alongside you can see Aztec Gold African Marigolds and yet more red Gomphrena. The combination gives some good color, form shape and drought tolerance.

Miribilis jalapa – Four ‘O’ Clock & Gomphrena globosa – Globe Amaranth (Purple)

In the bed that had the lupines I planted a number of gomphreana to hold the soil and keep weeds in check then sowed four o clocks and cosmos to begin the perennialization of the bed. For note Four O Clocks are actually perennials in our climate as is the lupines the globe amaranth and cosmos will self-sow.

 The treatment of Squash stem Borers.

"He's an ugly little spud isn't he?!" - The Ghostbusters

  

Yeah my volunteer gourds got the borers so I went on the offensive. In the cases of stems I could move I cut the borers out. Note that where a borer enters he’ll make a gross looking plant seal around the entry hole composed of its dried feces. Usually the borer isn’t far from that so you can see the entry hole plug in the first picture hanging off the stem. Inside is a grub about 1” long that’s all white except its head which is either black or red. In the case of picture one I pried the ugly thing out and killed it. In the case of picture two where I could not move the stem I waited until night and shined a bright LED lamp under the squash stem until I saw a dark mass inside then drove three old sewing pins through the borer to stop it from doing any more damage. The next morning I used a small but very sharp 2” folding knife to cut the now very dead border out of the squash. Needless to say squash borers are little bastards and utterly devastating when your squash is encouraged to grow up on a trellis. On the ground the squash will root at intervals making the borders less effective. If this is a regular problem try butternut squash…no hollow stems plus the borers hat butternut squash for some reason.

Plumbago ariculata – Cape Leadwort

The word Plumbum comes from the Latin word for Lead, Plumbum, which is seen on the Periodic table as Leads short hand Pb. It got the name because of the plants sap creating lead-like stains on the skin leading to the ancients Greeks and Romans to believe it was a cure for Lead Poisoning. The blue flowers also somewhat resembled the color of lead under certain circumstances also. Now keep in mind I got this from the distressed plant bit at Lowes and this type of plumbago is a hardy perennial. It’s already responded to its new home quite nicely.

Amorphophallus alba – White Voodoo Lily (left)

So in the category of odd Latin names Amorphophallus comes from the ancient Greek words Amorphos and Phallus or literally misshapen Penis.  Yes the guys who named plants totally had sex on the brain ALL. THE. TIME. Now why is it in the test gardens? Well for one it’s the white voodoo lily and that makes it kind of rare. The foliage as seen goes well with the Barlowe Double Columbines and has come up thicker this year than any prior year. The flower resembles a Calla lily sort of but the ‘petals’ are more cup like and the actual flower, that thing in the center called a Spadix is sort of well man-bit shaped. It’s one of the few members of the Arum family that can grow around these parts with no special provisions for care. When this blooms…oh how the innuendo will fly.

Hibiscus coccineus ' Texas Star' - Scarlet Rosemallow 'Texas Star'

 I've had a member of this particular breed in the test gardens for years and as some have you have heard the little old lady used to think it was pot and would call the police on me for "flagrantly promoting drugs!" Well now there's a pair of them in the crescent garden and both are blooming, but the flower is so nice I had to snap a picture of it. It's like the tropical hibiscus but with all the native hardy durability so it's literally the best of both worlds. Did I mention the huge red flowers that bear nectar that can attract humming birds?

But with all the garden silliness and funny names being tossed about it’s easy to forget that the Fayetteville Farmer’s Market is open on Wednesdays from 2pm to 6 pm and on Saturdays from 9am to 1 pm. The market is located at the Fayetteville Transportation Museum and runs all year around. There is plenty of parting and there are both bathrooms and an ATM on site within the museum. With every week we get new vendors and the market grows and now we have a food truck that specializes in burgers. So not only can you get your fresh produce but you can now get fresh ice cream lunch and keep up with the best and latest info about the Agriculture scene. But below you can check out the plant offerings this week at the market.

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.

On Sale: (3x for 5.00)

1x Pepper, Jalapeno, 3.5” pot ($2.00)

1x Pepper, Habenero, 3.5” pot ($2.00)

2x Pepper, Sweet Banana , 3.5” pot ($2.00)

2x Pepper, Carolina Wonder, 3.5” pot ($2.00)

1x Tomato, Brown Berry, 3.5” pot ($2.00)

2x Tomato, Martino’s Roma, 3.5” pot ($2.00)

1x Tomato, Rainbow Cherry Mix, 3.5” pot ($2.00)

1x Tomato, Red & Yellow Currant, 3.5” pot ($2.00)

1x Tomato, Reisotomate, 3.5” pot ($2.00)

1x Eggplant, Casper , 3.5” pot ($2.00)

Vegetables

3x Cucumber, Armenian, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Cucumber, Poona Kheera, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Fruits

3x Horned Melon, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Vine Peaches, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Herbs

3x Basil, Genovese, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Basil, Thai, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Basil, Cinnamon, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Basil, Red Rubin, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Artemesia, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

1x Fennel, Black, 7” pot ($5.00)

3x Lavender, Hidcote, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Oregano, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Rosemary, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

1x Sage, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Thyme, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Toothache Plant 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Ornamental:

1x Passion Vine, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Baloon Flower, White 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Nicotina, Flowering Tobacco, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Rudbeckia, Irish Eyes, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Rudbeckia, Golden, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Well this concludes another fine and yet somewhat disorderly episode of LITFM, and there’s just one thing to mention here. In terms of precipitation and not counting the total rainfall on Thursday, we had 1.2” of rain spread across two rain events. This is fantastic and a tad ironic because it poured on Monday right after I used the hose to irrigate. But we need the rain pretty bad and T-storm rain waters your plants….LIKE A BAWSSS! *

*If you don’t get that joke look up the lonely Island song Like a boss on youtube, somewhat NSFW. LITFM does not endorse bombing the Russians flying into the sun or for that matter doing anything with sewer fish.