DST Anyone? No? Me neither!

Welcome back to another episode of Lost In The Farmer’s Market,  As you may well know daylight savings time went into effect at 2:00am on Sunday and it is a source of considerable irritation to pretty much everyone. What you don’t know is that it is a myth that it helped farmers use more daylight to perform their tasks. This myth comes from the idea that by getting up earlier somehow you’re getting extra daytime when in fact the number of hours in a given day is give or take the same with adjustments for winter/summer seasons. It’s clearly as much a myth as the old world war two myth that carrots help your eyesight. For note the carrots myth was created by the British military as misinformation to fool the axis powers into not noticing that the British were using radar to find targets. I’ll go out on a limb and say that daylight savings time should be dumped as it literally serves no purpose and any real energy use savings are so tiny that it can’t even be touted as an ecologically useful yearly habit.

But of course this LITFM episode is not about the uselessness of DST, but rather we have a continuing topic of edible weeds, and a rare picture and as if that were not enough we also have a picture of what will be coming to market soon.  But first the main topic, todays subject is a weed that I would imagine everyone who reads this has seen and is very familiar with. It only emerges in the spring and fall once the temperatures tend to top off at about 50-60 degrees and can survive frosts, and winter weather with ease. If you go out and look at any recently disturbed patch of soil or in your planters it is surely growing there.  “Ok so what is this edible weed?” you no doubt want to ask. Well look below for a example

Stellaria media – Common Chickweed

This common garden plant is considered an annual, as it only persists in the cold season but falls apart rapidly during the warm seasons.  There are a few species of chickweed out there with varied edibility standards so this information only pertains to common chickweed.  Common chickweed can be eaten simply by picking the small leaves for use in salad in any amount. The foliage is mild in taste and can be used to effectively counter-balance more pungent leaf greens.  As a pot herb, you would want to cook this one more gently then something like spinach, usually 2-5 minutes at a full boil will suffice and common flavoring additives it needs are butter, a bit of your preferred spices and salt and some chopped onion. Fortunately chickweed has no known poisonous lookalikes, and the entire grouping of true chickweed plants. For note the chickweeds are in the Caryophyllaceae family which is best known for its most famous species the Carnations.

Asarum virginicum - Heartleaf Wild Ginger

This leads to the current photograph of note the flower pictured above is from a perennial cutting of a Wild Ginger plant. Wild gingers are a true wild flower that you plant in a partial-to almost full shade area with decent moisture and forget about. But before you say it, it is not the flower that makes this species special but the evergreen variegated leaves. The leaves are an intense deep green with a silvery-white heart-shaped variegation. Overall a group of these plants forms a nice ground cover that is both exotic looking and well-behaved. It should be said that the wild gingers resemble hardy cyclamen until the bloom and for several months I had the pictures specimen mislabeled until it bloomed just this week. I know the bloom isn’t exactly a show-stopper but it is interesting, and it serves as a biology lesson because you have to ask just what sort of pollinator this flower is intended to attract. My bet is on a beetle or ants as the flowers are very low to the ground and may resemble carrion.

 I get that the angle of this shot is odd but you can see all the current spring crops at once.

We at LITFM are pleased to announce the first spring crops for the market; some of them will be familiar to you, Parris Island Cos Romaine Lettuce, Rouge D’hiver Romaine, Lacinato/Dinosaur Kale, Rosso Di Chioggia Radicchio and, Northern Lights Swiss Chard. In the background you can see the seed starting kits and in them is some good stuff, exotic salad greens and snow peas so sit tight, more of the good stuff is yet to come. Barring bad weather this weekend I plan to bring some of the above listed cold-season crops to market due to your requests. For note most of them were moved up from the cell packs I started them in roughly a week ago.

For those who have not heard, the Fayetteville City Market occurs on Saturdays between the hours of 9:00 AM and 1:00 PM, in all but the absolute worst weather. The market is located on 325 Franklin Street in the front and rear parking lot of the Fayetteville Transportation Museum. The market is a year-round affair unofficially but our official season kicks off in April so stay tuned for the announcement of the market’s big spring celebration. Either way we’re open for business.

Oh October, well played you saucy month!

Welcome back to another episode of LITFM,  and we were planning a post about how to  plant a tree but unfortunately a material shortage put that planned event on hold while the property was prepared for the garden tour in two weeks. For note the Sustainable Neighbors Garden tour is on November 2^nd, so if you want to be a location on the tour or attend the tour please sign up at the sustainable neighbor’s site below.

http://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/events/212065332/

The container garden persists even in winter as this picture demonstrates. Lettuce, radicchio and Japanese red giant mustard all occupy spots in this winter container garden. The last of the peppers and eggplant are there just to squeeze a few more fruits out of the plants.

Striped Togo eggplant. As the fruit mature they eventually turn all-orange, which makes them kind of cool as a Halloween decoration. At his point they are super-bitter as the seeds inside are nearly mature and ready for harvesting.

A very large male Wolf Spider. I found this guy in the dining room barely moving because it was probably cold, so using a drinking glass and a piece of cardboard I got him back outside in the sun where he could warm up.

Amaranth 'Love Lies Bleeding' - Amaranth did super-good this year but this patch of love lies bleeding was from seed sown early on that finally germinated.

All those zinnias I planted in mid summer have paid off, as this Monarch butterfly visited and sat still long enough for me to snap this shot at close range.

             The weather looks gorgeous for the market this Saturday and possibly for the Wednesday beyond. The Fayetteville Farmers Market is a year-round event that runs from 9:00am to 1:00pm on Saturdays and 2:00 to 6:00 pm on Wednesdays. Also there are a few farmers who set up for fourth Friday and indeed we have really good market coverage if any of you are willing to come on down to the biggest farmers market in the region.

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.

Perennial:

1x Grape, Copper Muscadine - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Cold Season Crops

6x Romaine Lettuce, “Rouge d’Hiver” - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Romaine Lettuce, “Parris Island Cos” - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Bibb Lettuce, Black Seeded Simpson - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Radicchio, “Rossa di Verona” - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

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

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

6x Cabbage, Copenhagen Market  - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Cabbage, Savoy – Perfection Drumhead  - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Collards, Georgia Southern Creole - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Kale, Redbor/Red Russian - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Snow pea, Snowbird - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

This brings to a close a somewhat short episode of LITFM, hopefully by next week we'll have something really cool for you to consider, and if not....FARM TOUR the week after!

And Finally Autumn

Welcome back to another episode of lost in the farmer’s market. It’s October and this in theory is the first month in which the possibility of a frost might occur. As some of you might know our first possible frost date is around the 25^th-29^th of October depending on what source you consult. This first frost however is not liable to be a killing frost as those often don’t show up until December or in the case of a few years ago not until February of the following year. With that said I often answer queries of if it is too late to get in a fall-winter garden as somehow local gardeners have it in their minds that it is already too late for some reason.

Radicchio “Rossa di Verona” - Chicorum intybus

To be perfectly honest, you can plant your fall crops as late as mid-November as long as you make provisions for their care and if need be are ready to place anti-frost protection as needed until the crops settle in. The settling in of your fall crops takes about two weeks and generally is accelerated with a root stimulator type fertilizer. Alternately one can simply place a bit of Black Hen in the plating hole before the plant is placed to have the same effect. So of course this leads to the next most common question, “Will ___ survive the winter?”  Well most of the cold season plants will do just fine, Kale, Collards, Cabbage, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower, Mustard greens, Spinach, Beets, Swiss Chard, Radishes, Lettuce, Radicchio, Carrots, Cilantro and Parsley will all generally make it through winter. More so since most of the above list are sold as Annuals but are actually Biennials, it’s in their life cycle to persevere in cold weather.

Bibb Lettuce 'Black Seeded Simpson - Lactuca sativa

At the test gardens the bulk of my harvested produce is not during the warm season but the cold season because the leaf greens are very productive in the colder season. For instance Red Giant mustard is notable for producing 12” long leaves and yielding a half pound of greens per plant per harvest. Collards and Kale are no slouches for winter food sources either and can most certainly pick up the slack for other species of food crop. In short there is no reason to avoid starting a winter garden, the only obstacle you face is you. Also this leads to the third question I get a lot at the market. Occasionally someone will ask something like “It says it takes ___ days but…it’s October!”  I personally would call this an excuse.

Romaine Lettuce ' Rouge d'Hiver - Lactuca sativa

The reality is that, when you see a set number of days on a seed packet or plant label it’s a literal statement of how long it might take a plant to mature from seed. By the time the plants are available for sale however a portion of that time has passed. For instance my lovely Rouge d’Hiver lettuce says 60 days, but it took me about 40 to get it to salable size…so maturity might be by the end of October if one were to buy it right now and site it properly. I might point out that it is generally unwise to get too wrapped up in the numeric of gardening because they can be misleading as many factors such as care, siting, weather and soil conditions can have major effects on your progress. The maturity numbers are actually there to give a gardener a general estimate/average of the start up time but they are not an absolute statement of fact. Indeed as observed with the month of September the weather can play heck with your garden plans. For instance while there is no current precipitation information for the first week of October, for the record, the test gardens received a total 3.8” last month  over six precipitation events in total or about an inch a week which is ideal for the plants. What is ideal for the plants does not relate to what may be ideal for your planning and so we have later than normal start on cold season plants.

Mustard Greens  India - Brassica juncea

But there is some good news, as some of you have seen the good stuff is in at the market and you can get those fine cold-season staples on Wednesdays and Saturdays at my booth.  The Fayetteville Farmer’s market is located in downtown Fayetteville and is open two days a week. The Wednesday market runs from 2:00pm to 6:00 pm, and the Saturday Market runs from 9:00am to 1:00 pm. The market is located on the property of the Fayetteville Transportation Museum which is on 325 Franklin Street. As always the Museum will be open and there is public access to bathrooms and there is an ATM on the premises. Without further ado here is this week’s plant list.

Mustard Greens  Japanese Red Giant - Brassica juncea

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.

Perennial:

1x Grape, Copper Muscadine - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Ornamental:

6x Baloon Flower, White 3.5” pot ($2.00) <On Sale! Last Week>

Cold Season Crops

6x Romaine Lettuce, “Rouge d’Hiver” - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Bibb Lettuce, Black Seeded Simpson - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Radicchio, “Rossa di Verona” - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

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

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

6x Collards, Georgia Southern Creole - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Kale, Redbor/Red Russian - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Onion, Red Egyptian - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

As you may already know the forecast for this weekend seems to be going every which way but to a clear statement of what things might be like. For note a depending on how things go this month I may or may not continue with Wednesday markets in November. You can expect that should it change I’ll announce it here. Saturdays will continue regardless.

Projects Abound as the Temperature Rises

Welcome to another summer episode of Lost in the Farmer’s market. Today’s topic is container gardens and how to manage them in the peak heat of summer. In this episode you can expect some pictures from the field as well as some images from the test gardens. That said lets delve into the topic at hand first, and afterwards the field photos. But first as its poison Ivy season here are two photographs. Try to identify which is poison ivy and which is poison oak. the answer to which plant is which will be revealed at the end of this article.

Poison Ivy?

Poison Ivy?

When it comes to container gardens, the first thing one much remember is not to overcrowd. Our artistic impulses as gardeners indicate that we want to fill every space because that is what the garden magazines and shows indicate should happen. There is a certain amount of reward in watching plants grow and fill in space naturally as opposed to the frustration of plants placed to close and competing and thus never reaching their best potential. Part of the process of plant spacing is the container in which the plants are growing. a Properly sized container means less stress for the plants, more productivity and less work for you. I might add almost anything can be grown in a container the variable in this fact is the amount of maintenance one must perform to make the planted container work. The amount of care required is directly proportionate to the size of the plant material in question relative to the pot size. A case in point would be planting fruiting tress in pots, which is a bad call no matter what the garden catalogs say because eventually you will reach a point of diminishing return. Like wise picking a crop that is inherently fussy about the climate and growing it in a pot may also not work in the long term.  It is best to pick garden plants that produce smaller fruits and veggies to compensate for the limited space and thus reducing your need to perform maintenance.

Chichorum intybus – Radicchio are perfectly suited to growing in a somewhat shallow bowl planter despite the summer heat. The spacing of the plants is just right for their container and size.

Lycopersicon esculentum – Tomatoes for all the fuss we as gardeners lavish upon them do quite well in pots as long as watering needs are addressed.

The type of pot you use can also effect your harvest and overall success as well as the economy of your operations. A case in point can be found with the pots in the picture immediately above. Those tomatoes and the eggplants and peppers in later pictures are all growing in 14" fluted pots. That is pots who have a upper rim diameter of 14" and a bottom diameter of 12". The advantage to this shape is that the feeder roots, which are typically in the upper 3" of soil get maximum expansion while the buttress roots bet a deep soil column. You the gardener have to use 1/3 less soil to fill a pot like this. The same effect can be found in bowl planters and the like. As a final note, the shape of a pot can influence the effective distribution of water and fertilizer to the roots of your plants. Additionally the shape of your pots can also effect how hot the soil inside gets by presenting a larger surface area to the sun.

Solanum melongena – Eggplant take a while to get started but once going they seem to actually prefer to grow in large pots.

Capsicum anuum – Peppers are surprisingly well adapted to growing in pots perhaps more so then their nightshade relatives.

The soil mixture in container gardens should be carefully considered.You definately do not want to use native soil or straight compost because with both you are bringing in whatever possible problems may exist in the native soils and thus may have problems later on in the season. Likewise you should also skip the expensive garden soil or potting soils as most of the price there is not for product but rather for packaging. In the same way skipping the ultra cheap materials will save you disappointment later on. What you want is a soilless mix composed of a slow-decaying material such as peat moss but preferably coco-fiber (coir) along with perlite and vermiculite. Any soil mix that uses at least 50% ratios is relatively light when wet and holds moisture and nutrients rather well. Additionally such mixes decay into a nice topsoil, so after a year or two of use the 'spent' soil can be used as a enriching top dressing for a garden bed. Your best bet is to find a quality topsoil or lawn soil, for filling your containers as the price is often easier to handle and you can get the soil in bulk easily. In the case of ornamental plants it is easier  use the soil straight where as in the case of production crops it is easier to add a little composted manure to add a little extra vigor to your crops. 

Fragraria x ananassa - Even ever bearing strawberries can adapt to a life in the confines of a pot, and genuinely do well in hanging baskets especially if positioned well.

Tagetes patula - French Marigolds, As ornamental as they come and a definite attractor of pollinators.

Watering plays a triple role in the case of your container gardens. Watering is the vector by which plants receive most of their moisture, how they get liquid form fertilizers and the means by which excess accumulations of salt and other damaging compounds are removed from the soil. I covered the soil mix and it's relevance to watering, as well as how the pot shape plays a role in watering. The placement of your pots plays a role also as too much exposure means you will be watering far more often thanks to the effects of wind and heat. Too much water can cause your crops to rot, and ruin a gardening season. Take for instance the picture of the strawberry above and the French Marigold. Both are sited well because they are in hanging baskets under a roof gutter with a roughly eastern facing so they get the cool morning sun and some of the early noon sun but by the afternoon are in partial to full shade. Additionally both plants are watered by the gutter system's overflow every time it rains. This placement means these pots can be fertilized more heavily, and thus the plants are more productive with no risk of soil toxicity.

Amaranth, Basil, Peppers and a Perennial Cabbage.

As a final note to the topic a well designed container garden can be quite successful, most of the real difficulty comes in thinking of what size your preferred plants will be as opposed to what size they are when you install them. Planning ahead, helps considerably however upgrading as you go between the seasons is also a viable means to improve productivity. I hope I've covered the concepts reasonably well and as always feel free to ask any questions you like either here on the blog or in person at the farmer's market. next in today's post are some photos from the field.

A close up of the french marigolds from earlier, this variety is called 'Jester Mix'.

While adjusting the logs intended for building the wildflower berm, this very large toad bounded out from under it.

This one also hopped out of the original berm site.

As work continued, another one unburied itself, note the natural camouflage.

This little one also unburied itself, could it be toads intentionally bury themselves under decaying wood to get at bugs?

Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus' - Purple Coneflower in bloom with a bumblebee or carpenter bee pollinator.

Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus' - A mutant Purple Coneflower bloom. This sort of thing occurs when the cells that will eventually become a flower bud fail to split completely and remain fused forming a 'double flower' like this.

The pink Cosomos were the first in bloom in the small wildflower patch, the orange dazzlers and bright light mix are not far behind though.

Summer heat or not I am still manning the booth down at the Fayetteville Farmers / City Market in downtown Fayetteville. The market runs from 9:00 am through 1:00pm and is located at 325 Franklin Street. As always there will be great handouts about soil conservation and wildlife management and of course copies of my book Southward Skies. Without further delay below is this weeks plant list.

2x 4” pot Beefsteak Tomato

8x 3” pot Beefsteak Tomato

1x 3” pot Roma Tomato

1x 3” pot San Marzano Tomato

12x 3” pot Carolina Wonder (Red)

2x 3” pot Nankeen Cotton

3x 3” pot Chinese Ornamental Pepper

1x 3” pot Asian Winged Bean

1x qt pot ‘Red Weed’ Castor Bean

-plus whatever else fits in the truck!

I might add this is just the tip of the iceberg, a number of things are in transition and are growing to size out in the test gardens and will be available soon. In the coming weeks a veritable pepper blitz will be going on as the plants start to reach proper sizes so if what you see above is not to your liking, in the future you can expect the following:

-Ghost Peppers (sweet)

-Carolina Wonder (Green bell)

-Pasilla Baijio (Spicy, but no heat black Cayenne)

-Red Peter (Red chili poweder with ornamental use)

-Sangria Pepper (Bright Purple Ornamental)

-Burgundy Okra

-Egyptian Onion Starter bulbs

-Litchi Tomato (Last plants  of the year!)

-Purple Calabash Tomato (Last plant of the year!)

-Amana Orange Tomato (Last plant of the year!)

This brings to a close another episode of Lost in the farmer’s Market, I hope you enjoyed today’s topic and as always feel free to ask any questions either in person at the farmer’s market or as a reply here. Next week we begin the process of building the anti-erosion/ Wildflower berm so you get to see how that is done. Finally in the case of the pictures of the poison ivy/oak pictures at the start of today's blog post the answer is simple enough, both are poison ivy. The fact is most people except those who trek deep into swamps will never actually encounter poison oak. The pictures above are two opposite sides of the same patch just three feet away from each other. Poison ivy comes in a great variety of leaf shapes and may be confused with a variety of non-toxic plants such as juvenile sassafras, Virginia creeper and some of the tree-form legumes. Before you destroy any suspicious plants get a professional to verify the identity of the plants and NEVER burn anything that may have poison ivy plant parts on it.

With that said stay safe out there and as always folks keep ‘em growing!