September At Last!

 Welcome back to another episode of Lost In the Farmers Market, as you may have heard, the Governor of North Carolina Roy Cooper has moved us to stage 2.5 in terms of easing COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. This of course means we are getting closer to normalcy, and this is a good thing. It does not however mean that we should relax too much as a disease as easily spread as Covid-19 can just as easily resurge. It has been proven that there are differing strains around and there is the possibility of getting the virus more than once. However in terms of gardening now is the time to get your fall seeds started. You want to sow the things that take the longest to mature right now so that they are up and developed so that they can withstand frost and the cooling fall weather without damage.  I always start with some Swiss Chard and the oddball species of Kale, then Collards and move on to everything else. This year I will be offering things I have never offered as saleable cool-season crops before and you should stay tuned to find out what’s going on.

 

In different gardening news the Autumn Botanical Test Garden tour is coming up. I am shooting for the 18^th of October between the hours of 2pm and 5pm. It is hoped that by then we will have seen another reduction in the Covid-19 restrictions and the weather will cooperate. If not, expect to bring masks, and the Rain Date for the event will be the 25^th of October, just before Halloween. By then I can assure you there will be plenty of fall delights for your gardening fancy and you get to see what’s going on in the test gardens. I can tell you this, 2020 despite politics and other crazy things that happened has been an amazing harvest year, so you can expect some impressive information and some ideas that flip the script when it comes to gardening. But let’s move on from the shameless promotions to talk some crazy-good garden stuff.

 

Before I get into this week’s garden photographs I do need to talk about two interesting garden conversations that I had this week with a few Sustainable Neighbors members. Firstly, I sent out a note telling folks that now was the time to begin sowing fall seeds. One of the replies was essentially ‘What are you sowing?’ and I didn’t specifically answer the question there. Later on the same day I was talking about it to a different Sustainable Neighbors member and the answer I gave was ‘I don’t like to tell folks what is being sown before it’s germinated.’ At the time I followed up with ‘it creates production problems when some folks try to reserve or order entire trays of seedlings.’ You would think that isn’t a bad thing but, it really isn’t good for business and here is why. When you have a horticultural production system you accept that there is a certain amount of loss, seedlings die, cuttings fail, somethings simply never grow and that’s an accepted part of the industry. I am a small grower who has limited margins and can’t afford to pull the same kind of stunts that someone like Metrolina Greenhouses or Bonnie Plants does. It isn’t plausible to reserve an entire flat of Rainbow Lacinato Kale because I know that 100% germination rates are rare, and even if I got 100% germination I would still likely lose 20% to after-germination causes like ‘failure to thrive’ and pathogens. Even after that some plants don’t survive transplanting to larger pots and some don’t survive ‘sunning’.  For the estimated 60% that do survive they make up smaller more vigorous batches of crops that are almost artisan in the way they are cultivated and cared for. The quality you the customer sees at the Tour or on the table at the Farmers market is leaps and bounds above the majority of my competition and I am certainly crushing big box left and right in that department.  There is one other ugly part of the industry that needs to be mentioned here. Customers are fickle, no not all of you, just the ones who want to order large numbers of things generally speaking. Historically I cannot count the number of times I’ve been approached and a customer has ordered a large number of something didn’t want to put down a deposit and never showed up when the product was ready. This is despite being told said product was ready they don’t tend to turn up. In business you do take risks, but you never take on stupid-risk, because it tends to burn you in the end. A case in point, several years back I started selling Fig bushes. They were being sold because the person who ordered them and promised up and down that he would come and get his order never turned up so I was stuck with sixteen figs (White Ischia, Brown Turkey, LSU Gold) that the buyer by all accounts had bailed on. I held the plants for several months and then when I stopped getting any replies I put them up for open sale. The plants sold rapidly, and the risk paid for itself so I could buy badly needed equipment for the lab. Ironically who do you think turned up as if a year hadn’t passed late the next spring asking for sixteen plants he hadn’t paid one red cent for?

 

I know what some of you might be thinking, ‘why didn’t I make him sign a contract or agreement?’ Simple, that’s a bit more corporate and hard-edged than I like BRN to be. I’m a local grower, who also now sells locally grown fruit and vegetables in-season. If I am in a situation where I need to make a customer sign a written agreement; then my image as the local alternative to big box suffers. I become like them and that is not how BRN is run. BRN is local, part of the community, and we are both accessible and accountable. This means that I never count my seedlings before they germinate and of course reserving entire trays of things is not an option. The economics of it aren’t good for the consumer and they aren’t good for BRN either. As some of the visitors to the Market might have noticed, I keep a seasonal rotation of things so that customers are treated with new and interesting things year-round. This is why reserving trays of stuff or specific tray orders aren’t a thing…well that and the production facilities are not that large. But anyway let’s get on to the garden pictures.

 

 Here we have a evening shot over the roof of the house with some great cloud formations. Technically not a garden picture, but some times the skies steal the show.

Giant Bugleweed (Ajuga reptans 'Caitlan's Giant'), this larger than normal variety of Bugleweed has much larger leaves and presumably bigger blue flowers. I've got it in a 8" p[ot until I can figure out where to plant this one. It seems to not care about full sun, though I imagine care is identical to normal bugle weed.

The bottom of a fully ripe Kadota fig. These are the figs used to make Fig Newtons and they're purple-red on the base almost like Brown Turkey but lighter than Black Mission.

The top of a Kadota fig is green-yellow and this picture doesn't quite do it justice.

From the side you can see the real color transition on a Kadota fig, they are very pretty. Shame this one is getting eaten!

Here we have the difference in coloration between 'Zanzibar' and 'Impala' Castor Beans. The Zanzibar Castor beans in the ground have reached a height of eight feet tall as of this writing. They are almost trees, maybe they can survive winter in our climate, wouldn't that be something?

After growign the plants and harvesting the seed I can see why one would proclaim 'Open Sesame' in regards to the at times troublesome seed pods of Sesame plants. I harvested dozens of pods from two plants and for my efforts all I got was maybe a quarter ounce of seed. Still it was fun to grow it and the Sesame seed plant's flowers were pretty.

 

Lastly, here is a LITFM video that talks all about Figs, it's the longest one I've produced at nearly 19 minutes but is totally worth it.

 

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.

Food Plants:
Mustard, Red Giant: $3.00
Kale, Lacinato: $3.00
Celery, Tango: $3.00


Herbs: (3” pots)
Black Fennel: $3.00
Oregano: $3.00


Herbs: (5” pots)
Oregano, Bristol Cross: $4.00
Oregano, Italian: $4.00


Herbs: Special Offer
Rosemary, Prostrate: $8.00


Ornamental Plants:
Coneflower, ‘Pow Wow Wild Berry: $4.00
Milkweed, ‘Milk Maid’: $3.00
Milkweed, ‘Passionate’: $3.00

 

Due to the current Covid-19 situation and the state’s requirement that all citizens are not to gather in groups of more than ten, the weekly Sustainable neighbors meeting is online. Please check the sustainable neighbors Meetup.com page for more info about how to attend our online meeting.

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

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 and join the meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market. This brings to a close the seventeenth LITFM post of 2020; stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 18^th of September. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.

Hurricane Land

Welcome back to another episode of Lost In the Farmers Market, if you’ve been paying any attention to the news, two hurricanes were in the gulf of Mexico at the same time. This is an event with no precedent in known history. I know that some of the readers of this blog are in the path of the storm and may or may not be in imminent danger. Dual hurricanes are incredibly rare and only serve to increase the normal hazards because the weather has had no chance to calm between the storms. If you are ordered to evacuate please comply with evacuation orders, it is not manly, nor impressive to weather a storm situation of this magnitude, it is sheer stupidity to stick around. 2020 has already been a nuclear-rocket propelled rollercoaster ride and we seriously do not need any more tragedy this year.  With that said I know the Carolinas are going to get some of that crazy hurricane weather soon but it likely won’t be quite so bad. We got lucky, but others are not so fortunate.  Now, garden-wise I have some photos from the test gardens that you should find interesting and some new videos on youtube that I know you will like.

Here we have the first ever Kadota fig harvested in the test gardens. It is not uncommon for a large fig to weigh nearly 2 ounces a piece. Kadota, Magnolia, Brown Turkey,  are all larger sized figs. White Ischia, and Black Mission are medium-sized while Chicago Hardy and Celeste are small sized.

This is Acheta domesticus or the common House Cricket. These are introduced from Europe and are mostly harmless though they can become a problem when they start eating fabric. Their chirps are in threes and they are about an inch long. I had one of these in the house not to long ago and had to hunt the little bugger down.

This critter's identity is unclear, it may be a Fowler's Toad (Anaxyrus fowleri) or a Southern Toad (Anaxyrus terrestris). The two species of toad do interbreed and so it could also be a hybrid. Regardless of that, the test gardens does have several toads in residence that eat an untold number of nocturnal insects. Since toads don't really get moving until the evening the above picture was taken using a flash at about 9pm.

Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus). This type of butterfly is one of the most commonly seen in the test gardens, they seem to really dig the giant lantana's flowers.

This is Chia (Salvia hispanica), I did a video on this but for note individual plants can grow to be upwards of six feet tall in a single season.

Someone in Sustainable Neighbors asked about strange orange bugs all over something, and I thought I'd post this picture taken on Tuesday. These little orange bugs are Assassin Bug Larvae, they are brightly colored either to indicate to predators they taste awful or to indicate they will bite. Assassin bugs are aggressive predators that are beneficial to the garden as they kill and eat tons of other insects. Typically their larvae are clustered like this until they reach a certain size then they move out to go eat anything that moves. These were found on my Beauty berry (Callicarpa americana) bush in the front yard, they seem to prefer blue or purple colored fruit for some reason

 

With all the fine garden pictures and info covered below we have the entire five-part series on Mallows that you should have in your garden. The episodes cover Zebrina Mallow, Roselle, Cranberry Hibiscus, Flowering Maple and, Swamp Rose Mallow. Thankfully the weather cooperated during shooting and only one episode had to be shot in the lab.

 

 

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.

Food Plants:
Peanuts, African Runner: $3.00
 
Herbs: (3” pots)
Black Fennel: $3.00
Horehound: $3.00
Mountain Mint: $3.00
Oregano: $3.00

Herbs: (5” pots)
Cuban Oregano, ‘Cerveza & Lime’: $4.00
Horehound: $4.00
Oregano: $4.00
Oregano, Italian: $4.00
Roselle, ‘Thai Red’: $4.00

Herbs: Special Offer
Rosemary, Prostrate: $8.00
 
Ornamental Plants:
Coneflower, ‘Pow Wow Wild Berry: $4.00
Milkweed, ‘Milk Maid’: $3.00
Milkweed, ‘Passionate’: $3.00

Due to the current Covid-19 situation and the state’s requirement that all citizens are not to gather in groups of more than ten, the weekly Sustainable neighbors meeting is online. Please check the sustainable neighbors Meetup.com page for more info about how to attend our online meeting.

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

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 and join the meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market. This brings to a close the sixteenth LITFM post of 2020; stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 4^th of September. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.

The August Heatwave

 Welcome back to another episode of Lost in the Farmers Market.  This post is a bit late mostly due to work and the harvest season however I think you will find the photos discussed this time totally worth it. I should also mention that Blogspot has changed some of it's formatting so until I work out the kinks expect that the formatting of these posts may be a bit off for a while.

This tiny little Green Tree Frog popped out of my 'Cerveza & Lime' Cuban Oregano plant as I watered it and game me some serious 'side-eye'. They dont much like chlorinated tap water and I was watering with a hose. If you see these frogs in your garden it is a sign that you have a healthy ecosystem and you are doing the right thing.

Another bit of evidence that I am doing my ecosystem right, in the upper right next to the black pole holding up these two grow bags is a little Green Anole Lizard. These critters eat a LOT of bugs, and that helps me out. The trick to getting them, frogs and toads is to provide natural places for them to hide from things like birds, and domesticated cats. I spot several of these little lizards per month during the warm season so that means certain insect populations are kept in check.

Ripe fruit charts are where it is at. Here we have a ripe super-hot pepper chart. Notice the weird shapes of each type and the variations in an given harvest. Only the Lemon Drops are ever consistent, Fayetteville Inferno's are always sort of tri-lobed, Red Fatalii's are stretched and cylindrical roughly, Chocolate Fataliis are skinnier and more curva-licious than their Red Fatalii cousins. Golden Carolina Reapers are chunky as hell, while the Mad hatters are weird, tri-lobed and the lobes extend out like little pepper-feet. Its a mad world of peppers certainly, but I'm still shipping these to Fowler's Barbecue in town so they should have hot sauces soon.

Here is a handy fig chart, you can see the differences between the types all in one picture! Folks at the market were very concerned that the White Ischia were not ripe but as you can see figs ripen to a whole lot of differing colors. White Ischia ripen to like green if not green-yellow, Brown turkeys aren't always brown, and can have purple tinges, Magnolias are a weird taupe-tan color. Chicago Hardy can be brown, or a dirty brown sand color while Celeste can be a myriad shades of brown with red tinges. It varies greatly and so do the ripe sizes of fruit.

I never quite got the south's obsession with planting Crape Myrtles everywhere as a solution to everything. Yes I get they dont get diseases, can grow in crap soil and pretty much nothing short of a act of god kills them. The flowers aren't that great and then there's the fact their seeds are viable and they escape cultivation. Well this flower cluster with rain droplets from a brief rain shower changed my mind somewhat. This wont make me want to plant more of them but I can kinda understand why folks like the flowers now.

Some of you probably knew this was coming. This is what the 'Hairy Balls' Milkweed seedpods look like and well, if your balls look like this you need to talk to a doctor immediately! The plants get to about six feet tall and the flowers  hang upside down and only bumblebees seem to like them, so hair balls plant plus hairy bumbles...weird combination!

Muslin Bags are used to protect ripening figs from Grey Catbirds who are smart enough to observe me picking fruit and know it's food I'm picking. They don't usually figure this out immediately, but about halfway through the season they start pecking at figs and absconding with potentially saleable fruits. This is the inexpensive and organic solution, apparently the bags fool them into thinking the figs aren't fruit at all, or maybe it makes them look terribly unappetizing.

 

I do not as of the time of writing this know what species of Grasshopper or Locust this is. I found it in my 'Iron and Clay' Cowpeas that were knocked over by Tropical storm Isaias, this critter stood nice and still for the camera and was easily five or so inches long. It is the largest of it's type I've ever seen in the test gardens.

 

Much like tomatoes, figs can burst and split if they are ripening and receive too much water in a short period. This White Ishcia fig has fallen victim to heavy rain fall and practically exploded. Typically these figs are washed, inspected and frozen as soon as possible. I never take these to the market because they have no shelf life in a fresh state and will turn to pulp in processing.

The above are all Magnolia figs, at varied stages of ripening, the three in the back row are in the soft or firm ripeness stage while the one on the left is at soft-ripe stage and is about to burst. The fig on the right is soft-ripe and has begun to burst due to excessive rainfall. Sometimes the protective muslin bags I use can worsen this.

Here is a recent LITFM video about Pineapple Verbena.

This video is about the living Dinosaur plant known as Horsetail.

Ah, and here is a video about Carrots!

Last but definitely not least for this blog update we have a LITFM video covering Okinawa Spinach.

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.

 

Plants & Stuff Available Now:

Food Plants:
Peanuts, African Runner: $3.00

Herbs: (3” pots)
Black Fennel: $3.00
Chocolate Mint: $3.00
Horehound: $3.00
Mountain Mint: $3.00
Oregano: $3.00


Herbs: (5” pots)
Agatache, ‘Golden Jubilee’: $4.00
Cuban Oregano, ‘Cerveza & Lime’: $4.00
Horehound: $4.00
Oregano: $4.00
Oregano, Italian: $4.00
Roselle, ‘Thai Red’: $4.00
Thyme, English: $4.00

Herbs: Special Offer
Rosemary, Prostrate: $6.00


Ornamental Plants:
Coneflower, ‘Pow Wow Wild Berry: $4.00
Milkweed, ‘Milk Maid’: $3.00
Milkweed, ‘Passionate’: $3.00
Zinnia, Golden Star: $3.00


Coming Soon:
The Fall Crop Lineup: Kale, Collards, Mustard, Chard!

Due to the current Covid-19 situation and the state’s requirement that all citizens are not to gather in groups of more than ten, the weekly Sustainable neighbors meeting is online. Please check the sustainable neighbors Meetup.com page for more info about how to attend our online meeting.

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

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 and join the meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market. This brings to a close the sixteenth LITFM post of 2020; stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 21st of August. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.