O.K., are you all ready for our first question? Here it is:
"We are trying to figure out something to plant on our property that
would sell good for next year. Still thinking about it and wondered if
Tom has any good ideas on something that grows well, easy, and would
sell. I thought about garlic, know anything about it?"
Answer:
I have grown garlic in the past by planting it in the fall and
covering it with mulch for the winter once it has a start. If planting
this late in the season you may need to protect it with a row of cover
fabric(black works best) to keep it growing until the tender green tops
have emerged from the clove. Once that happens, if they're not in a
cold frame or greenhouse be sure to mulch them with 6-8" of clean straw
for the winter. Some time in March, depending on the nighttime temps,
about the same time you would plant early onions, uncover the garlic and
replace the straw with the row of cover fabric. As the days lengthen
treat them like you would onions, they should continue to grow through
the summer. Harvest the bulbs when the green tops dry out.
Here's an idea too, annual flowers and perennials are easy and fun to
grow. The annual flowers can be sold as cut flowers or as potted
plants. Perennials can be grown and divided from year to year as a
continual source of revenue. A few varieties that I have seen people
grow successfully are daylilies, peonies, hostas, daisies, blackeyed
susans, and many kinds of herbs. If you have children, this can be a
really fun project for everyone! Here is a great newsletter I've found
that may give you some more helpful hints: Mike McGroarty's 79 Second Newsletter.
Be Blessed!
Tom
It's Harvest Season!
One of our most favorite things to harvest is Basil. We have
harvested it a couple times this year already but now is the biggest
harvest we've had. We picked 2 1/2 bushel today! We may have waited a
bit too long and let a little too much of the flower blossom come on but
we just trimmed it off while in the garden. We harvested about 2/3 of
the plant and left the rest to grow back, we should still get another
good harvest before frost and lots of fresh eating before then. To
preserve your basil, hang dry it in a dark place then store it in a
glass jar or freeze it by washing it and letting it air dry then put in
freezer bags. It is wonderful to pull it out of the freezer in the dead
of winter!!!
Gardening from Martha's Vineyard
Hi,
> I found your Facebook page through my wife....LOVE
IT! We just moved
> from NYC and finally have a backyard! I
recently put in a garden ( my
> 1st time) its about 40 inches wide
and 25 feet long. I put in beef
> steak tomatoes and cherry
tomatoes, peas, red peppers, carrots, swiss
> chard, purple basil,
and cilantro....i still have quite a bit of room
> is there
anything else you recommend? We love greens....are there any
>
that are easy to grow and will produce a large and long harvest? I
>
also have been feeding my family well by fishing! Thank God im out of
>
the city. Anyway, just wanted to say hello....keep up the good work!
Tom's answer: That's great!! It's always so exciting to begin a new
gardening adventure.
If you like greens, and it sounds like you've got a good start, spinach
is one of our favorites. You can make successive plantings with it every
few weeks and extend your season before the hot weather causes it to
bolt (or flower). This year we are hoping to try kale since we've been
buying it at the farmer's market. We really enjoy it lightly sauteed
with sliced onion and a dressing of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and
honey. We also love to plant a good Spring Mix. We have some Butter
Crunch lettuce planted and this week the leaves are big enough to pick
for the dinner table to go along with our fresh radishes. Also, if you
want to, on the very Northern edge of your garden you could plant some
pole beans or cukes that would climb a trellis. There are endless
possibilities but I hope these few ideas help answer your question.
P.S. We are very excited for your new back yard!!!!! We have some
friends that just moved from NYC and have a nice back yard too, finally!
Gardening, YES!
Because we
got an early spring we were able to plant our onions, garlic, some
radishes, greens, and spinach. We planted them about 3 weeks ago so we
didn't need to put our cold frame up. They are all growing nicely after
a weekend long rain and lots of sun to start our week. In the raised
beds of the garden that were planted last year we are trying not to till
deeply so we are simply cultivating and weeding to prepare the soil.
We have heard that this encourages the microbes already working in the
upper layers of the soil rather than burying them deeply. We will still
be aerifying the soil with the tines of the cultivator to encourage good
root growth for the plants. We'll see how this works with our peas and
turnips that we just planted tonight. We put our peas in a bit later
than we wanted to but it is still a good time to sew these seeds.
March
A lot of
times where we live, up here in the North, the frost comes out of the
ground and we start thinking about what to plant in the garden. We want
to try planting some snow peas and green onion sets. We may try a
crude cold frame with some bales of straw and old window glass to get a
jump start on some lettuce greens. I've never tried radishes this early
but if we get our cold frame built I may try some. I'll keep you
posted on our progress....
