We are currently in the midst of one of the coldest and wettest springs in my 14 years of farming. As such we have been behind on a number of field tasks. Here are some of the strategies that I’ve found helpful: ENSURE ADEQUATE SOIL PREPARATION Some ground preparation is better than none. Minor problems … More Planting Tips For Wet Springs
As I was getting a post together on some turnips Emily grew this summer, I started looking at photos from a 2009 turnip seed crop. So today, we’ll look at how to save seed turnip seed and Clear up all that confusion about turnips and rutabagas Explain how turnips need to be overwintered And show … More Saving Turnip Seed
Though I haven’t posted much lately, we have been keeping busy. Here are some pictures of this year’s radish seed production. WINTER RADISHES Winter radishes are big generally spicy radishes that are grown in the fall for winter storage. This purple radish is a F1 cross of a Red Meat radish (also called watermelon radish) … More Winter and Spring Radishes
This is the fourth part of a series on crop planning for seed production. Seed production planning part 3 covered calculating how much to grow to meet your farm and marketing demands. The next step is choosing when to plant your seed crop to get a reliable seed harvest. (Most of this article was originally … More Plant Seed Crops on Time – Seed Production Planning Part 4
My head has been full of garlic lately – garlic scapes, garlic bulbils, and currently we’re knee deep in garlic harvest – but the end of July also happens to be annual brassica seed harvest time! Last week, we pulled in a big Mizuna seed crop. Today, to celebrate the occasion we’ll talk brassicas, specifically … More Brassica Seed Harvest – Mizuna Time!
This week wrapped up planting cold hardy seed crops. I’ve also been spending time with in the rhubarb patch. I replanted radishes on 18″ spacing, two rows to the bed. Emily seeded these in an unheated greenhouse in March. A couple of weeks ago, as she harvested bunches for market, she picked out the nicest … More Field Update – Cold Hardy Annuals and Rhubarb Flowers
A couple of days ago, I posted about the mild winter and the crops that unexpectedly overwintered in the field. Normally, we have to be tricky to keep biennials over the winter to produce seed. Today, I’ll talk about about one of those tricks – unheated tunnels. We seed greens in September and then cover them … More Spring is in full swing under a little plastic!
My first seed harvests were from vegetables that bolted and didn’t make it to market. This worked well for a bit, and then it didn’t . I learned that if you want a reliable seed harvest, the crop has to go into the ground with that goal in mind. This means planting at the right … More Plant Seed Crops on Time