CSA Farm

The Garden is Giving

We had our first hard freeze last week, about two weeks earlier than average, and despite having covered all of our crops we lost most of the warm weather crops. This was somewhat frustrating because the summer squash, cucumbers, tomatoes and green beans were all just starting to bear fruit. Luckily, I harvested all of the okra, winter squash and peppers prior to the freeze so I was able to save most of them. The good news is that the cool weather crops are establishing themselves and it is cool enough to grow in the greenhouse again. I love being in the greenhouse in the winter. It is always bright and toasty no matter what the outside weather is. We are considering building some raised beds inside the greenhouse this year to grow tomatoes, root crops and greens in during the winter.

We had double-sized shares this week due to harvesting the last of the warm weather crops and starting to harvest the cool weather crops.

We had some pretty incredible okra plants this year which I attribute to the double-dug, super-enriched raised bed into which they were planted. The main trunks of the plants were almost 2 inches in diameter and they were each producing close to a pound of okra every day. It was hard to say goodbye to them, but they will be put through a chipper and added to the compost pile to be returned to the garden on some future day to complete their cycle. It was equally hard to say goodbye to the pepper plants. The bell peppers and the jalapenos were just starting to produce heavily and the poblanos were not quite ready when the freeze hit. I was able to harvest several pounds of peppers and quite a few winter squash before the freeze, and most of the potato plants pulled through.

Our greens are producing beautifully now. The swiss chard is mammouth as are the collards and pac choi. The kale is almost ready to start harvesting and I harvested some tat soi today. The green onions are small but tasty, and broccoli heads are starting to form on many of the broccoli plants. The beets and carrots are still small, but coming along nicely.

The new ‘One West’ raised bed is fully planted now with cool weather crops.

So much to be thankful for this season.
Carol

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