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Hot Garden Report

July 16, 2012 by foxlinecityfarm

We have not had any rain here since May 26th and that was recorded as just under a half inch in our rain gage. It was already dry at that point and we were optimistic that rain would come soon.  Here we are today with nothing from the sky and Scott just checked the meter and we have irrigated 340,000 gallons of water.  Gardening without rain and extreme dry heat has given us a few challenges.  Scott and I each had our separate “freak out” days last week about these challenges and difficulties.  We quickly regrouped and powered on.  It is exhausting to garden in the heat and we are limited to what we can do…..watering takes up much of our time.  So, I think we were feeling we were slipping a bit behind and do to situations out of our control that we could not fix or change…. I think the garden heard we were weary and really showed us this week that it is all worth the effort.  A huge bounty of quality produce.  We are amazed and grateful and a bit proud too.

Maeve always adds a bit of humor and fun to our days….she was dressing for a “Gala Ball” while we were prepping boxes.

The beans are doing wonderful.  We pulled the first planting yesterday and will replant a 4th rotation here this week.  The second rotation is in full swing and the 3rd just about to start.  Our broccoli plants sent out tons of wonderful side shoots after cutting and we are able to provide almost a pound to everyone of these tasty treats in this weeks box.  3 weeks of broccoli!  We made the decision to cut most of the  cauliflower.  It really does not like heat and we are thrilled that we have cauliflower at all this year!  The variety is called Amazing which is kinda funny to me….Weather reports tell us it is going to be another long hot dry week so we felt this was the best decision no matter the head size.  We feared the heads would become “rice like” and not be  of good quality.  Another planting is started in the greenhouse for Autumn harvest so hopefully it will appear again at the end of the season with more substantial head size.

Take a look at the Watermelon Patch. WOW!

My favorite watermelon Ali Baba forming…..

The watermelon patch is loaded with tons of little baby watermelon forming….It is really pretty to look at and Scott makes sure that it is watered constantly.  Another big goal was to have a wonderful watermelon harvest this year and we are well on our way.

Beautiful fruit hanging from the plant.

The eggplant has just started ripening….we harvested 15 and they are in the “extra box” this week.  The plants are heathy and covered with beautiful velvety flowers.  What a change from last year when we had to add hoops and cover the row to keep it warm in hopes that we would get something before the frost.

An heirloom beauty just about ready for picking.

Tomatoes are around the corner……..And there is a bounty out there!

Cherry Tomatoes.

I think next week these tomato wonders will be in the boxes.  I can’t wait!

We are still having trouble with the zucchini patch.  It appears the squash bugs and squash vine borers are visiting.  We have lost 17 plants to this terrible pest.  It is disappointing that we will not have the volume of this summer staple right now.  However, we did see trouble on the horizon with this crop a little over 3 weeks ago and started new plants in the greenhouse immediately.  We planted a new patch this week with the seedlings way WAY on the other side of the garden.  We should have harvestable fruit in about a months time.

Our Fall crops look robust and determined….. lettuce rotations doing well too. It is a relief that so much looks so strong and healthy.  It would just be nice to have a nice steady slow all night rain-take a deep breath and say “Phew, we made it”.  Hopefully this week there will be a bit of relief.

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BIG! Box 6

July 9, 2012 by foxlinecityfarm

It is interesting how a few days reprieve from the frying heat makes it all a distant memory…..a great!! harvest for us this week.  The garden constantly amazes us with the wonderful bounty.  Scott kept up with the watering and irrigation through the blisteringly oppressive heat and the garden sure gave back.  We are not noticing any areas of high concern.  We did loose one carrot planting to zero germination….it was just too warm.  We have 2 rotations in now and will wait a few weeks for it hopefully to cool a bit and get a jumbo 3rd carrot planting in.  A few of the zucchini plants are failing for an unknown reason but we already had a second rotation started a few weeks back.  Even with all the heat we got sooooo much done this week.  Another planting of 150 broccoli plants in, 150 of those cute mini cabbages went in too.  Almost 700 lettuce plugs went in and another rotation of 700 started in the greenhouse.  We are guessing 1/2 for sure of the lettuce will make it in this heat so we are way! over planting to be safe.  It is a bit discouraging to watch perfect lettuce bolt in one day, but we do our best and have chosen extremely heat tolerant varieties for the summer but prolonged extreme heat takes it’s toll.  Our amazing garlic crop is harvested and up and drying.  The ground was very dry and Scott felt like he was chipping through concrete to get the beauties out.  The bulbs are huge and wonderful.  We were able to get some edge weeding done and Scott spends many hours trellising the tomatoes that grow several inches a day.   He tells me he could almost start over at the beginning as soon as he reaches the end of the patch.  We have worked out the schedule for the Fall crop plantings and we just started all the storage cabbages and a huge beet planting in the greenhouse.   It is really shaping up for a nice season for us even though it has it’s challenges of gardening with no rain….

What is in your box

Lettuce!!!! -We harvested the heads a bit small just to be safe so everyone has 2-4 nice juicy assorted heads this week.

Broccoli-A bit over 1 pound.  We will leave the plants in for another week and perhaps have a few tasty side shoots in the extra box next week.

Cabbage -A favorite variety of mine.  Small size heads that are perfect for a few meals or a batch of coleslaw.

Green Beans -Another goal this season we can check off the list!  We thought we were kinda wimpy last year with our beans…..so the goal was tons! of beans this year and here they come….. First rotation is just starting and 2 more to come.  Enjoy!  We even canned some last week!  Very snappy and delicious.

Cucumbers-We planted 6 varieties this year and everyone will get an assortment every week.  Long thin European and Japanese slicers, beautiful blonde snackers that have excellent flavor and 3 different green varieties for salads, pickles, and snacking.

Zucchini-Another assortment of patty pan and long thin varieties.

Jumbo Garlic-Isn’t it pretty?  This was harvested about 2 weeks ago and has started drying.  Excellent flavor.

Snapdragon/Zinnia Bouquet-Thanks Everyone!

Storage Cabbage started in the greenhouse.

Tomatoes around the corner!

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5th Box

July 2, 2012 by foxlinecityfarm

Harvesting went well for us even in all that heat.  We just plugged along and took a few more breaks and trips into the cooler.  We are excited that the lettuce has returned!  Nice floppy juicy heads thanks to Scott’s diligent watering.  There are several staggered plantings of heat tolerant lettuce in the ground and under  row cover as well as several hundred sitting in cells in the greenhouse ready to go out.  Hopefully we are set for the summer.

Lettuce-A pretty Buttercrunch with big tasty leaves.

Berry Medley-Blackcaps and Blueberries(3 varieties as we are experimenting as to what type we like the best) for a delicious vinaigrette.  I was hoping the timing would work out with the lettuce and berry crop and glad it did!  I love the way berries taste on a salad.  Also wonderful to toss in yogurt, ice cream or morning cereal. We did not wash or rinse the berries. Berries store best in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator  and washed just be eating.

Curly Parsley- Nice big bunch to enhance your meals this week. Keep in a juice glass of water in the refrigerator.

Beets-We had a small early planted crop that was ready well ahead of all the others for some reason.  So a little sample of whats to come.  Red Ace beauties….

Broccoli-WOW!  With more to come!  It looks great in the garden and the second planting is just starting up too.

Maeve and Scott washing the broccoli.

Zucchini-The plants have doubled in size this week and are loaded with blossoms.  Raw they taste wonderful and oh so tender.

Collard Greens-Delicious raw as a wrap for a sandwich or burrito.  Cut the stem out and fill with your favorites…..hummus, mayo or another “sauce” helps hold it all together.  The leaves can also be quickly blanched in hot water to make them easier to work with.  Think little sushi rolls.  Make “enchiladas” and bake.  Lots of options.  We have even made a quick slaw and used it as a topping or a side dish.  These beautiful leaves will reappear in the boxes again this Fall.

 

Thanks Everyone!  Dance a rain dance for all of us this week.

 

 

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HOT!!!!

July 1, 2012 by foxlinecityfarm

What more can you say these days…….it is HOT!  It seems this weather will be with us for awhile.  So far we are staying on top of it all.  We have many transplants in the greenhouse ready to go out into the garden and we are a bit fearful to transplant with 99 degrees forecasted for the end of the week. Scott and I are figuring out the best plan of action.   Our irrigation is on around the clock somewhere in the garden and we have areas that we must use overhead sprinklers which get turned on after supper and dragged around until bedtime…..We made the decision to pull out all the peas as the yield was so very low and the vines completely stopped flowering in all this heat.  With the extended weather forecast of more extreme heat on the way it seemed pointless to keep watering the vines.  The area has been cleaned up and tilled and this is where the pumpkins and winter squash will be allowed to wander as the vines grow longer.

The tomatoes continue to grow inches each and  every day and the eggplant is looking wonderful.  The first cucumbers are appearing and Maeve eats them as fast as we can pick them from the vine.  We will start picking beans this week and zucchini will actually appear in the boxes this week.  Scott has started pulling the garlic and as soon as this bed is cleared out it will be prepped for sunflowers.  We are thrilled with our broccoli crop this year it is big healthy and delicious.  We have a second crop ready in the greenhouse to be transplanted out and will even attempt a 3rd planting of a variety that is extremely cold tolerant.  As I have mentioned before we have never been very successful with broccoli in the past and this was one of our main goals with this season.  The onions have started to bulb up with change in day length and our huge crop of several varieties look great.  We realized that we needed to get them weeded out a bit this week and have been spending any spare time we have in this area…..As I was weeding away 1 hot hot! afternoon the phrase “work my fingers to the bone” crossed my mind.  The dry coarse soil and close detail work pulling between all the onions was a little rough.  Scott took a picture of me (and my hands) because I looked so pretty when I came in….enjoy!

Pretty Jennifer after weeding a bowling alley length of carrots and a football field length of onions on a pleasant 95+ degree day.

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4th Box

June 25, 2012 by foxlinecityfarm

Another exciting box this week.

Yeah!!! Broccoli……

Scott and Malachi harvesting broccoli.

Beautiful Broccoli appears in the boxes this week!  Our first cutting of hopefully many this season.  Delicious flavor.

Pac Choi-It sure is juicy and tasty right now.  The long stems are sweet and succulent.  Cook a bit of bacon, drain off most of the grease and quickly sauté stems leaves and all!  Toss in some walnuts or pecans at the end, crumble the bacon, even add some blue cheese if you wish.  This will be the end of Pac Choi for the season.

Chard-First cutting of the season.  I choose to plant 3 different varieties for a wonderful color array.  We love to eat chard best with eggs.

Fresh Italian Garlic and Garlic Scapes-Odd to be offering both these items at one time, but as I mentioned in a post the early variety is ready and the late variety just produced their scapes last week.

San Francisco Mix-A great collection of many legumes as well as a few other surprises.  This is our “go to” snack around here.  The garbanzo beans are Maeve’s favorite.  We put them on our sandwiches and love a handful to top our burritos.

Mint-Long sweet smelling stems of peppermint.  Very refreshing added to drinking water.

A Rosemary Plant-Keep it on the window sill or plant in the garden.  A favorite culinary variety.  High oil content, and not too fuzzy…

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Garden Report

June 25, 2012 by foxlinecityfarm

Photo taken last year on June 23rd! It is a completely different growing season this year.

I was looking through photos the other night and was surprised to see that this was what life was like a year ago.  The tomato plants are in the background at knee height and I do remember too that were were wearing long john’s that day. Lots and lots of rain and oh so cold.  Different challenges this year!

No significant rain this week at all.  Irrigation and sprinklers run around the clock and it seems the watering schedule takes up much of our physical and mental time.  Scott is on top of it all and everything is really thriving.  Tomato plants are growing several inches every day and love the overnight warm temperatures.  The plants are huge, deep green and healthy. I am sure we will all be eating tomatoes soon.  At the height of the season we will be harvesting over 100 pounds a day!   Curious what this years favorite variety will be….?

Tomatoes on the vine.

The tomato patch.

Cucumber plants beginning to trellis.

We have started to pick a few summer squash this week and the plants are covered with rich buttery blossoms, and our first planting of green beans should be in full swing next week producing buckets full of crunchy beans.   We have 3 different rotations in the ground now and may plant 1 or 2 more just for fun and have beans all summer long.  I have lofty canning goals this summer!  The cucumber vines have started to flower and look strong and healthy.  Many of our fellow gardening friends have reported terrible problems with cucumber beetle this year.  Gratefully these pests decided not to visit us.

Scott and Malachi harvesting the broccoli for the CSA

We are happy to report that the broccoli is starting to head up!!!!  We have had a terrible time with broccoli in the past and our  number 1 goal this year is……Good Broccoli and Lots!!! of it too.  We did much research over the Winter.  So, we planted 2 early varieties to play it safe-a cool variety and a heat tolerant variety. Scott studied up on reflective mulch (which looks like tin foil).  The plants grew well in the “tin foil”,  kept the bugs away too and we provided much irrigation.  I was sure that the cool season variety would just give up with this prolonged heat, but here it is!  I am so glad.  Smaller head size, but wonderful flavor.  We will also be planting 2 Fall Broccoli varieties this season.

The Sweet peas are handling the heat much better than expected. They main vines are shorter this year but the flowers stems are long and blossoms large.  We pick every other day and the vines are loaded with these sweet old fashioned beauties.

Pretty Sweet Peas.

The eggplant is flowering and we have opted to pinch off these early blooms-the plants are short and not fully developed. We can’t image the plants holding the load of a big purple eggplant!  Many of our ornamental crops and flowers are also flowering on short short stems.  My favorite lime green celosia is about 4 inches tall max!  What a disappointment.  About all I could make is itty bitty “shot glass” bouquets with these blooms.  Our peppers are wanting to flower too and we are removing these blooms.

We have started to harvest some of the early garlic and it is sure tasty!  Odd to be digging it when we cut of the last of the garlic scapes a week ago on the later varieties.  I do think it is going to to be a compressed season of harvest.  The plants seem rushed almost in this heat.

Every season is different and has it’s own unique challenges.  This fact sure became apparent to me when I saw the picture of last year at this time.  We adapt and change our perspective, have a positive attitude and water on……

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LuSa Organics Products Link

June 19, 2012 by foxlinecityfarm

Here is the link for the LuSa Organics Products. Just click on their highlighted name and that will take you to their site.  We will place our order around the end of June.

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3rd Box

June 18, 2012 by foxlinecityfarm

I LOVE!! the Food Box this week……it has a little bit of everything for mind body and soul.

Big jumbo bunch of Assort. Kale.  We grew 7 varieties this year and they sure are pretty.

Maeve’s favorite way to eat kale-fresh picked raw from the garden!

I do think Kale will be our new favorite food around here this summer.  So many ways to prepare it.  Be creative.  (I am still have troubles getting the recipes to post.  I have several for Kale and they will be coming soon.  Fellow CSA Member Susan Holding is going to give me 1 more lesson this week)

Asian Greens Mix- A nice mix of these wonderful heathy greens that Scott fondly calls “fodder”.

Radish-A small bunch of the french breakfast for everyone.  This will be the last of the Radishes until Autumn.

Turnips-Perhaps the end of these too for awhile.  They do not enjoy the heat and the little white beauties decided to stay tiny.  The greens are delicious with the Asian Greens in a sauté.

Gigantic Bunch of Cilantro- 2 varieties here.  The fragrance filled the entire garage as we were prepping.

Black Cap Berries OR Peas-Both of these crops had low yields due to heat so we split them in 1/2.  You will get one or the other this week.

French Garden Mix-Sprouted Seeds of red clover, arugula, radish, fenugreek, curly cress and dill.  Incredible flavorful.  Store in Fridge and rinse from time to time shacking package to drain excess water.

Lavender Bundle- Sweet little bundle to put on your pillow, soak in the bath water or dry and keep in a dresser drawer.  Very aromatic and calming.

Sweet Pea Bouquet-I am surprised but we have a great crop (on very short vines) in all this heat.  Fragrant wonderful flowers.  A favorite of mine.  Enjoy!

All of the cool early season lettuce decided to give up in this extreme heat and draught….so, no lettuce this week.  Several heat tolerant varieties have been planted for many weeks and may be ready as soon as next week.

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2nd Box

June 11, 2012 by foxlinecityfarm

A Wonderful Fun!!!! Box this week…..

Peas Shoots-Keep these little beauties in the window on a dinner plate and give them a drink from time to time.  Snip a few for delicious pea flavor added to sandwiches, top a salad, or garnish soup.  We eat them as a fresh snack!

Garlic Scapes-These are the flower heads cut early from the tops of the garlic we planted last Fall.  Removing these heads before they develop ensure a larger more flavorful garlic bulb.  Chop and use as you would use garlic in your meal preparation.  Great garlic taste.

Italian Large Leaf Parsley-The most flavorful “robust” parsley flavor of all the parsley.  Keep in the fridge in a glass of water or sealed plastic bag.

Romaine Lettuce-Great in a salad mix with the other wonderful greens this week.  Fellow CSA member Chris Lemke mentioned to me last week they grill it!  Sounds delicious.

Spinach-The last of the Spring planting.

Pac Choi Assorted Mix- 3 varieties all bagged together in your box. We are really enjoying these wilted down in chick broth or vegetable broth with a bit of soy sauce.

Asian Green Mix-2 varieties here.  Yukina Savoy is the thick, crinkled dark savoyed leaves.  Vitamin Green is the smooth brilliantly green leaves. Packaged in your box in the same bag.  Both are in the brassica family and have a mild flavor.  Delicious steamed or in a stir fry but also offer a unique addition to fresh salads.

Spring Turnips-We love them raw with a bit of salt, sliced thin on our salads or a surprise in a sandwich wrap.  They sauté well in a mix with the above Pac Choi and/or Asian Greens.

Red Rover Radishes- Last of the radishes until Fall.

I’m having a bit of trouble getting the recipes in the recipe section……they keep disappearing!  It is that cut and paste thing!  I’ll get it…..Anyway I can’t say enough about Pinterest for a quick reference for recipes and I have noticed there are many  blogs with weekly postings for CSA box cooking on the internet.

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Finally a bit of rain……

June 11, 2012 by foxlinecityfarm

Getting set for more carrots…..

Just a bit of rain but we’ll take it!  It is DRY!!! 50,000 gallons of water went on the garden in the month of May. We have been irrigating around the clock in this dry windy heat, and have been providing shade for the broccoli.

I feel like we are over the hump of “getting everything in”.  The last of the pie pumpkins and winter squash went out last week and the watermelon patch is set!!!  Feels really good that the green house is emptying out and we have started some new seeds for 2nd and 3rd rotations of many crops.  We have 2 plantings of beets in the ground now for several weeks and a 3rd rotation of 4 varieties all started. More of the smaller cabbage is started as well as the big winter storage varieties…. I started our 5th planting of lettuce yesterday all strong heat tolerant varieties.  We were very sad that all the buttercrunch bolted in the heat and we pulled more than 200 heads out and to the compost.  Yesterday, Malachi Persche cleaned out the Spinach bed after our last harvest for the season and Scott quickly prepped it for carrots.  The radish bed was cleared yesterday also to make way for more lettuces.

The tomato plants seem to grow several inches over night-every night!! and are beautiful and strong.  We have been picking off the first blossoms in order to give the plants a chance to settle in rather than use all their energy to make a wimpy tomato.  We put in 124 tomato plants this year and as usual I am excited to taste our old favorites and also experiment with a few new varieties.  Really looking forward to canning a bit more too this year now that Maeve is older.  There is nothing better than homemade catchup and tomato juice…..

I think the phrase for this season will be “things are really early”…..we have summer squash forming and perhaps a few to eat next week and the bean plants have blossoms.  Crazy!  Blueberries are coloring up and the blackcap berries are almost black.  I have a photo of Scott and Maeve picking blackcaps last year on the 4th of July.  The cool weather Spring crops have passed way too quickly but the heat loving summer crops are developing quickly.

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