October 20, 2006
Your tasty thoughts
As this season winds down we are already thinking about next year. And we could use your help generating ideas for what to grow in 2007.
What we are trying to do here is all about organic, local, freshness, and taste, taste, taste. All those things go together in our minds. Our organic practices, which include compost, cover crops and rotations, result in building soil health, which leads to better taste. For example, spinach grown in a well balanced, rotated, fertile field tastes much better than spinach grown in the same field year after year with processed fertilizer. And most of our veggies get to market within 24 hours of harvesting, which means less loss of nutrients, and more taste.
Since we are so local to our markets, we also don't have to worry about shipping, and we are also able to pick the best varieties for taste, not for shelf life, or anything else.
So what we are looking for are great tasting things to grow. What we have tried to do over the past few years is develop some interesting crops for taste: salad turnips and new potatoes in the spring; sungolds, charentais melons, and brandywine tomatoes in the summer; delicata squash and fall frosted carrots in autumn.
But we need some new taste-based ideas for next year. So far we have gotten a bunch of great suggestions from CSAers, customers, friends, and neighbors. Those suggestions include northern hardy kiwis, an italian variety of summer squash, black Egyptian beets, long English cucumbers for the greenhouse, berries of every sort, and basil, basil, basil.
If you have any ideas, unique varieties, or favorite garden tastes, we would love to hear about them, either in the comments below or by email. Not evey suggestion is going to be something that would make sense on our scale, but consider this an open invitation to make suggestions over the course of this winter. After all, part of the fun of growing stuff is poring over seed catalogs in front of the woodstove, and imagining, "This year, the xyz will be perfect . . ."
Thanks!
Posted by peter at October 20, 2006 01:08 PMI've had good luck with baby garlic (also called "spring garlic"). You just plant small cloves 2 or 3 inches apart in the fall and harvest around mid-April when they are the size of scallions. 2 bucks for a bunch of 6 or 8 around here at market. 20 bucks for a case of 12 bunches wholesale.
Celeriac, celery (Giant Pascal is my favorite), Rossa di Milano onions, Deep Purple scallions, rainbow chard, Perfection fennel, Chioggia beets, Merlot lettuce, Maxibel haricots verts, Lemon cukes, yellow crookneck squash, I also have several heirloom tomato varieties you may want to try...
Just some of my faves I thought I'd pass along.
Pat
Posted by: Pat at October 20, 2006 09:18 PMHey Pat, that's a great idea on the garlic. Never heard that one before.
We grew Merlot a couple of years ago, and people liked it, but I was frustrated by the small head size. So this year, we dropped it, even though Maryellen wanted to stick it out. Well, she was right. People missed it and we will have some back next year.
We have never tried celery, but maybe that is something to mull as well.
Thanks again!
Posted by: peter at October 20, 2006 10:40 PMThe great thing about Giant Pascal is that it doesn't need to be blanched. I just mulch it pretty heavily with hay or straw a few weeks after transplanting and get it plenty of consistent water. I planted it out in early June and started harvesting in mid-September.
I love Merlot...but yes, those dern heads are too small.
I need to steal your salad turnip idea. Any tips?
Posted by: Pat at October 20, 2006 11:07 PMHi Peter, If this gets thru let me know. I am a organic farmer down state from you. I have some interesting veges to show you. Jim West/Shrewsbury
Posted by: Jim West at October 25, 2006 01:28 PMJim,
I see your post and would love to get in contact with you. Send me an email at peter at oldshawfarm dot com. (I spell out my email address so the spam bots don't pick it up.)
And Pat,
Glad you liked my email on the salad turnips and thanks for the site with that possibily OP variety. I will pass, however, on the garlic. Our is already in the ground and we only have a week or two left before things start to freeze up.
Posted by: peter at October 26, 2006 08:50 AM