Strawberries

I posted in May about planting 150 strawberry plants at One Love Farm. It was quite a job to prep the bed and get all the plants in and established. But, next year there will be tons of the juicy fruit in June.

This time of year, strawberries send out their runners. That is how they reproduce. You're familiar with most plants that reproduce by seed, like tomatoes or eggplant. Other plants reproduce by basal shoots like raspberries and cherry trees. Still others like ginger and asparagus reproduce using rhizomes.

The shoots will produce a new strawberry plant next year. The nice thing about these new shoots is that once they root, you can cut the runner and place the new strawberry plant anywhere, even in a brand new bed.

Basil

I was surprised to find that I haven't often posted about basil in this blog. It is my favorite herb and we grow lots of it at One Love Farm. Maybe because basil is so easy to grow and prolific is why it gets overlooked.

Basil prefers well drained soil amended with compost. I plant basil from seed because it is so easy to germinate. Just sow directly in the ground in late spring after the last threat of frost has passed. Water daily until they sprout. No need to thin out the plants as they grow well even when crowded.

I harvest basil when the plants get about 18" high by cutting them about 6" above ground level. Make sure there are at least a few leaves visible below where you make the cut as the basil plant will send out more leaves allowing you to cut the plant again in about two weeks. This way you will have basil until frost.

Most people use basil for pesto, but it is great in salads or with fresh tomatoes and mozzerella cheese.

Rainy Day, Dream Away

Karen and I were working harvesting crops today after a good day at the Charlestown Farmers' Market. Suddently the sky opened up and it started raining like crazy. We ran inside when we heard thunder, but still were soaked to the skin. Ah, the glamorous world of organic farming.

Great Egret

Yesterday was a wet and cool day in Rhode Island. I took advantage of the weather and spent the afternoon weeding. The weeds come up much easier when the ground is wet, though I did get soaked in the process.

Late in the afternoon something caught my eye. When I turned to see, I was shocked to see a great egret (aka white heron) in the back yard. I'd never seen this type of bird at One Love Farm so I ran inside and grabbed my camera and took the pictures that you see posted here.

Green beans

In the past, we've always grown pole beans at One Love Farm. But, I was never really happy with the results, so I haven't planted beans in a while. This year, I decided to grow bush beans instead. As you can see, the bush beans have done well.

When picked fresh, green beans are super tasty raw, in a salad. But, my favorite way to have green beans is to roast them. I take a pound of fresh green beans, two medium sliced onions and two dozen cloves of garlic. I add some salt and olive oil, cover the roasting pan with aluminum foil and roast until tender. A glass of white wine and you have a great meal.

Thyme

Thyme is a versatile herb. It is great in salad dressings and marinades. It is also good in sauces, folded in butter to make a nice herbed butter and infused in olive oil. I also like to use thyme as an ornamental. In July it blooms with purple pom pom flowers that lasts for weeks. It also spreads nicely so we use it in borders and to fill in gaps between steps and stones.

Blueberries

July is blueberry season in New England. Depending on the variety, they ripen from early and mid July for some early varieties all the way to Labor Day for late varieties. We have a couple of blueberry bushes at One Love Farm. Just enough for us to enjoy a couple weeks of the sweet treats.

For us, we have never had any issues with blueberry worms. That is a good thing, too, because they are very difficult to control organically. What we do have a problem with is birds. Just before they are ready to pick, the birds pick the bushes clean of all the fruit. I have tried bird netting, but they just pick through the holes to get the berries. Recently, I tried using row covers over the bushes. Row covers, made of spun nylon, are normally used to protect veggies from cold weather in early spring and late fall. But, these also prevent birds from getting the prized fruit.

I like blueberries fresh by the handful. But my favorite way to have blueberries is topping vanilla gelato. Or, better yet, as a blueberry lavender sorbet.

Tomatillo

Earlier this spring I posted about moving cinder blocks to create a new border for a raised bed at the farm. I reused the cinder blocks in an area further from the house and created a nice look for the beds. Last summer, I posted about how I haven't planted tomatillos in many years at One Love Farm, yet they come back year after year, sometimes in spots hundreds of feet away from the original planting.

This week those two ideas, cinder block raised beds and tomatillos joined forces. As usual, the tomatillos sprouted anywhere a seed dropped last fall. In planting beds, in pathways, in the yard. Many of these I pull out, but many of them I allow to mature and give fruit. The interesting thing is that lots of tomatillos took root in the holes in the cinder blocks (see pictures above).

I believe the reason they like this location is because the hole in the cinder block is protected from wind and harsh conditions, yet it still gets rain. In addition, this location has the radiant heat that the cinder block absorbs during the day to keep the seedling warm at night. Not that the tomatillo needs much pampering. They grow like weeds in any spot they can find. But I think these cinder blocks give them another boost for growing.

Hosta

Hosta is a great shade plant. It comes in rich colors from yellow to green to blue. The nice thing about hosta is that it is so easy to propogate. In the spring, use a shovel and cut off a piece by digging up the roots and you have a brand new plant.

Right now is my favorite time for the hosta. It sends up shoots and pale blue flowers that add a nice contrast to the shade garden. I like to plant hosta with bleeding heart since they both like shade. Bleeding heart blooms early in the spring and hosta in mid summer so you have lots going on in the shade garden when both are together.

Cucumber

Cucumbers are fun to grow because of their vining. They will grow along the ground or up a trellis. This year I planted some cukes by a trellis in the back yard, but rabbits got most of them. We might get a few vines to climb up the trellis, but not too many. The ones creeping along the ground, however, remain untouched.

We've harvested lots of cukes and have been enjoying eating them for a couple of weeks. Cucumbers are best harvested when small. When they get larger, the outer skin gets tough and more seeds develop inside. When young, they are more tender and flavorful.

Once picked, I will use a vegetable peeler to remove some or all of the skin and use a spoon to remove the seeds. Sliced, cukes are great in a salad or dipped in a yogurt sauce. But, I like putting them in a brine of vinegar and water and salt and storing them overnight in the fridge. Topped with chopped dill, these lightly pickled cukes are a great snack.

Tomato

Tomatoes are setting fruit. They are are green, but it won't be long before we're picking ripe tomatoes

Daisies

Last year, daisies were a little sad. This year? Daisy explosion!

Lillies

One of my favorite lillies is in bloom right now at One Love Farm. The dark burgandy color offset with yellow makes a striking image in the garden. These lillies are also nice as cut flowers in the house.

Echinacia

Echinacia, or purple coneflower, is a member of the daisy family. I only recently planted some Echinacia when we realized we didn't have any of this popular flower in our landscape. Echinacia blooms throughout the summer and there are varieties in a multitude of colors. We have an orange coneflower in the front yard.

While we grow Echinacea for the blooms, the plant is probably best known for its medicinal uses. Echinacea tablets are widely available in grocery stores and drug stores. These pills are marketed for their immunity boosting powers. While studies on these claims have been inconclusivie at best, I have been taking Echinacea for quite a while and have not had a cold in several years. Of course, the Echinacea pills I take could have nothing to do with my lack of colds.

Zucchini

Last month when the zucchini plants started flowering I posted about Squash Blossoms. The female flowers on the zucchini produce the fruit while the male flowers are pollinators. The male flowers can be picked and stuffed with cheese or rice or veggies. They can be lightly sauteed or dipped in batter and fried.

This year something very unusual has happened with the Zucchini plants. Normally, you get ten to fifty times the amount of male flowers to female flowers. But this year, the ratio is reversed. We have way more female flowers than male flowers. This could cause for less zucchini fruit to set, but in this case, we're getting tons of zucchini, just no male flowers.

Russian Sage

Russian Sage is a plant you don't see grown very often. And, that a shame, because it is beautiful and fragrant. Right now it has silvery green foliage. But in late July it will send up wonderful fragrant lavender colored flower spikes (see this post for an example). The flowers will last well into September.

Black Eyed Susan

Black Eyed Susan is one of the most popular perennials in the country. They are easy to grow and consistent with their numerous June and July blooms.

We planted two small containers of Black Eyed Susans when we started One Love Farm. The seeds, carried by the wind and birds have spread to some far flung parts of the garden, even sprouting between paved stones on my patio!

The pictures above were taken from a pile of rocky fill I used to level the greenhouse. It is about the most inhospitable growing medium you could imagine. Lots of rocks and dirt with few nutrients. Yet, as you can see, the Black Eyed Susans have completely taken over this area and thrived. That is certainly what you would call a hearty perennial.

Garlic

I harvested the first garlic of the season this week. Garlic is easy to grow and very rewarding but there are a few tricks to a successful crop. First, make sure you have loose, well drained soil. Without good drainage, your garlic will rot in the ground. Second, plant garlic in the fall. Take a clove of a garlic you like and push it a few inches deep in the soil with the pointy end up. In early spring, green shoots will emerge. Third, and perhaps most importantly, cut off the garlic scapes when they form in June. The scape is the seed head and if it is not removed, you will get tiny bulbs when you dig up your garlic. I am fanatical about preaching the benefits of garlic scapes as you can see from my posts on the subject in 2008, 2010 and 2011. Garlic scapes make a wonderful pesto and here is an idea for what to do with that pesto.

Garlic, like all plants whose harvest grows underground, can be difficult to figure out when to pick. Most books tell you to wait until the green leaves start to turn brown and die back. I would say that waiting until the all the leaves turn brown might be a little too long to wait. If the whole plant has turned brown you will likely notice that the cloves have started to seperate from eachother. The garlic will be fine, but you will need to use it right away as it is getting old. I would suggest taking your trowell and digging up a clove when the leaves start to turn brown (not just the tips of the leaves, but a good portion). If the clove looks large and tightly formed, then it is ready. Cut off the roots, brush off the dirt and enjoy!

Blueberries

We don't grow a lot of blueberries at One Love Farm. Just a few bushes near the back border of the property. So we don't sell blueberries at Farmers' Markets. We just pick the blueberries and eat them ourselves. These berries are not ripe yet, but will be ready for picking and enjoying pretty soon.

Beets

Beets were never a favorite when I was growing up. We'd get jars of them and put them on salads, that red, vinegary liquid staining the plate. Yuck. But, when you become a vegetarian, you have to expand you palate. And, after I started growing beets, I learned to like them.

My favorite way to prepare beets is to roast them in the oven. A little salt and olive oil and some other root veggies like carrots and potatoes and you have the entree for a great meal. I eat the roasted veggies hot, maybe with some cheese, but I also like to let them cool a bit and put them on a bed of lettuce for a warm beet salad. Goat cheese goes great with that salad.

Lots of people ask me how you know when to harvest beets. Most root vegetables (radishes, carrots and beets) will crown when they start to mature. From the picture above, you can see the top of the beet emerging from the dirt. That is the best time to harvest your beets. You might pull some beets up earlier if you like smaller baby beets.

The other key to successful beet growing is thinning the crop. This is always an issue with beginner gardeners because they don't want to "waste" plants. But it is necessary if you want good beets. And I have a way for you to not waste a single plant

Plant your beet seeds in early spring (April here in Rhode Island). Water every day to ensure they sprout. Keep watering at least once a week until you have healthy plants with leaves at least six inches high. At that point pull out the smaller plants and leave one strong beet plant every three of four inches. Don't worry if you have a couple of plants close together, but remember, the idea here is to give the root (the part you cook) room to grow.

Now take all those thinnings, wash them well (you won't believe how much dirt they collect) and toss them with some lettuce in your salad. Or, if they are a little bigger, lightly sautee them in a skillet with some olive oil and garlic. Add some salt and chili powder if you like. By using the thinnings in a meal, nothing goes to waste!

Red Mulch

When I started this blog six plus years ago, my goal was to talk about both the successes and failures of trying to turn a residential neighborhood home and land into a small, organic farm. I like talking about the successes because they result in beautiful plants and delicious veggies and fruits. But the failures are interesting, too. I learn from these experiences, like when I tried to support tomato plants with a (bad idea). Or when I tried to build a grenhouse out of PVC pipe (worse idea, because I refused to give up even after my experiment blew away three times). So here is the story of another miss at One Love Farm. And, another lesson learned.

A couple weeks ago I posted about using Red Plastic Mulch to increase tomato production. What I didn't talk about was that I was using the Red Plastic Mulch for weed suppression. I've used plastic weed barriers before. You can see a picture here of the plastic weed barrier I use between planting beds.

I soon found out that while the Red Plastic Mulch did a good job of warming the soil to give the plants a head start, it did a terrible job of keeping the weeds down. They sprouted underneath the plastic and literally lifted the plastic off the ground.

Today I pulled off the plastic off of the beans, peppers and eggplant (leaving it on the tomato beds) and found all the beds overgrown with weeds. See the pictures above for a before and after picture. You can barely see the pepper plants in the before picture. I weeded half the beds but will need to do the other half this week before the weeds spread even more!