We have a great selection of vegetables perfect for the fall veggie garden: broccoli, broccoli raab, onions, lettuces, Swiss chard, cauliflower, carrots, beets, kale, Brussels sprouts and cabbage.  Hopefully you’ve saved some room to tuck in a few of these, so that you can extend your harvest for months to come!

It is not too late to be planting out new basil starts either; they are quick to reach harvestable sizes.  Fortunately, we have several varieties perfect for your favorite recipes.  Can you spell P.E.S.T.O.?

The tricky part of vegetable gardening is thinking ahead to the next season, especially when you are in the throes of harvest time.  (I know some folks start getting a little garden fatigue right about now.)  But I’m here to tell you that  just a little time now spent tucking in a few things for a fall garden will be SO rewarding when the weather turns cool and the warm-season veggies are finished.  So, as you are harvesting heads of lettuce, or when space frees up where the peas once were – think about saving that space for an autumn garden.  There are so many cool-season veggies that thrive in our long, mild autumns.  And with a few simple strategies, you can continue harvesting some great vegetables long after the tomatoes and peppers and melons are finished. 

This information is so key to those of you seriously intent on Growing Some Of Your Own, that we are repeating this class a second time in the hopes that more of you will be able to join us - there will be a Sunday session and a Wednesday session.  We invite you to join us for one of these free classes – reserve your spot by calling 503-649-4568 or emailing events@farmingtongardens.com.

Today I finally had time to devote a little attention to our veggie garden – as you may remember we have a demonstration garden here at FG to showcase how to grow an edible garden in your backyard.  My goal is to show that edibles can be not only beautiful but also productive for the home gardener.

At this point in time, we have pole beans that must be over 6 feet tall; tomato plants that have fully engulfed their cages and have tons of flowers and a few green fruit; too much fluffy kale; a tall stand of corn with beans climbing up the stalks and squash planted in the center of their circle (a Three Sisters Guild); and much more (cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, more lettuce…). 

Since it is now time to start thinking ahead to the fall garden, I needed to clear a space for new crops.  So today I harvested:

• Royal Chantenay carrots – 5 lb
• Matador French shallots – 4 lb
• Walla Walla onions – 5.5 lb
• Bull’s Blood beets (with their green tops intact) – 31 lb – that’s right, thirty-one pounds!
• 4 heads of Salad Bowl lettuce mix – 3 lb
• Swiss chard – 4.5 lb
• TOTAL HARVEST TODAY:  53 pounds!

Here’s hoping your garden is giving you great harvests of tasty treats!  Please join us for our “Preparing for a Fall Veggie Garden” class to learn more about planning ahead for autumn harvests – the class will be Sunday, August 8 at 10am, and will be repeated on Wednesday, August 11 at 10am.  Call to save your spot! – 503-649-4568.

p.s  I’m trying to figure out what should be planted next.  If you’ve got suggestions, comment to this post!  Is there something you’ve wanted to know how to grow?  Let’s test it here.

Is this crazy cold weather slowing down your veggie garden?  Will it ever end?   The warm weather crops, like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and melons aren’t looking all that happy right now; and  I’ve had a few conversations recently with folks who haven’t even tried to put in their warm season stuff, because of night-time temperatures. 

This got me to wondering today what we have left in early-season tomatoes, so  I went searching for all the tomatoes we still have in stock that will ripen in less than 70 days.  That gives you a very reasonable chance to still get a good crop before the season is over.  I came up with a pretty impressive list (those with an asterisk are available in gallon size); the numbers are days to maturity:

So, don’t despair of not having your own tomatoes this year – it’s not too late!

What a great way to start the day – on this beautiful morning, I just picked 20 pounds of gorgeous organically grown greens from our demo garden -

• 3 lbs lacinato kale
• 8 lbs red Russian kale
• 3 lbs cilantro
• 6 lbs Swiss chard

(I just picked the larger outer leaves, leaving the plant rooted and intact.  We will be able to harvest several more times before it will be time to pull out and replant. 

This harvest is heading over to the Sunshine Pantry today, so that local families can share the bounty.  If you too have a surplus of harvest in your garden, we invite you to bring your extras here Sundays and Wednesdays from 10:30 – noon.  We will have volunteers here to collect it and transport it to community agencies for distribution.  This is is our Plant a Row for the Hungry program – last year our generous donors brought in over 6000 pounds of produce – what a force for good in our community.

Today is our first drop-off day for Plant a Row, so stop on by with your extras this morning.  And if you are in need of more veggie starts, we can help with that too!

It’s looking like maybe summer will arrive after all - I was beginning to wonder if the clouds would ever part.  There is still plenty of growing season left for summer veggies, but don’t wait!  And if you’ve already planted out things that aren’t thriving, the cool and wet weather may be to blame.  Sometimes it pays to replant rather than wait around for them to revive (because oftentimes they don’t).  We’ve still got a great selection of:

• tomatoes (4 inch and gallon size)
• peppers (4 inch and gallon size
• squash – summer, winter, and pumpkins
• onions
• cucumbers
• basil and other favorite herbs
• corn
• melons
• beans
• eggplant
• tomatillos
• celery
• broccoli
• cabbage
• kohlrabi
• lettuces
• spinach
• arugula

Don’t forget to water in your new transplants well with the EB Stone Organics Fish Emulsion and Kelp – that is our favorite product for giving your plants a great start.  Here’s to an abundant summer harvest!

It has been a logistical challenge to find room for all the tomatoes we have in stock this week.  We just counted what’s out there, and we have 120 varieties covering 24 tables!!  Lots of them are organically grown and/or heirloom varieties.

 Time to shop while the selection is the very best.

Our demonstration vegetable garden here at Farmington Gardens has been underway for about a month now – and we’re starting to see some vigorous growth!  I credit our ‘planting mix’ with which we have filled these new beds – it is full of nutrients from compost, and has a fair amount of sand which provides great drainage.  Veggies seem to love it.  When installing a new raised bed, it is always a good idea to fill with quality ‘soil’.

I thought I better get a shot of our first crop of radishes – they will probably be harvested this week.  Another row has been already sown, so we will have more to harvest in about 3 weeks.  (Planting successively every couple of weeks insures that you will be harvesting continuously.)  The lettuces will be ready shortly too – they are looking fabulous. 

I am in the process of planting our Three Sisters guild garden – come on out and see how it grows through the season.  In a nutshell, this is a strategy which has been used by Native Americans for centuries, whereby plants are grown in communities which benefit each other tremendously – and the result is more harvest and less input of water and nutrients!  All the info is on the sign below; click twice on the picture to enlarge the photo to read the full text.

I hope you are off to a good start with your gardens too.  We are here to advise if you need us!

Oh, and just a reminder for those of you interested in gardening organically (whether for your edibles or your ornamentals) ~ we have a class just for you coming up next Wednesday, May 26th at 11 am.  Clare will give an overview of how to easily convert to organic practices.  Call to register:  503-649-4568, or email events@farmingtongardens.com.

I’ve talked about this before, but it bears repeating — raised beds give you the Cadillac of vegetable gardens.  Obviously, you can grow vegetables in the ground, or in containers, and they will do just fine.  But raised beds offer so many advantages:  the soil warms up and dries out faster than in the ground, enabling you to plant sooner.  When the autumn rains come, the garden likewise stays a little drier than it would in the ground, enabling your garden to thrive longer in the season.

The soil structure is usually better in a raised bed as well – because you are not walking on it, the soil doesn’t suffer from compaction.  This allows your plants to send roots down more deeply, enabling you to plant a little closer together than you would otherwise.

I am often asked about which material to use to construct a new raised bed.  I advise against using pressure treated wood or railroad ties, as they leach toxic chemicals into the soil and could compromise your crop.  We have built our new vegetable beds here at Farmington Gardens out of concrete building bricks, and they work great for that purpose – they are wide enough to also provide a place to sit while tending the garden.  If you want an economical alternative to cedar boards, you can use fir and treat them yourself with this non-toxic wood preservative.  I found this recipe last year, which is recommended by USDA to safely preserve wood for several years.  I used it myself on my new beds at home – I mixed up the recipe and painted it on fir boards prior to building the beds.  I must say I am a fan – they look great, the water beads up on them, so I have confidence they will last for a long time – the USDA claims they will last 20 years.  I’ll keep you posted on that one!

Nontoxic Preservative for Untreated Wood

•  1 ounce paraffin wax
• 3 cups exterior varnish or 1.5 cups boiled l inseed oil
• Enough solvent (mineral spirits, paint thinner, or turpentine at room temp) to make a total volume of 1 full gallon

In a double boiler, melt paraffin.  (Never heat paraffin over a direct flame!)  Away from the heat, vigorously stir the solvent, then slowly pour in the melted paraffin.  Add the varnish or linseed oil and continue to stir thoroughly.  Apply by dipping the untreated lumber into the mixture for 3 minutes, or by applying a heavy coat.  The wood can be painted when thoroughly dry, if you wish.

Some of you may remember the demo veggie garden we’ve had here the past two years – it was designed to show you how great a productive garden can look in your backyard.  We incorporated lots of ideas to use the space wisely – such as growing vertically with cool tee-pees we constructed.

Sadly, we had to dismantle that garden to make way for our new beautiful greenhouse (hey – you have to crack a few eggs to make an omelet, don’t you?) – but I’m happy to report that it has been rebuilt this past week, and we are in the process of planting it up.  I hope you will check it out when you are out here – we will keep it filled with lots of seasonal veggies throughout the year.  So, if you’ve ever wondered what size an heirloom tomato plant will reach at maturity; or want to see how to grow lettuces successively, then watch our garden!  I will blog about it occasionally, especially when the harvests start in, so you will know what’s going on.

We were given extra space this year, and so we have two beds – they are about 4 feet wide (you should not build a raised bed wider than your reach) and about 30 feet long.  So that is roughly 240 square feet of raised bed space.  I can’t wait to see how it evolves!  The first bed is filled with perennials – there are columnar apple trees, blueberry bushes, artichokes, rhubarb, lavender, and every imaginable herb.  There still might be room for a bit more, so I’m hoping a currant will fit.  The second bed will be strictly veggies – we’ll start this week with the cool spring crops, and probably tuck in a tomato protected with a Wall-o-Water.  If you can’t quite picture how they work, come on out to see for yourself!

Oh, and if you are free tomorrow at 11, our Vegetable Gardening for Beginners Class will be going on in the tent.  If that day and time don’t work for you, we are repeating the class Sunday April 18th at 1 pm.  Hope to see all you newbies to gardening out here soon!

The first tomatoes of the season arrived at Farmington Gardens this week!  We have about 13 varieties here now, and of course dozens more will arrive in the weeks to come ( fyi: last year we sold over 120 varieties of tomatoes – a truly amazing selection!).   As you will remember, it is still too early in the season to plant tomatoes outside without protection – there is still a high likelihood of frosts (like last night…) so you will want to use a wall-o-water or a cold frame or other protections.

I want to remind you too about tomorrow’s great class on tomatoes – 1 pm Sunday, April 11th.  We are bringing in a expert in the field, Tracy Mason from Westwind Nursery.  Tracy grows many of the popular heirloom varieties, which have the reputation for being a little more finicky than the hybrids.  Of course, hybrids were developed primarily for the purpose of long distance commercial transport and long shelf life.  Since those are issues we just don’t worry about in the home garden, we get to focus on more interesting things like complex flavors, delicate textures, amazing colors, and lots of variety!

No need to register for this class at this late date – just drop by if you can, and learn the tips to a healthy tomato garden and a bountiful harvest -  hope to see you here tomorrow!

Now is an excellent time to be planting out the cool season veggies, and we’re on top of it with new shipments coming in every week.  Hopefully you’ve got your raised beds prepared for this early planting.  As you will remember, raised beds allow the soil to dry out and warm up more quickly that would happen in the ground.  After our winter rains, a light top dressing of an inch or two of compost will restore the nutrients  which make your soil so productive.  You’ve heard the saying, “You are what you eat.”  Well, that applies to vegetables too – the more nutrients  in the soil, the more nutritious the vegetables grow  to become.

Today we are well stocked with all of these, ready for transplanting:

• onion sets and leeks
• strawberries – both bareroot and in 4″ pots
• asparagus
• artichoke
• peas
• Swiss chard
• Arugula and radicchio
• rhubarb
• seed potatoes
• garlic
• spinach
• a variety of lettuces and mesclun
• celery
• cabbages
• broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• cauliflower

And of course, now is a great time to start all of these from seed:  onions, carrots, radishes, beets, and all of the above.

Please note our upcoming free classes on edible gardening – space is still available!  Call or email to register:  503-649-4568 or events@farmingtongardens.com.