Winter loses its grip
This is the time of year when I wander around the farm, wondering if the garden will actually grow again. When I walk down to the garden, it looks completely lifeless. Dead kale plants stand in a line, the solar mulch is ripped in places, and the remains of tomato plants hang on their support wires.
This year we’re trying something different with our garden. In previous years, we’ve focused on providing local restaurants with our heirloom tomatoes, chard, raspberries, herbs, and greens. This year, we’re growing for 8-10 friends who will help us ensure the success of the garden, and help us share in its bounty. Below you’ll find the list of vegetable seeds we’ll be planting.
I walked down to the garden today, looking for something to remind that, after all the work that will go into putting together an eighth of an acre of organic goodness, something will actually grow. When we’re out planting in the weeks before Memorial Day, the garden looks defenseless, weak. A windy day knocks our seedlings over, and a sudden rainstorm beats them down. But I know most of them will come back. And today, with a bit of digging, I saw the first evidence that this year, once again, our garlic is back…huddling from 5 degree nights under the protection of last fall’s mulch, from the cloves that we planted on Columbus Day last fall.
So, without further ado, here is the list of vegetables that will be adorning our seed trays, and going into the ground, for Cherry Ridge Farm ‘09:
Fruit
Strawberries - Surecrop (50 feet - from crowns) and Alexandria Wild (from seeds)
Grapes - Concord Seedless (3 vines), Raspberries, Blueberries, Currants, Blackberries
Flowers
Pyrethrum, Lavender, Lupine, Scherzi Tobacco, Bee Balm, Black-Eyed Susan Vine, Snapdragon, Chinese Lanterns, Milk Thistle, Texas Longgrass, Delphinium, Hollyhock, Larkspur, Cosmos, Calendula, Sunflower (Mexican, Peach),
Vegetables
- Rhubarb
- Asparagus
- Sugarsnap Peas
- Garlic
- Corn (Montauk, Delectable, Old Fashioned/O.P. Sweet)
- Pole Bean (Fortex, Garden of Eden, Marvel of Venice, Yellow Wax)
- Soybean (Envy)
- Green Onions (Deep Purple/Bunching
- Greens (Spicy Mesclun, Magenta Spreen, Red Grand Rapids, Purple Mizuna, Green Iceberg, Wildfire, Red Russian Kale, )
- Chard (Fordhook Giant, Ruby Red, Bright Lights)
- Cucumber (Marketmore)
- Tomatoes (San Marzano, Red Brandywine, Yellow Brandywine, Tigerella, Marvel Striped, Zapotec, Amana Orange, Cherokee Purple, Williams Striped, Striped German, Yellow Grape Golden Sweet, Vinson Watts, Moskvich, Matt’s Wild Tomato)
- Eggplant (Striped Purple hybrid)
- Watermelon Radish (Red Meat)
- Brussels Sprouts (Oliver)
- Spring Broccoli Raab (Spring Raab)
- Squash (Buttercup, Delicata)
- Melon (Crenshaw, French Charentais Savor)
- Pumpkin (Jack-O-Lantern Charisma)
- Zucchini (Bush Baby, Cocozelle, Costata Romanesco)
- Italian Parsley
- Leek (Tadorna)
- Parsnip (Dagger)
- Cilantro (Santo)
- Peppers (Riot, Andy)
- Potatoes (Adirondack Red)
