Progress with the veggie farm!

Well it is as summer as summer can get today, but otherwise it seems too cool, too wet to be called summer when the days are otherwise long, the sun is high and the Farmers Markets are under way!

A brief overview of what is happening at Pennerfarm this week, with alot of photos.

The Hothouse carrot experiment has been successful.  Carrots are about the size of a golf pencil and growing fast!
Lettuce, beets, peppers and tomatoes are doing really well in the greenhouse, also the variety of herbs, celery, lemon grass are growing nicely!

The carrots in the garden are coming up and you can see the work of the Earthway seeder in the nice rows it created.

The weed barrier (mulch) has it's pros and cons.  The entire corn plot failed within it, the squash and cucumber transplants get thrashed by the mulch when it is windy.  Once the transplants get some size, they can hold the mulch down and the problems subside.

We planted some extra beans in rows beyond the mulch.  The beans sprouted but are being eaten by something.  We have noticed this also in the pole bean plot.

We created a new corn plot in a part of the yard that is sheltered and tends to be a bit hotter than the rest of the yard.  Seeded only last week, it is sprouted and most of the plants are 3 inches high with multiple leaves.  This will replace our failed plot in the main garden.

Potatoes are growing very well and without much extra care.  This is nice to not have to worry about too much, lots of rain, good drainage, deer don't like the plants...bonus all around!

Here are some photos of the progress!

Replacement Corn in new plot

Replacement Corn in new plot (Golden Bantam)

Beet Varieties

Succession planting of Lettuce

Carrot Experiment

Bunch Onions

Carrots in garden (Planted with seeder)

Boston Marrow squash

Tomatillo

Beans - 2nd one chewed off. :(

Peppers

Heritage Tomatoes

Heritage tomatoes climbing  twine

Potato plants

Potato rows

Wood Products - No, We Don't Grow These!

Over the last 8 or 9 days, the weather has prevented much of the garden work from progressing.  The total rainfall has been in the order of 5 inches (about 12 cm) since May Long Weekend, the field has become a soupy mess and to top it all off, the threat of a frost became a reality in places early this week.  This creates a bit of a delay and since thumb-twiddling is low on my list, I had to find something to do.  This is when my wood-working background came back to life.

We have decided to carry a line of wood products along with our produce, baking and preserves that we sell at the local farmers markets.  Most items that we have created are simply finished by sanding smooth, no stain, oil or varnish required.  Most items are designed for use in the kitchen and these items have been recreated from plans handed down from my Dad who did woodwork for a living.

Following are photos of the items we will have ready for Saturday, June 11th from 9am to noon at the Cloverbelt Farmers Market in Oxdrift, Ontario at the community hall.  Hope to see you there!

Small Crate - 8 x 12

Large Crate - 12 x 16

Baguette Board - Local Birch

Cheese Board - Hard Maple

Medium Cooling Rack - Spalted Birch

Small Cooling Rack - Local Birch

Medium Cooling Rack - Local Birch

Salad Tongs, Spurdle, Spoon - Birch

Salad Tongs, Spurdle, Spoon - Birch

Napkin Press - Birch

Napkin Press - Birch

SEEDLING SALE AT PENNERFARM

Pennerfarm

We have some seedlings for sale at the farm!

Quantities are limited.

Vegetable	Variety	Qty/Unit	Price	Note
Tomato	Bush Beefsteak	6 pack	$4.99	Good All Around Large Tomato
	Starfire (med size)	6 pack	$4.99	Very nice eating variety
	Mary Unger (med)	Sold Out	$1.99	Heritage Variety, new for this year!
	Orange Stripe	Sold Out	$1.99	Heritage Variety
Tomatillo	Purple	Individual	$1.99	Heritage Variety
Pepper	Black Hungarian	Individual	$1.99	Heritage Variety
	Red Cayenne	Individual	$1.99	Heritage Variety
	Orange Habanero	Individual	$1.99	Heritage Variety
Flower	Orange Calendula	Individual	$1.99	Heritage Variety
	Angel's Trumpet	6 pack	$3.99	Excellent Deer Repellent!
	Morning Glory	Individual	$1.99	Pale Blue blossom ***Only 4 left***
	Color-mix Sunflower	6 pack	$3.99	Ornamental Sunflower
Bean	Sadie's Horse	Individual	$1.99	Vining, Hummingbird flowers – large pods
	Red Pole	Individual	$1.99	Pole variety, Hummingbird attractor
Broccoli	Green Sprouting	6 pack	$3.99	Forms a full sized-head
Cauliflower	Snowball	6 pack	$3.99	Classic Cauliflower

Talk to us about other produce. It is not too late to start from seed. ***We will even start some produce for you!***

Call us today @ 937-4065 or email 1Pennerfarm@gmail.com

Captain Gardener - The Summer Soldier

This week, we have set out to avoid weeding where possible.  We want to avoid weeding all year long but it is a necessary part of gardening, the horrid part!

The pictures below show some of the preparation for the epic weed battle.  If you cover the ground, no weeds will grow.  This leads to questions such as, "How do you use the field?" or, "How do you supply water?".

So what we've done is laid out a mulch (fancy word for barrier) in rows that are 4 feet wide with a 1/2 inch poly pipe laid underneath each row.  Each of our rows in the field are like this, twenty four so far.  The mulch is kind of like a plastic garbage bag on a roll.  You can buy the roll in a few varieties - the best one is a cornstarch product that is biodegradeable, thus tillable.  You do not have to dispose of it.  Ours is not cornstarch based, but it was a gift from a friend to test it's benefits in terms of weed reduction so we're testing it.  It is tough and can handle foot traffic making it great for picking veggies.  It also heats the soil, keeps the vegetables clean and I have found that some of the beneficial beetles and such tend to hang out at it's edges.  As seen in the photos, the mulch is held to the ground with piles of sand placed every 10 feet along the edges to keep the wind from picking it up.

The 1/2 inch poly pipe underneath is used to supply water to the plants.  I've taken the line and punctured it every foot with an awl.  The small stream from each hole brings the water to the plants.  This is my home-made version of a commercial drip-line.  Because we are on a slight grade in our garden, I broke the rows into zones or groups of eight and I can water by zone without losing pressure.  Each drip-line is teed into a one inch header line fed from our irrigation pond.

As for the plants, it is best to cut a small hole (2 inch) in the mulch, dig a hole for the slip, set it in the hole and then push the loose soil tight around it.  This does slow the planting process a bit, but the benefit of not weeding outweighs this time about 20 to 1.

Happy planting!

Let's talk about the weather...

So it looks like we are safe to plant outside now - the forecast is very stable across this weekend, the May long weekend, and, the full moon is at hand.  Those of you that know, there is a rule of thumb regarding the frost date being after the last full moon in May, usually after the May long weekend (Victoria Day for you royal followers out there!).  This time around I think we've made it past the frost concerns.

In the last 2 days, we have transplanted about 170 tomato plants to our greenhouse.  This year, we have put plastic mulch down with drip line for each row of tomato plants.  This is actually a nice system as the water is only applied at the soil level.  In years past we have used overhead sprinkler lines with miniature sprinklers placed every five feet along the line to water the produce.  This can cause some minor issues, such as soggy plants when you are trying to pick veggies or even causing the plants to fall over when they are young as the water can be too heavy on the plant.

We have seeded carrots and beets as well as planting some red onions, shallots and Yellow Globe onions today, so things are progressing well.  In the hothouse, the lettuce and cabbage is really growing well!  Tomorrow if all goes as planned, we should be able to transplant some peppers into the greenhouse and do a final harrowing of the field before we lay down the drip line and mulch in that area.  Once that is done, the field can be used for the rest of the veggies.  Summer is coming!

Seedlings for sale

We have some seedlings for sale at the farm!

Quantities are limited.

Vegetable	Variety	Qty/Unit	Price	Note
Tomato	Bush Beefsteak	6 pack	$4.99	Good All Around Tomato
	Starfire (med size)	6 pack	$4.99	Nice eating variety
	Mary Unger (med)	Individual	$1.99	Heritage Type, new for this year!
	Orange Stripe	Individual	$1.99	Heritage Type
Pepper	Black Hungarian	Individual	$1.99	Heritage Type
	Red Cayenne	Individual	$1.99	Heritage Type
Flower	Orange Calendula	Individual	$1.99	Heritage Type
	Angel's Trumpet	6 pack	$3.99	Excellent Deer Repellent!
	Morning Glory	Individual	$1.99	Pale Blue blossom
Bean	Sadie's Horse	Individual	$1.99	Vining, Hummingbird flowers – large pods
	Red Pole	Individual	$1.99	Pole variety, Hummingbird attractor

Part 4 - Heat Controlled Planting Bed - Results!

This week has shown some grand results!  The carrots planted in the heated bed are growing very well.  Consistent in growth, size, density and prompt germination.  Using the same carrot seed in the control bed with no added heat, the seed has not germinated as quickly (first sprouts were 3 days behind the experimental bed), the sprouting is inconsistent with less seed germinating per unit area and the sprouts are somewhat spindly in the control bed.  Of course, both these beds are in the greenhouse; it would be a bit early to get going outside, though not impossible I suppose, but I am pleased that the seed did so well!  There are three varieties in the beds for comparison:  Imperator Long, Imperator Heritage and Scarlet Nantes.  Of the three, Scarlet Nantes germinate about a day later than the Imperator varieties.

In the meantime, we have transplanted lettuce and cabbage, sown beet seed, Mesclun lettuce and other things like Soup Celery, Morning Glory and Money Plants. (Really hoping for something here!) 

We will have some of the plants for sale soon, watch the Facebook page for a sale notice. 

Here are a few photos to show the growth!