Monday, May 30, 2016

Graduation

Reed our third child and youngest graduated last Friday night. You know how the stereo type of the youngest child is happy go lucky and carefree. Doesn't take anything to seriously.

Well all our children took their academics very serious including Reed.

Here is why...

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

The Best Cucumbers

It is well worth your money to buy the best cucumbers varieties you can find. I will pay 5 times the price for a standard variety to get excellent yield and disease resistance. You won''t find the best varieties in the local green houses because the make more money if they use cheap seed.

I planted cucumbers tonight. Just starting with one row about 500 feet long. I'll plant another in about a month. We space the plants about 6 inches apart.

One of the varieties I like for Southern Minnesota is...

Monday, May 23, 2016

Freeze

It is not unusual to have a hard frost in May and that is what we got last Sunday night. I have learned to keep the most frost sensitive transplants like peppers, tomatoes, squash, okra, basil and melons in pots by the house until the 4th week in May or the first week in June.

Several years I got enthusiastic about planting tomato plants early and they got frozen. I had a back-up set of plants to replace them with. But I have learned my lesson. I just don't transplant early to the field.

If you keep those early transplants in pots they grow just as well and you can cover or protect thousands of plants by bringing them inside or covering them.

I was talking to some of the growers at the farmers market and they reported.

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

How to Plant Shallots

Jennna was planting shallots today. Unlike garlic, where you want to pick the biggest cloves. It is Okay to plant the smaller shallots, so by this time of the year that is what we mostly have left.

Here is how you plant.

Monday, May 16, 2016

How To Find Morell Mushrooms

I went for a walk through the woods this evening looking for Morell mushrooms. We have had some warm days and some rain, which are both requirements for a morell harvest.

How do you find these tasty morsells?