35 Million Pounds of Compost

When I was in college I worked for a summer for a guy that fixed tractors and other kinds of heavy equipment. He prided himself on having every possible part and if he didn't have it he would get it.

Reminds me of the amount of compost at the waste to energy facility. They have all anyone could possibly need. I'm estimating a bit but looks to me like they have approximately...

Market Menu for Saturday, May 31, 2014

Welcome to the 2014 out door market season. We will have the following items at the Farmers Market for Saturday, May 31, 2014 (New items are in Bold Print)

Garden a Go Go

June is just around the corner and it is time to go full steam in the garden.

We are well past the last frost date and the weather this week has been warm and dry, making for perfect planting conditions. We typically plant most of our tomato and pepper plants in late May and early June. There are other plants that favor being planted in pots and transferred to the garden after the weather settles.

We have about 5000 transplants ready to go, we will bring the following to market this week...

Black Gold - The Value of Compost

There should be a national compost week the first of June, where we celebrate the coming of summer by enriching our soil. You have heard of "Gold Rush" the local flea market phenomenon. Well this is a different kind of gold..."Black Gold".  (No not the Beverly Hillbillies kind either.)

Here are 10 little known benefits of compost, the "Black Gold" of the garden...

Humerous Happenings at the Rocheser Compost Pile

Compost is truly one of the many wonders of the natural world. I get 5-6 pickup loads a week so I am at the waste to energy facility in Rochester a lot. The county does an excellent job of processing leaf and grass clippings into black gold.

My fellow composters are the salt of the earth but sometimes the things they do at the compost pile in pursuit of their world class gardens just make me laugh... 

How to Grow Rosemary - Our Featured Herb of the Week

How to grow rosemary. Rosemary is a woody perennial herb native to the Mediterranean region.  The name Rosemary is derived from the Latin "dew" (ros) and "sea" (marinus) or "dew of the sea" because in many costal regions the only water it needs is the humidity of the sea breeze. It has needle shaped leaves and blue flowers. It is a member of the mint or Lamiaceae family.

Rosemary is typically started from...

Market Menu for Saturday, May 24, 2014

Welcome to the 2014 out door market season. We will have the following items at the Farmers Market for Saturday, May 24, 2014 (New items are in Bold Print)

Salsa - Brandywine, Cherry Tomato, Roasted Roma, Hot'n'Sweet, Jalapeno Jelly (yum)

Sweet Red Onions
Green Onions
Shallots
Sweet Spanish Onions - these babies are very sweet.
Dried egg plant (see recent blog posts on how to use and recipes)
Cipotle Smoked Peppers
Smoked Sun Dried Tomatoes
Sun Dried Tomatoes
Sweet Green Onions
Dandelion Greens
Fresh Spinach
Arugula
Spring Mix
Red Russian Kale
Ruby Sweet
Cilantro
Oregano


Herb plants for this week,

• Chives
• French Tarragon
• Apple Mint
• Chocolate Mint
• Spearmint
• Peppermint
• Oregano
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Lemon Thyme
• English Thyme
• Oregano Thyme
• Silver Posie Thyme
• Caraway Thyme
• Cilantro
• Epasote

Tomato Plants: Early Girl, Celebrity, Beefsteak, Roma, Sweet 100, Yellow Pear
Pepper Plants: Red Bell, Jalapeno, Habernaro, Yellow Bell

The weather is looking good Saturday. See you there.

How to Control Flea Beetles

Have you noticed those little pin holes in leaves of brassica plants like kale, broccoli and cauliflower. Well those are cause by tiny beetles that are no bigger than a grain of sand.We often ignore them as they don't really cause more than cosmetic damage. However, there are two excellent organic controls.

Parsnips, the Great Experiment

Many of our fellow farmers market vendors grow parsnips and I will join them for the first time this year. We grow thousands of pounds of carrots but nary a single parsnip. So why the oversight?

The Best Value in Basil Plants

Early in the season we typically grow basil by scattering a pinch of basil seed in the middle of a three inch pot and when they are two or three inches tall we transfer them to a five inch pot and bring them to market. For a couple of weeks we have these multiple plant pots and then we switch over to mostly single plants five inch pots that are 4-5inches tall. So what is the best value in basil plants?