GardenSpotlight

We are still adding new crops to our sales greenhouse…new marigold colors, new crops of alyssum,   a young coleus crop and new types of basil, to name a few.  The month of June is full of great celebrations; Father’s Day, weddings, graduations. This is a perfect time to assess your landscaping goals and schedule further plantings accordingly for the remainder of the summer and fall seasons.   Many times we have customers come in thinking it is too late to plant in June….not so.  Flowers can be planted throughout the summer, many well into August.  Garden centers are still full of great plants and you will also find larger plants for a greater impact in your garden.   For those of you not wanting to spend time in the garden weeding, or for a lack of planting space, look for container gardens; combination plantings in larger 10” -  20” pots.  Talk about instant gratification!  Vegetables can also be planted in pots successfully...

Now that you have a great new area to plant in after the last “double digging” article, what are you going to plant?  Last year, we saw a huge increase in vegetable transplant sales thanks to all the national food scares (more about that another time) and the cost of fuel rising so high that it affected just about everything. Vegetable gardening is very rewarding and is a wonderful activity to do with your kids too, instilling a sense of pride and self-worth after a realized accomplishment of a job well done and freshly picked vegetables to eat. It may even get your kids to eat more veggies since they helped to grow them. If you’d like to start early, try planting lettuces, spinach, peas, beets, carrots, rappini, radishes, onions, leeks, radicchio, braising greens, romanesco, kale, cabbage, cauliflower or broccoli. Those items can take lower temperatures and actually grow better in the cooler weather. Keep an eye on the lettuces and spinach, harvesting them while young so t...

It's 8:00am and I am home now. I just dropped our daughter off to school and she'll be home before I know it...the days go by so quickly, don't they? I've been wanting to write about what it's like here on the farm for so long. Nothing like the present. My daughter reminds me of that every so often by saying things like, "I'll be driving soon Mom!" Mind you, she's only 10 and she's been saying that since she was 8! Don't rush it kid! That's my advice..enjoy childhood while it lasts. My husband has been driving since forever...that's what it's like on a farm. The boys learn how to drive the tractors....probably as soon as they hit double digits, maybe even before that. And the farm trucks too...but only on the farm. So I think they are able to do that just because they are boys! Our daughter has not learned yet how to do those things. She knows how to drive the quad, but she's only allowed on it with an adult. She always tell...

We began harvesting some other vegetables on the farm, so I figured I had better get you all some recipes to go with them! This week we began harvesting Swiss Chard, Cucumbers and Miniature Eggplant. Miniature Eggplants are great...they are very tender and sweeter than most other types of eggplant. We like to coarsely chop them, after peeling and removing the stems. Then saute them in garlic and olive oil and add to omelettes or other vegetable dishes, such as sauteing them with summer squash and tomatoes. They add a little bit of a buttery flavor to our omelettes, which I love! You can also slice them length-wise and brush with olive oil, season with Oregano and Garlic and roast them in the oven or grill them on the BBQ. Use a non-stick foil sheet on the grill so they are easy to remove. Another idea I love is to take the roasted or grilled eggplant along with red and yellow roasted peppers from the grill & grilled or sauteed onions, place them all in a vegetable wrap an...