Seeds
It still seems strange to me that the vegetables that are some of the latest to set out in the garden, need to be started the earliest. Eggplant is one of those. It really does not like being cold or too wet. My experience is that only a little progress occurs, if any, on plants set in the garden earlier than June 1st in our zone 5 area. (and yes, I believe it is STILL Zone 5 - more on that in another post). So, Eggplant seed (we hope to have 3 varieties on the farm stand this year) have been started in the propagation (prop) room. It will take them over 8 weeks from emergence, to grow to the point where they can be set out. My target date for having these plants ready for the farm stand is May 15.
We began seed starting in earnest On February 3rd. Early/cool season plants, and those with long germination/development times (its a combination of the two), are being started now. Many folks think of peppers and tomatoes and squash when they think of starts, but those won't even be in the mix until sometime in later March. Now, we have onion, lettuce, beets, two kinds of celery, petunia, parsley, cilantro, leek, oregano, rosemary, and three kinds of eggplant started. Additional herbs will be started in the next week or two. We hope to have a selection of common herb starts for sale at the farm stand in late April. We'll see if there is a demand for those. As for the Léger family, we find that using fresh herbs right out of the garden really enhances the flavor of our home grown vegetables. Additional veggie plant starts will begin around March 1st.
Germination "Trials"
In addition to the activity outlined above, we have seed from 18 plant varieties undergoing germination testing right now. All this seed was collected from Foothill Farm and we are considering packaging and offering some for sale this Spring. Our germination tests will not be all that scientific, but at least we will be able to convey that the seed will come up. Our record in growing plants from seed we have saved is fairly good, so I expect decent results. Some seed has already germinated, with Glorious Porch Marigolds and Lupine leading the way. I'm pretty confident that the purple coneflower, poppies, prairie coneflower and more will be viable seed.
Work continues at the farm on increasing production capacity. Shelf units have been constructed for the hoop house. Hoop house temperatures have been in the 50's and 60's on most sunny days. Night time temps are still not much different than ambient temps outdoors. Still, by the time the lettuce and onions are ready to go in the hoop house (about March 10th or so), it should be more moderate in the evenings.
Usually direct sown in the Spring, we are experimenting with starting a few beets from seed in an effort to move up harvest times. This also could supply a earlier source of beet greens for salads.
Perennial "Futures"
I am very excited about our introduction of perennials this Spring at the farm stand. There are many possibilities, but we'll have to see which plants and varieties are actually ready for sale. One that I am very confident about is New England Aster, a just wonderful native perennial with a fabulous show of purple flowers in early fall - when many other plants are done for the year. We will have New England Aster for sale in 2012, as a result of divisions of our field stock. I'll let the plants speak for themselves when they are on the farm stand, but I am very optimistic. There are likely to be several other varieties of perennials available this year. Look for more information on this in April.
Weather
The weather continues to be unseasonable at Foothill Farm. Snow total for the past 6 weeks is approximately 3 inches. Almost all of that occurred in early January. Except for the occasional dusting, snow has been nonexistent. Daytime temps have been consistently in the high 30's for low 40's F, although it has been colder the last few days. I understand that the maple sap has been running in some areas of the northeast for a month, off and on. This could really screw up the sugaring season!
You can really tell that the daylight is increasing and the angle of the sun is changing!! Since I blogged on this earlier, we have gained 30 minutes of light in the morning, and nearly an hour (52 minutes) in the afternoon. It is just fabulous standing at the top of the "bowl" (south facing above the orchard) and soaking up the sun on a bright mid-winter day. As the light comes, the warmth shall return also.
