The dog days of summer are here: harvesting, plant updates, and unique growing techniques

Hey all!

There isn't much big news this week, so today I am going to fill you in on all of the little stories from the week.

For those of you who aren't in the mid-Michigan area this summer, this week was a scorcher.  The temperature was in the nineties almost every day, so we were nice and sweaty at the farm.  But the heat is what summer is all about and it didn't ruin the fun!

For the most part, our crops are doing well.  Many of the difficulties that I described in my last post have taken a turn for the better.  The hot and dry weather has benefited the tomato plants in the community garden plot that Jodie and I are taking care of, because it has allowed the soil to dry out a little.  During the recent wet spell, it looked like the soil became a little too moist for the plants' roots to properly absorb nutrients.  The plants are now looking much better than they did last week.  The stressed leaves dried up and fell off, but there doesn't appear to be any new damage.  In case the stress was due to some sort of disease, Jodie and I removed the dead plant material to prevent the problem from spreading.  In other news from our plot, it appears that Jodie and I have managed to get a handle on the cabbage looper infestation.  We spent some time early in the week physically removing the loopers from our broccoli plants, and their numbers declined as the week went on.  That is a good sign, because the damage was starting to worry us!  One final update from our plot is that we have harvested our first tomato!  Hopefully there will be many more in the days to come!

Our first tomato!

Some of our other plants are beginning to produce fruit as well, including our pepper plants in the demo farm.  They aren't quite ready yet, but they are getting there!  Many of our cucumbers, however, are ready!  We picked a few this week, and they were delicious!  We also harvested our first summer squash of the season this week.  We should be able to start taking some of these plants to market soon!

Peppers

Half-eaten cucumber from the hoophouse

Summer squash

Today I also wanted to show you some of the unique techniques that people are using out at the farm.  One cool thing that some of the Bhutanese farmers are doing is using tree branches as trellises for their plants.  Some of our farmers come from cultures in which people use whatever resources they can get from the land, and this is an example of that.  In addition, not everyone has the financial resources to buy conventional equipment.  There can be many reasons, therefore, for people to find innovative alternatives.  In this case, for example, the farmers used tree branches instead of t-posts, twine, or wire cages.  I thought using tree branches was a great idea.  The branches seem to work fine, they're free, and using them is a way of recycling and repurposing a common product of nature.  No manufacturing of posts or cages needed!

Tree branch trellises

More tree branch trellises

Neal is using another interesting technique in his community garden plot.  He is using the Three Sisters technique (see this Wikipedia article for more information), which was used by some Native Americans.  A three sisters garden consists of corn, squash, and beans.  Neal planted his in small squares.  Each square has a cornstalk growing at each corner, a squash plant in the middle, and pole beans growing up the cornstalks.  The plants all help each other in different ways.  The squash acts as a mulch, the corn provides something for the beans to climb, and the beans provide nitrogen to for the soil.  Another benefit of the technique is that the three plants together help to provide a balanced diet.  A three sisters garden is also a form of intercropping, which I discussed in one of my previous posts.  Pretty cool, huh?

One of Neal's three sisters squares

That's all I have for you this week!  Thanks for reading, see you next time!

July Happenings and Thoughts on Local Produce

Hey everyone!  I hope you all had a great Fourth of July holiday!  It's time to bring you up to speed again on things out at the farm!

Market season is now under way, and we have begun harvesting some of our crops to sell.  Our most recent harvest was lettuce, spinach, and chard.  We went through each of the beds with a harvest knife (which is exactly what it sounds like: a sharp knife used for harvesting crops) and cut the leafy greens near the growing point, and then put them in bins.  After that, we rinsed the lettuce and put it in a spinner to dry it off.  I got to take a bag of the lettuce home, and it tasted great!  It was very gratifying to eat something that I helped to plant and take care of.  I am hoping to get a chance to accompany Anna, our marketing coordinator, to a farmers market sometime soon.

Lettuce!

More lettuce!

In other news, our squash in the demo farm seem to be doing well.  They are starting to grow big and bulge out under the row cover.  During the week, some volunteers helped us by pulling back the row cover and weeding the beds.  They deserve a big thank you, as the beds look great and it was a big job!

Squash underneath the row cover

More squash.  If you look closely, you can see the plants through the translucent fabric.

You can see the plants coming out from underneath the row cover in this row.  This is one of the  remaining rows that needs to be weeded. 

An interesting task that Jodie and I got to do this week was spray some of our plants with kelp juice.  I mentioned using kelp juice on our cucumbers in a previous post.  Kelp juice is an organic fertilizer that is a good source of nitrogen for the plants.  We diluted the juice with water and put it in some standard garden sprayers.  Some of our tomatoes and peppers were looking a little weak, so we focused on spraying those.  We also sprayed some of our pole beans.  

Speaking of weak plants, we are starting to get some firsthand experience with some of the difficulties of growing produce.  A few of our cucumber plants in the hoophouse have been infected with a disease called bacterial wilt, and we've had to remove them to prevent the disease from spreading to the other plants.  The leaves on the plants have become yellow and droopy, which is a common sign of the disease.

Cucumber plant with bacterial wilt

Jodie and I are also encountering some trouble in our plot.  Many of our broccoli plants are being eaten by cabbage loopers, which are small green caterpillars that like to eat plants in the cabbage family.  The control method we are using is simply removing the caterpillars by hand, which is one of the methods mentioned in the linked article.  There is also a little bit of flea beetle damage on our peppers.  Some of our tomatoes are also looking a little stressed.  Some of the plants are shriveled and yellow, and some of the leaves have white spots on them.  We thought that it might be some sort of disease, and a plant pathologist who visited the farm said it could be some type of bacterial or viral infection.  Neal, our growing coordinator, also thinks that the soil could simply be too wet for the roots to properly absorb enough nutrients.  Interestingly enough, the tomatoes in our square foot boxes seem to be doing fine.  Four of the tomato plants in the tomato beds were from the same tray as four of the plants in the boxes and we've provided the same care to all of them, so it seems that the isolated factor is the soil.  The boxes are raised, and as a result have better drainage.  So the soil probably isn't staying as wet as the beds on the ground.  Overall, our plants are hanging on.  The pest damage and struggling tomatoes make me a little nervous, but the problems are not severe yet.  If the pest damage gets much worse, we may have to explore some different control options.  There is some good news in our plot, as our carrots and beans are already sprouting and looking good!  On Thursday we weeded their beds and thinned the plants as needed.

Carrots in the square foot box

Bush beans in the square foot box

Stressed tomato plant.  Note the white spots on the leaves.

Carrots in the conventional bed

Bush beans in the conventional bed

So far, my experiment in our community garden plot is already showing some interesting results.  As I mentioned above, the tomatoes in the square foot boxes seem to be doing better than those in the ground beds.  I have also found the boxes much easier to maintain than the conventional beds.  There have been hardly any weeds in the boxes, while we have already had to go through all of the ground beds with a stirrup hoe.  It was also much easier to plant the boxes and thin out the plants as they sprouted.  With the traditional beds, I had to get down on my knees and slowly move down the row.  With the boxes, I can do everything I need to do by kneeling in one spot on one side of the box for a few minutes and then moving to the other side.  Because the boxes have been so easy to maintain, I think that square foot gardening would be a great way for people to grow their own produce at home.  I am a beginning gardener and find it very easy to manage, so it seems like anyone else could do it.

Thinking about growing produce at home using square foot gardening led me to think about a couple of other interesting ideas.  I live in a subdivision where a lot of space is devoted to growing grass and other landscaping features.  My dad and I often discuss how this is a huge waste of resources.  The fertilizers and pesticides people put on their grass can also be harmful to surrounding ecosystems.  Grass also requires a great deal of water to stay lush and green.  Yes, grass does look nice and is great for people and pets to run around and play on.  But why not use all of that water and space to grow food in your yard instead?  That probably isn't likely to happen on a large scale anytime soon, but it could be an option in the instance of some sort of crisis involving the economy or food production.  What if something were to go terribly wrong and we were no longer able to go to a local grocery store or farmers markets to buy produce?  Or what if population pressure became so severe that we needed to convert as much space as possible to producing food?  People could always take a shot at digging up their yards and growing their own food.  It's a radical idea, but why not?  It would also be a great way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, because there would be no need to transport the food from the farm to the market or grocery store and then to your home.  Food doesn't get much fresher or local than growing it in your own yard!  

Another cool idea I've heard about is schools growing produce to use in their cafeterias.  One example of this is Michigan State University's Bailey Hall hoophouse (see this State News article).  I think it would be fantastic to extend this idea to Michigan's K-12 schools.  There has been a lot of debate in recent years about the nutritional value of the food students are being served in school cafeterias.  I can speak firsthand on that issue, as much of the food that was served in my high school cafeteria was unhealthy, processed, or otherwise poor-quality.  This problem could be remedied by finding funds for schools to build their own hoophouses and follow the model used at the Bailey hoophouse.  There could be classes in which the students could work in the hoophouse and learn about growing produce.  The food that the students grow could be served in the cafeteria to increase the amount of fresh, whole food available to students.  Food waste from the cafeteria could then be used as compost in the hoophouse.  It would be a great way to feed students healthier food, learn about a subject not often taught in K-12 schools, and be friendlier to the environment.  

As always, I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog!  Please post any thoughts you have in the comments section, as I would love to discuss anything regarding my experiences, food issues, or your ideas and experiences.  Thanks again for reading, see you next time!

Knee-High by the Fourth of July

Hey everyone!

A lot has happened over the past few days, so I wanted to share all of it with you today!

First off, we got a lot of rain at the farm over the weekend, and it really helped our plants!  The contrast between Monday morning and the end of last week was very striking.  Last week, the soil surface was dry and cracked and the plants were looking shrunken.  After the rain, however, they are looking healthy and luscious!  Here are some before and after pictures:

Lettuce, before rain

Radishes, before rain

Mesculin mix, before rain

From left to right: radishes, lettuce, and mesculin mix after the rain

As you can see, the plants really benefited from the water.  It's not often that you see the appearance of plants change so quickly!  The rain also probably helped ease the transplant shock for the tomatoes, peppers, and broccoli that Jodie and I transplanted into our community garden plot last week, which is good news as well.  

Speaking of our community garden plot, Jodie and I continued putting in more crops on Monday.  We planted one bed with three rows of carrots, and another bed with two rows of bush beans.  We also put in some cages to provide support for our tomatoes.  As of now, we are mostly done planting most of our summer crops.  We might add a little bit of dill and basil in the coming days.  

Carrot bed (on the left) and bush bean bed (on the right)

Our improved community garden plot

We also got to participate in our first workshop for the farmers on Monday.  An employee of the Garden Project, another program of the Greater Lansing Food Bank, came out to demonstrate how to use a tiller.  Most of our farmers haven't used much mechanized equipment before, so it was fun to see them try it out.  Tillers like these are nice tools for small-scale growing operations.  This tiller is one of the few pieces of mechanized equipment that we have used out at the farm, as most of our work is done by hand. In addition to the tiller, we have used a trench-digging machine to lay our header pipe for our drip irrigation.  A local farmer was also kind enough to use his tractor to till our entire field at the beginning of the season.  Minimal use of mechanized equipment contributes to the sustainability of our program, as it keeps our greenhouse gas emissions low.  

Instructor demonstrating use of the tiller

Bhutanese farmers trying out the tiller

Another exciting piece of news is that we conducted our first harvest of the season on Monday!  Some of our radishes were ready to harvest, so we went ahead and pulled them up.  We won't be taking any produce to market for a few more days, but if we allowed the radishes to get bigger they might have become too bitter to eat.  So we decided to enjoy some for ourselves and take the rest to the food bank!

Harvested radish

Yum!

Another radish

Our loot!  

One other cool task that we took care of at the end of the week was trellising our cucumbers.  Cucumbers are a vine plant by nature, but we want them to grow vertically.  To get them to do that, we hung twine from the rafters of the hoophouse.  We then looped that twine around a few of the leaves of each plant.  The plants send out little chutes called "runners," which will grab onto the string and help the plant to climb upward.  

Cucumber trellises 

Cucumber plants with trellises, close-up

We also began trellising our pole beans on Monday as well.  We did that by running twine horizontally between metal t-posts.

Pole bean bed

Another cool thing I wanted to show you all is how the whole farm is looking.  It looks a lot different from the beginning of the season when it was all brown soil!  There is a lot more green now, as most of our farmers have put in all of their plants.  

Field at beginning of season

Field now:  A farmer's plot on the left and cover crop down the middle.  Cover crop is used to prevent soil erosion, among other things.  Ours is a mix of rye and clover.

Farmers at work in their plots

A farmer's plot

Another plot

While out at the farm, I snapped another photo that outlines a major difference between small-scale growing operations and conventional farming:

In the picture, you can see a few of our beds in the demo farm in the foreground.  In the background, you can see the cornfield that surrounds our plot (for those who have heard the saying, the corn is most definitely "knee-high by the Fourth of July").  The major visible difference is that the cornfield is an example of a monoculture, while our field is an example of intercropping.  Monocultures can be quite susceptible to diseases and pests, so they often require heavy use of pesticides and other chemicals, which can be harmful to the surrounding ecosystem.  More diverse plots, like ours, tend to be less susceptible to pests and disease and therefore don't require such heavy use of chemicals.  That is a major benefit of small-scale farming and gardening.

Thanks for reading!  There are some exciting things coming up for Roots, including the beginning of market season.  I will update you on those soon!  Until then, happy Independence Day!  See you next time!