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!