Finally February
This was the longest January ever. (By my records it was 743 days). While they always feel long, this one was especially dragging on due to unusually cold weather, gloomy days, and the amount of effort I have sunk into trying to get a crew hired for this season. I am really feeling Alisa’s absence this month and I will admit to a bit of frustration and floundering about on my part as I have struggled to adjust to the new normal of the farm without her support.
Most notably, January has felt long because I haven’t been able to get outside and do any garden prepping for the spring, and the few things I have already planted out there are clinging on for dear life. I’ve had to add extra layers of row cover on flowers being overwintered for this spring, and they are in covered growing tunnels!
But, we are inching ever closer to peak gardening season. I have ordered and received about 80% of the seed for the garden this year and it was quite the experience as I had to do some review and math to be prepared for placing the flower seed orders. It felt awkward and exciting at the same time, which kinda left me unsure that I was ordering sufficient amounts of crucial seeds. And now that it is February it is time to start seeding cold loving and spring flowers, like snapdragons and Bells of Ireland, plus some of the more stubborn veg, like onions, peppers and shallots.
Since the farm is in a bit of a flux while we wrap up hiring a new flower farmer, I decided that one of my garden goals for 2025 would be to take over managing the seed starting processes this year so that we can be more consistent and successful with our seedlings. Flowers especially can be difficult to germinate and to produce seedlings that actually survive and thrive is one of my main priorities this year. Cause why are lisianthus so stupidly difficult to germinate for this farm? I have invested a lot of time and materials into building out our seed starting infrastructure, so I know we have the space and tools to make it work, and producing our own high quality seedlings is so much more cost-effective plus a teeming full greenhouse is so satisfying.
For this initial seed purchase, I bought all of my seeds from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. There were a few reasons for this:
I like how much growing information they have on their seed packets and available in their catalogs and online.
They provide high quality certified organic veg seed and an increasing amount of organic flower seed as well. What is not organic is certified non-GMO and not treated.
I have bought seeds from there in the past and have found them to work well and be high-quality. They can also provide the larger quantities of seed that we require for wholesale production that some smaller producers can’t provide.
They do extensive research and development to provide seed that is weed and disease free for a wide variety of growing conditions.
They have great customer service and they are employee owned.
What I’m Planting
We are fortunate to have an extended growing season provided by our covered growing spaces which allow cold sensitive crops to be started early under cover and for warm season annuals to enjoy protection from cooler fall temps. The following are some of the veg I am planning to grow this year, in no particular order.
Root crops - carrots and beets are always winners and I am going to try and be disciplined enough to sow several successions of radishes this spring and fall.
Onions and leeks - our wet summers haven’t made for very happy onions the past few years and this year I am going to plant them out in a field that is sandier than the others to see if the faster drainage helps them.
Squash - summer zucchini and yellow squash and all the winter squash and pumpkins I can shove into the field. And some watermelons, too!
Cucumbers - a few different varieties this year for slicing and pickling
Tomatoes - all the tomatoes all the time for me, please. These are my favorite to grow.
Peppers - so satisfying to grow! I have a good mix of hot, sweet and bell peppers picked out for this year and am looking forward to a repeat of last year's lush plants
Eggplant - always a reliable producer and fresh eggplant is hard to beat
Beans - bush beans are so satisfying to grow and pick and are so prolific. The long beans I selected to grow on our big trellis structure will be a nice break when I am tired of harvesting bent over and need a reason to stand upright to work.
Corn - I chose a bi-color that I really like the taste of and have had good results growing plus a blue strain of corn that I want to dry for popcorn!
We also have our fruit trees, some mulberries and a few hazelnut trees. I am hoping to beat the birds to the mulberries this year as I have had limited success in the past. Those birds are fast! Last year our pear trees were prolific, and this spring I will get up into the orchard to do some thinning of the fruit set so that I can try and get fewer, larger fruit. The trees were just pruned at the end of January and I am hoping we can have another bountiful croplike last year. This year I am also giving overwintering some rescued figs a try (RIP the two fig trees I have killed in the past, hoping third times the charm).
Finally in the “other” category, this is year four for our asparagus patch, so I expect to harvest some serious spears this year and could even have some available for sale during our Opening Weekend for the Farm Store in May. And some radishes and greens and lots more when we see you here in a few months time. Until then, share with me what’s going to be in your garden this year and if you are starting from seed or if I will be seeing you here for our Annual Plant Sale when you can pick up Maitri grown seedlings for your own.
If you have any gardening questions feel free to drop them in the comments below and I will help however I can. Until we talk again, take care.
- Jenn
