brrrrr...are you covered?

The forecast for Philadelphia tonight is 28 degrees with a north wind. Probably not enough to damage the new crops, but why take chances? I save large cardboard boxes as the perfect way to cover up seedlings and early spring crops from cold nights. Corrugated cardboard is a great insulator. It doesn't look as pretty as my beautiful glass bell jars, but it's a whole lot less expensive way to protect the plants.




So, I've got everything covered up nice and snug for a frosty night and now I won't have to worry about it. This will get me through the next week of projected cold nights. We're even looking at possible snow for Monday!

gardenomics 101

I have invested a good bit of money into two different CSA's this year and I am going to track the economics of this experience. I joined these CSA's for the benefits of good locally produced organic foods, not as a way to save money. But in light of the economy turned upside down, I am interested in comparing my cost of homegrown and CSA produce to what I would spend buying the same produce at the grocery store.

Here are my baseline costs to date:

Cold Season Veggies- 5 flats @ $18.00 ea. = $90.00 (180 plants @ .50 each)

Pennypack Farm- Veggie CSA $450 for a 6 unit per week share

North Star Orchards - Fruit CSA $225 for a 12 week share


I will keep track of the comparable retail pricing of my harvest and share amounts throughout the 2009 season. Both Pennypack and Northstar advise share members that the overall cost is comparable or slightly less than Farmers Market pricing. I am going to use Whole Foods pricing as my comparison because that is where I buy 90% of my produce that is not grown in my garden.

Tomatoes 2009

I am really looking forward to getting my tomato seeds started, but I am still about one month away from the time line for here in Philly. I have five varieties of tomato seeds from Amishland Heirloom Seeds, and I will probably grow three plants of each of these varieties for a total of 15 plants. Here are the five varieties I will be growing this year. Photos are from the Amishland Seed web site. I highly recommend them as a seed supplier, and their website is a fantastic education in heirloom tomatoes.

My primary reason for using these varieties is that they are all genuine Amish and Mennonite farmer developed varieties that have been grown successfully in the Philadelphia area for many years. I like the idea of continuing that local tradition.



schmmeig creg


mule team


howard german


harfeuer


glicks 18 mennonite


Amish Land Seeds website

Have you decided on your tomato varieties for the coming season?

Cold Crops....phase two

I filled the raised tomato bed with 3 flats of cold season veggies... mesclin mix, baby bok choi, rocket, and spinach. Combined with what I planted yesterday, I will have organic greens throughout the spring, with enough to share with friends.This gives me almost three months of harvest from this bed before I plant my tomatoes in late May. I am experimenting with a "no store bought" produce plan for the 2009 growing season. Similar to a locavore program, I am going to try to consume only produce that is from my own garden, or known source produce, such as the CSA that I am participating in at Pennypack Farm. I will also consume produce from farmer's markets as long as the seller can tell me where the food was grown.In other words, if I don't know where it was grown, I'm not going to eat it. While I doubt I can follow this policy 100%, it should be interesting to see how close I can get.

rocket 3.9.2009


mesclin mix 3.9.2009

I now have about one month to get my act together and build the additional raised beds for this season. I need two 8' X 8' beds at the rear border of the yard, one for root veggies such as carrots, turnips, and onions, and the other for peppers.
Last year I had the peppers in the tomato bed, which worked out ok, but I want only tomatoes in that bed this year. I'll use the same number of tomato plants as last year (15), but they will have more room to spread out.Last year the tomato plants were too crowded. I also need a new raised bed along the outside of the garage wall.This bed will be for beans and peas, as well as for basil

Cold Crops

A week ago we had a snow storm here in Philly, followed by some really cold days, but this past weekend was so spring-like I couldn't resist buying some cold weather crops at my local greenhouse. These are all organic starts from Primex in Glenside, Pa. I'll have to watch the weather and get some plastic over these if we get some low temperatures in the coming weeks, but I think these will do just fine. I've got Baby Bok Choi, Chinese Cabbage, Mustard Greens, Lettuce, and Rocket; enough to get me started on some really great organic greens much earlier than I usually harvest anything. As these mature and I harvest them, I'll replace them with greens that I grow from seed myself.

baby bok choi 3.8.2009

lettuce 3.8.2009

Primex Garden Center