Gardeners, think ahead - mid-to-late summer is the best time to start seeds in order to extend the harvest window into autumn.
Here at my Bedford, New York farm, we always try to maximize the productivity of the gardens. Yesterday, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, started seed trays of Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, romanesco, and kale - all considered brassicas, or cole crops - a genus of plants in the mustard family whose members are informally referred to as cruciferous vegetables. The seeds will remain in the greenhouse until they’re mature enough to be moved to my new vegetable garden. And then next season, we'll have another bounty of delicious, organic vegetables.
Enjoy these photos.
Ryan chooses all the necessary seed starting trays. These can be saved from year to year, so don’t throw them away after the season. Seed starting trays are available in all sizes and formations. Select the right kind of tray based on the size of the seeds. The containers should be at least two-inches deep and have adequate drainage holes.
Here at my farm, we keep all our seed packets in plastic envelopes and plastic bins – all are labeled and filed for easy reference. Mason jars with tight-fitting lids, or glass canisters with gasket-type lids also work. Humidity and warmth shorten a seed’s shelf life, so we store the organized seed packets in a greenhouse refrigerator. Ryan takes out the seeds for those vegetables he wants to plant. We always have a lot of seeds from which to choose.
And then he carefully selects those varieties which are most hardy for fall production. When buying or ordering seeds, be sure to read the hardiness of a plant. And know your hardiness zone, so you can select the right seeds for your area. Here in Bedford, we are zone-6b. It is easy to look it up online.
Next, Ryan prepares the trays. It’s best to use a pre-made seed starting mix that contains the proper amounts of vermiculite, perlite and peat moss. Seed starting mixes are available at garden supply stores.
Ryan spreads the soil mix across the seed trays completely and evenly, filling all the cells of each tray. When possible, prepare several trays in an assembly-line fashion, and then drop all the seeds. Doing this saves time and simplifies the process.
To create a quarter-inch deep furrow in the middle of each compartment, press fingers gently into each cell. This can be done pretty quickly especially if only seeding one or two trays. One can also use the capped end of a felt-tipped marker.
Here, Ryan writes the vegetable and variety on wooden markers. I often use Johnny’s Selected Seeds. Johnny’s is a privately held, employee-owned organic seed producer. Johnny’s offers hundreds of varieties of organic vegetable, herb, flower, fruit and farm seeds that are known to be strong, dependable growers.
Once he is ready to drop the seeds, Ryan places a marker into one of the cells, so it is clear what variety is growing in what tray.
The seeds are very small, so be sure to take time dropping them into the tray cells. It’s also a good idea to keep a record of when seeds are sown, when they germinate, and when they are transplanted. These observations will help organize a schedule for the following year.
Ryan drops one to three seeds into each cell.
Look closely and one can see the seeds in the cell. These seeds will be selectively thinned in a few weeks. The process eliminates the weaker sprout and prevents overcrowding, so seedlings don’t have any competition for soil nutrients or room to mature.
Next, Ryan covers the seeds by leveling the soil and filling the holes back in with the medium.
This tray is planted with broccoli. Seeds will germinate in seven to 10 days in optimal temperature and lighting environments, which is 50 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit under bright light.
Our cauliflower has done so excellently in the new vegetable garden. Cauliflower is filled with nutrients. They hold plenty of vitamins, such as C, B, and K.
This tray is filled with kale. Kale or leaf cabbage is a group of vegetable cultivars within the plant species Brassica oleracea.
Some of the varieties Ryan seeded include this ‘Divino’ Brussels sprouts. These mature into firm, uniform, and attractive sprouts that hold well on the stalk for whole-stalk, late-season harvest. (Photo from Johnny’s Selected Seeds)
‘Kariba’ is one of the broccoli varieties – it’s a strong cold tolerant cultivar for fall and winter production. This variety will be mature in 66-days. (Photo from Johnny’s Selected Seeds)
Ryan chose ‘Amazing’ cauliflower for its late summer and fall hardiness. This variety features medium-sized plants with domed, solid curds and self-blanching, upright wrapper leaves when well fed. (Photo from Johnny’s Selected Seeds)
‘Clementine’ is a new, vibrant orange variety of cauliflower for Johnny’s. The big, sturdy plants produce excellent crops, even under less-than-ideal conditions. Do you know… cauliflower comes in a variety of colors? It can be found in white, orange, purple, and green. (Photo from Johnny’s Selected Seeds)
And this is ‘Oldenbor’ kale – a standard green curly kale with attractive, tight leaf curl and a beautiful medium-green color. (Photo from Johnny’s Selected Seeds)
After all the trays are seeded, Ryan places them in our Urban Cultivator growing system – it has water, temperature and humidity all set-up in this refrigerator like unit.
He covers the trays with plastic humidity domes until germination begins. These seedlings will remain in the greenhouse for another four to six weeks until they are ready to be separated and transplanted into the ground. We’ll be harvesting from the garden through the next season – that’s a very good thing.
Here at my Bedford, New York farm, late July is garlic picking time - when the bottom leaves of the plants start to die back and turn brown, but the top leaves are still green.
Knowing when garlic is ready to pick can be tricky. If it’s harvested too soon, the cloves are small and underdeveloped. And, if done too late, the clove heads begin to separate, making them more vulnerable to decay. Garlic is divided into two categories - the supermarket variety, softneck, which produces long-lasting bulbs with many cloves around a soft center stem, and hardneck, which are noted for their stiff central stalk, fewer cloves, relatively short shelf life, and intriguingly complex flavors. All our varieties are from Keene Garlic, a family-owned farm in Wisconsin.
Enjoy these photos.
Every year, we plant lots of garlic in a bed behind my main greenhouse. Garlic is planted in the fall. This photo is from a sunny, mild day in mid-November of last year. I’ve been planting Keene Organics garlic for quite some time, and am always so pleased with their growth and taste.
Come spring, young plants are already well established and several inches tall. Garlic loves a rich fertile loam soil or a silty loam soil. It also grows best in an area that drains well – the cloves can rot if they sit in water or mud.
Here is the garlic bed in May – it’s growing great.
In June, one can see the scapes beginning to form. Garlic scapes are the flower buds of the garlic plants. They’re ready about a month before the actual garlic bulbs. Scapes are delicious and can be used just like garlic. Scapes can be cut when the center stalks are completely formed and curled ends are seen growing above the rest of the plants.
Here is the bed in mid-July – it just needs a little bit more time.
And then last week, it was time to pick. The right time to pick garlic is when the top of the garlic plant begins to die back. It is important to wait for a dry day to harvest – this allows the soil to dry out, helps to prevent rot, and makes it much easier to pull the stalks and bulbs from the ground.
Garlic bulbs are several inches deep, so Brian loosens the soil first with a broadfork. He does this about six inches from each bulb to avoid puncturing it.
A broadfork is like a tall pitchfork except it has two long handles – one on each side of a two-foot long metal crossbar from which several long tines extend down towards the ground.
Brian steps on the bar of the broadfork and pushes down carefully. Then he loosens the dirt just enough, so he can pick the garlic.
Each garlic is pulled out from the base of the leaves so that the head comes out completely. I love to experiment with the different types to see what grows best in my garden.
The whole garlic is called a ‘head’, a ‘bulb’, or a ‘knob. ‘ Each small, individual segment of a garlic head is a clove. Garlic is both delicious and nutritious. It is known to lower cholesterol, decrease the risk of coronary artery disease, and is an excellent source of minerals and vitamins, such as vitamins B6 and C.
It isn’t long before the entire bed is picked. This year’s crop looks great.
All the garlic is brought into the greenhouse, where it can start to dry.
The big heads are this year’s Elephant garlic – our biggest variety. Elephant garlic is actually a leek that resembles garlic in growing and in appearance. It has a very mild flavor. It is most commonly found in grocery stores. Jumbo sized Elephant garlic will have about eight to 11 cloves depending on the size.
The next step is to prepare the garlic for curing. Curing is a process of letting the garlic dry in preparation for long-term storage. There’s no need to wash garlic – the point is to dry them out; however, they can be cleaned and trimmed. Ryan cuts off the top of each garlic leaving about a three to four-inch stalk.
Trimming the stalks makes it easier to store and keeps them neat and uniform.
This is a garlic bulbil. A bulbil is a false seed grown by a garlic plant in order to reproduce. They are miniature clones of the garlic plant itself, which can also be planted like the seed garlic.
Once all the garlic is trimmed, it is placed into a wire tray and left to cure. On another dry day, the trays will all move into the old corn crib, where they can continue to cure for several weeks.
In all, four large trays filled with garlic – that’s a great bounty. Finally, once the garlic is cured, Ryan will set aside the most beautiful heads with the biggest cloves to use as garlic seeds next season.
Well-cured, well-wrapped garlic bulbs will keep six to eight months or longer. The best storage temperature for garlic is between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit, with low humidity at about 60-percent – and never store garlic in the refrigerator. I will soon have lots of delicious garlic to use and share.
My garden maze continues to evolve with each row of interesting plantings. It now includes a section of holly, Ilex, an evergreen shrub with dense, glossy, foliage.
Earlier this month, the wholesale nursery, Monrovia, sent me a large assortment of beautiful plants including 21-holly shrubs. I knew these specimens would make excellent additions to my maze, located in a lush pasture just outside my Winter House. I instructed my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, where they should go, and he and Pete went right to work - measuring the space, marking the rows, removing the sod, planting the holly, and top dressing with mulch made right here at the farm. I started planting this course one year ago with a variety of different hedges, espaliers, and trees, and I am happy to report, we've completed about a third of the three-acre space and it looks great.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Ryan started by placing the potted holly in the section of the maze where they would be planted.
The holly from Monrovia is ‘Ruby Colonnade,’ Ilex x crenata ‘RutHol5’ PPAF. It is versatile evergreen shrub with a naturally pyramidal form.
It shows off dense, glossy, bright green foliage, with new leaves that emerge deep “ruby” red.
Here, Ryan and Pete go over the exact location for the holly. The maze is drawn out on a map, so it is important to refer to it every time something new is added.
The area is measured multiple times – first to mark where the rows will be…
… then to mark how wide the beds would be and where the designated paths would start and end…
… and finally the exact spot where each tree will be placed.
Here, Pete sets up landscape twine according to the map’s specifications and our latest measurements.
Next, Pete goes over the designated beds with our new Classen Pro HSC18 sod cutter. The sod cutter goes over the area smoothly and deeply. Everything must be done as precisely as possible for the maze.
This sod cutter is so easy to maneuver and so sharp, Pete finishes one row in just minutes.
Then with the edge of a spade, Pete cuts the sod strips into sections, so it is easier to roll and lift.
And then one by one, Pete rolls up the sod. Here, Pete stops for a quick photo.
Here are several pieces of sod neatly rolled up and ready to be repurposed in another area of the farm.
All the sod is loaded in our Kubota M4 tractor and moved to the goose pen, where it can be reused to fill some of bare areas.
Once all the sod is removed, each potted holly is placed exactly where it will be planted – down to the exact inch, so plants are lined up perfectly.
Each hole is dug with enough room for the plant’s root ball. Holly thrives best in an area that gets equal parts shade and sun, and where it can live in well-draining soil.
Then, a good handful of fertilizer is dropped into the hole. A 20-20-20 or 10-10-10 slow release fertilizer designed for shrubs and evergreens is best.
Then the holly is carefully placed in the hole and backfilled. When planting, always check that the plant is positioned with the best side facing out, or in this case, facing the path.
Once it is planted, the surrounding soil is tamped down to ensure good contact between the plant and the soil.
Meanwhile, here comes Pete with a wheelbarrow filled with mulch made right here at the farm.
Pete drops mulch next to each shrub – just enough to add a nice top dressing. Three inches will be plenty. Too deep a layer may cause water logging later.
Here, the mulch is carefully and evenly spread around the shrubs and along the entire length of each of the four beds.
Here is one bed nicely done. The shrubs are five feet apart giving them ample room to mature.
And here is the section all complete. The last step is a good, deep drink. Remember, if you drink and eat, so should your plants. Four more rows in the maze are now done… and many, many more still to go.
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