There is always so much work to do on my Bedford, New York farm.
During summer, all my large potted tropical plants are displayed outdoors in various locations around the farm. Smaller potted specimens are also put out in groups near my greenhouses where they can be closely maintained. One collection of alocasias and colocasias, some new and some which I've been growing for awhile, was ready to repot into larger containers. Repotting can be a tedious process, but a very important one that keeps all my plants healthy.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Many alocasias are loved for their striking foliage. Varieties can be found with different leaf colors, sizes, and shapes. Alocasia plants are native to tropical regions of Asia, Australia, and the South Pacific, and can grow up to 10 feet tall in their natural environments. I have many alocasias and love to display them every summer.
Alocasia ‘Borneo Giant’ has bold green leaves on rigid stems. When mature, it can be seven to 10 feet tall with leaves up to five feet wide.
Alocasia ‘Sumo’ has large, dark green leaves and can grow up to 10 feet tall. It is a hybrid plant between Alocasia ‘Portora’ and ‘Purple Cloak.’ Look closely and notice the stems are dark reddish-black.
This is Alocasia Macrorrhiza Variegata. Variegated plants have leaves, stems, fruits, or other parts with more than one color. The colors can appear as stripes, blotches, borders, speckles, or dots, and can be white, light green, yellow, red, pink, brown, or violet. The patterns can be symmetrical and regular, or more sporadic and uneven. This alocasia variety is a little more rare than the others. I always look for rare and unusual plants.
Every leaf is different, showing off its interesting green and white markings. Another leaf on the same plant has one half completely white.
The undersides of alocasia leaves can be leathery and have striking veins and textures.
Alocasia and Colocasia are both elephant ear plants in the Araceae family. This is Colocasia ‘Black Ruffle.’ It has dark, heart-shaped leaves, which become ruffled at the edges as they grow.
My gardeners always save pots – they come in very handy when repotting growing plants and seedlings.
Whenever potting a large selection of plants, the team does so in a production line process, which is quick and efficient. They also work on tarps, so any spilled soil can be collected easily and used elsewhere.
There is at least one drainage hole at the bottom of each pot. Drainage holes allow excess water to drain and help protect the plant’s roots from bacteria, fungus, and rot, which can occur when roots sit in water for too long and can’t breathe.
Alocasias prefer soil that is both well-draining and loose. Choose a tropical mix with bark, sand, and loam. I like to use Miracle-Gro Potting Mix.
The pot is filled about a third of the way up. The root ball will sit on top of this layer and be surrounded with more soil. The right amount of soil will allow the base of the plant to sit right under the rim of the pot.
Matthew removes the plant from its old pot and gently cuts the root ball with his Hori Hori to stimulate growth.
The root ball is placed in the center of the pot at a similar depth to its previous pot and positioned so its roots grow down.
After backfilling, Matthew tamps down to ensure good contact with the soil.
I am a big believer in feeding all plants – if you eat, so should your plants.
These plants are given Osmocote Plus from Miracle-Gro, a controlled release fertilizer that’s ideal for container plants.
Each granule is covered with an organic resin that regulates the daily release of nutrients.
Josh pots up another alocasia. It doesn’t take long before all the plants are done.
These plants will be given a good drink of water and then placed where they can get bright, indirect sunlight. It is so nice to have all the tropical plants outside this time of year.
Here in the Northeast, temperatures today are expected to hit the mid 80s - a little break following this week's humid heat wave.
Despite some uncomfortable summer weather, the growing vegetables at my Bedford, New York farm are thriving. Yesterday, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, and I picked green peppers, artichokes, beets, radishes, turnips, and others. The crew also did some more maintenance work - weeded, prepared beds for the next crops, secured stakes where necessary, and put down landscape cloth around the perimeter of the garden for my pumpkins. With a garden this large, it's important to visit every day and keep up with its care.
Here are the latest photos, enjoy.
My gardeners and I have been spending a lot of time in this large half-acre space. In order to have delicious, beautiful vegetables, it’s important to harvest and replant, check on what’s doing well and remove what is not. This garden has been so productive and all the vegetables look fantastic.
My tomatoes are growing beautifully, and every single one is off the ground. Keeping tomato plants off the ground is important to prevent fruit rot and the spread of disease. Tomatoes are naturally sprawling plants that put out roots along their stems when they touch the soil.
I use bamboo stakes to support the vining plants. The horizontal and vertical canes are very sturdy.
I also use bamboo for the peppers and eggplants – upright supports that are placed around all the growing plants.
Here, the hot peppers are doing well, and will soon be ready to pick. My crew loves hot peppers, and I grow many of them to share.
I used these wrought iron stakes for the eggplants, which can be heavy. The twine is pulled from the ends of the rows keeping the branches of the plants from breaking.
I prefer to pick eggplants early when they are young and tender. Picking early will encourage the plant to grow more, and will help to extend the growing season.
Our sweet bell pepper plants are also well-supported with bamboo.
I picked a whole bucket of green peppers and there are still more to harvest.
The tomatillo, also known as the Mexican husk tomato, is a plant of the nightshade family bearing small, spherical, and green fruit. This is my first year growing them in this garden and they’re doing splendidly.
I’m a firm believer of succession planting, the practice of following one crop with another to maximize a garden’s yield. It is a very efficient use of gardening space and time. As soon as one bed is picked, it is cleaned, raked, and fed in preparation for the next crop.
Close by, Ryan is already making rows for a new batch of beans, which will sprout within the next two weeks.
We already have another bed of basil growing.
This year, I decided I would plant all the pumpkins around the perimeter of the garden. What do you think? And, to keep the area neat and tidy, I put down this landscape weed cloth.
Here, one can already see how the vines are growing onto the cloth. It’s an experiment, but I think the pumpkins will do very well here.
These are the peas. I grow both shelling peas, which need to be removed from their pods before eating, and edible pods, which can be eaten whole. I planted many peas along my trellis in the center of my garden.
Ripe squash will be firm, fairly heavy for its size, and vibrantly colored. Some are already too big, but still delicious. And don’t get confused… all zucchini are squash, but not all squash are zucchini. The term “squash” refers to the plant species within the gourd family, which is divided into winter squash and summer squash.
Here, Ryan picks the beets. Beets are sweet and tender – and one of the healthiest foods. Beets contain a unique source of phytonutrients called betalains, which provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and detoxification support.
Although typically a reddish-purple hue, beets also come in varieties that are golden orange-yellow and white.
These are the turnips from the garden. Turnips are smooth flat-round and white vegetables that mature early and are best harvested young – when they are up to two inches in diameter. The flavor is sweet and fruity, and the texture is crisp and tender.
The sunflowers are still looking great in the center of the garden. Sunflowers come in an amazing variety of sizes and colors. Some grow as tall as 15 feet, with flower heads larger than a foot in diameter, while others only grow to five feet with heads only six to 10 inches across. Enjoy your gardening weekend!
Here at my Bedford, New York farm, 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. If done too late, the clove heads begin to separate, making them more vulnerable to decay. This week, my gardeners picked our crop of hardnecks, noted for their stiff central stalk, fewer cloves, and intriguingly complex flavors. All from our friends at Keene Garlic, a family-owned farm in Wisconsin.
Enjoy these photos.
It’s always exciting when the garlic is ready to harvest. Garlic is a popular spice in many cuisines and traditional medicine. Do you know… Americans consume about two to three pounds of garlic per year? And consumption continues to increase because of the many flavors and health benefits. I plant a lot of garlic every year to share with family and friends.
Garlic is planted in the fall. The next several photos are from a sunny, mild October day of last year. I’ve been planting Keene Garlic for quite some time, and am always so pleased with their growth and taste.
The majority of garlic in the US is planted from mid-October through November before the ground freezes. When planting multiple rows of garlic, the rows are at least one-foot apart.
it is also important to give each clove enough room to grow and develop. These are at least two to three inches from each other.
Cloves should be at least three inches deep. The tip of the clove is faced up, and the root side faced down.
After each clove is pushed into its hole, it is gently backfilled. If the soil is well cultivated, this is a quick and easy planting task.
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.
Here is the bed in mid-June when the scapes are beginning to curl.
Scapes can be cut when the center stalks are completely formed and the ends are curled.
By early July, all the scapes are gone and the stems continue to brown.
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, but if the soil is soft, the garlic can be lifted straight up. If not.
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.
As the garlic is picked, it is placed in trays. Ryan keeps track of what grew well, so we can plant the same varieties in the fall.
Ryan shows just two bunches of freshly picked garlic – and there is so much more!
Look at the bounty! But it is not ready to eat just yet. It must still dry.
All the garlic is now in one area of my carport where it can cure for several weeks. 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.
Soon, the garlic will also be cleaned and trimmed. Finally, once the garlic is cured, the most beautiful heads with the biggest cloves will be set aside to use as garlic seeds next season.
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