Brassicas in Bloom

Some of the brassicas that have been blooming over the last month.

Brassica rapa and oleracea in bloom

ARUGULA in bloom

CHERVIL in bloom (An Umbel not a Brassica)

 

Biennials: Readying Radishes and Turnips To Replant

A week and a half I ago,  my overwintered brassica roots came out of the cold room for inspection.  Let’s look at

• Storage conditions
• Roots that stored best
• Roots that stored less than perfect
• Curing roots before planting.

Storage conditions

These roots were harvested last September. I selected the best individuals to bear seed. The roots were stored in our cold room. During the summer,  an evaporator and compressor keep the cold room around 4C. During the winter we use a little heater to keep the room from freezing.

The roots are stored in plastic bags with holes. This maintains good humidity levels for the roots. I always identify root bags that are for seed.

And I also add ‘for seed’ labels. This keeps important roots out of winter salads and snacks.

Some Roots Look Great: Black Radishes & Turnips

A bit of sprouting.

And some rooting.

These turnips want to get planted.

Some Roots Need Some Work: Watermelon Radishes

I’ve had more of a problem getting these guys through the winter. Last year I planted out a bunch of roots but within a month they’d all rotted in the field.

So this year I took more time to inspect the roots.

Many of these radishes have rotten taproot tips.

I trimmed the rotten portions from the taproot.

Other radishes have blemishes on the actual roots. I consider composting these radishes but I also want to plant out as many roots as possible so …

I cut off the rotten portion of the root.

In some radishes the rot runs a little deep. These root were not saved.

Radishes post surgery. These gaping wounds will be let to cure before planting them in the ground.

I use a sharp knife to operate on these radishes. I disinfect the blade after each root with rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle. This minimizes spreading disease.

CURING ROOTS

Now I let the roots sit at ambient temperatures for a week or so.

They are placed in clean flats with a lot of space for air circulation.

This should help wounds cure and might make the transition from cold room to ground smoother.

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I’ve since planted the roots. Now I wait …

In the meantime, you can always read some of my other turnip and radish seed posts.

The Real Seed Catalogue DIY Seed Cleaner

Here is a video that Ben Gable from the Real Seed Company sent me of their DIY seed cleaner:

Open-Source, DIY Seed Cleaner Plans are also available on their site

If you want to see more DIY seed cleaning equipment, you can view two of my previous post that include the air columns that Patrice Fortier and Greta Kryger built.

Do any of you have homemade seed cleaning equipment you’d love to share with other seed growers?

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Also, tomorrow (March 23) there is a free webinar on Breeding for Nutrition in Organic Seed Systems at 2 p.m. Eastern. However you have to register in advance.

Caterpillar Tunnel Workshop At Tourne-Sol Farm

We are hosting a caterpillar tunnel building workshop for farmers. This event is being organized by the Quebec ministry of Agriculture (MAPAQ).

Workshop Details

• Date: Thursday May 3rd 2012 (possible May 9 rain date)
• Schedule: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with 1 hour for lunch
• Lunch options: a. Bring your own lunch. b. The closest restaurants to our farm also offer a fine selection of fried foods.
• Location: 1025 ch. St-Dominique, Les Cedres, Quebec, J7T 1P5
• Register by April 25th: by phone 450-427-2000 ext. 5100 or  by e-mail diane.longtin@mapaq.gouv.qc.ca  (remember to leave your contact info.)
• Language: The event will be mainly in French though all the presenters are also fluent in English. As this will be a very hands-on event there will be a  lot to learn even if you don’t speak any French.

Here’s MAPAQ’s press release:

Démonstration de tunnel « chenille » dans les légumes

Christine Villeneuve, agr. MAPAQ Sainte-Martine

La Ferme Coopérative Tournesol vous convie à participer à la construction d’un tunnel piétonnier de type « chenille » ou caterpillar en anglais. Ce type d’abris est de plus en plus populaire aux États-Unis afin de protéger les cultures horticoles des intempéries et d’allonger la saison de production. Ces tunnels peuvent être démontés et remontés au besoin pour être déplacés ce qui facilite les rotations de cultures. Selon l’espacement entre les arches, ils peuvent supporter temporairement une légère charge de neige. À l’hiver, les plastiques sont remontés et enroulés au sommet de la structure. En comparaison avec d’autres types d’abris, le coût des tunnels de type « chenille » est abordable, de l’ordre de 0,60 à 1,00 $/pi2, Les tunnels chenilles utilisés à la Ferme Coopérative Tournesol mesurent 14’ x 300’ (4.3m x 92m). Voici trois sites internet qui vous permettront d’en apprendre davantage sur les tunnels « chenille ».

1. http://goingtoseed.wordpress.com/2010/10/16/building-a-caterpillar-tunnel/
2. http://www.uvm.edu/sustainableagriculture/hightunnels.html
3. http://www.johnnyseeds.com/Assets/Information/HighTunnelBendermanual.pdf

Informations pour la démonstration

Date : Jeudi le 3 mai 2012 (pourrait être reporté au mercredi 9 mai en cas de pluie, veuillez consulter le message vocal qui sera mis en ligne le mercredi le 2 mai à partir de 16h00 au 450-427-2000 p.5133)

Horaire :

• 09h00 à 12h00 :  Démo
• 12h00 à 13h00 : Dîner (Apporter votre lunch ou commande possible à une cantine localisée à quelques minutes de la ferme)
• 13h00 à 16h00 : Démo

Lieu : 1025 ch. St-Dominique, Les Cèdres, http://g.co/maps/35t5s

Préinscription obligatoire (les places pourraient être limitées) pour le 25 avril par téléphone ou par courriel auprès de Mme Diane Longtin, MAPAQ Ste-Martine 450-427-2000 p. 5100 diane.longtin@mapaq.gouv.qc.ca

Lors de la préinscription laissez vos coordonnées afin que nous puissions vous recontacter au besoin.

Visiting Greta’s Organic Gardens

This post is a little late coming …

On August 25th, 2010, the Eastern Canadian Organic Seed Growers Network (ECOSGN) hosted a field trip to Greta’s Organic Gardens in Ottawa, Ontario. The visit was broken up into

• A little about Greta,
• A field walk,
• A tomato taste test,
• A peek inside Greta’s seed workshop, and
• A seed cleaning demonstration.

A Little Bit About Greta

Greta Kryger is a staple at most Seedy Saturdays and Sundays across Quebec and Ontario. Her seeds are also available through her on-line seed catalogue. Greta grows all her own tomato, pepper, eggplant, and melon seed in addition to as many other species as she can fit in to her gardens.

Greta’s Organic Gardens began as a market garden in 1991. She began saving seeds and  selling at the Ottawa and Toronto Seedy Saturdays in 1992-1993. In the late nineties, she switched from market gardening to 100% seed production. Her production has been certified organic since 2003.

Greta has also been on the ECOSGN steering committee since its first meeting in March 2008.

Field Walk

The morning began with a walk across Greta’s fields.

A few cucurbit species on black geotextile (for weed control).

Tomatoes.

Some of Greta’s seed crops are also grown in tunnels. This adds heat and isolates plants from  other pollen sources.

These guys make good use of any seed cleaning byproducts (i.e squash and tomato pulp).

Tomato Taste Test

Greta is known for her huge selection of tomatoes. With a couple of volunteers, Greta set up 30 or so sampling stations of different tomatoes.

Tasters rated each tomato from 1 to 5 on different aspects such as taste and  appearance.

A Peek Into Greta’s Seed Workshop/Greenhouse

This greenhouse is Greta’s seed wonderland with an aquatic garden and heat loving plants.

The controlled climate let’s Greta collect seed from many plants that might not set much seed in our climate.

In one corner of the greenhouse, tomatoes are fermenting.

Tomato seeds are placed on screens (these are actually pepper seeds.)

Then stacked to dry.

Greta also brings seed crops into the greenhouse to dry out of the rain.

Some seed crops are hung in pillow cases to dry.

Seed Cleaning Demonstration

Greta uses a set of seed screens (also notice the colander collection in the upper left corner) to remove most of the chaff from her seeds. The final cleaning of most crops is done with this air column:

Dirty seeds go in the top right pipe. Lighter material (dirt, dust, chaff) is blown out the top of the long pipe. Heavier material (seeds and maybe stones) are collected from the bottom of the pipe.

The air column is powered by a bathroom fan with a dimmer switch.

(Compare this with Patrice Fortier’s air column.)

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Thanks Greta for a great farm tour and a great farm lunch – the turkey meat balls were especially good!

ECOSGN is currently planning more great seedy events – more details soon …

USC Canada Seed Savers Survey

USC Canada is trying to understand the challenges gardeners experience in their seed production and saving, as well as what gardeners would like to see in a resilient Canadian seed system.

You can provide your input by taking their survey

• in English https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/seedsaving
• or in French https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/semences

A second, farmer-focused survey will be distributed later in the spring.

USC Canada will use this information, along with one-on-one interviews and other research, to help identify ways in which they can help boost the production, saving and exchange of biodiverse seed in Canada.

This is all part of The Bauta Initiative on Canadian Seed Security.

 

The Asparagus Pea (Tetragonolobus purpureus)

Last summer, I tried out a bunch of different edible legumes. The strangest of which was Tetragonolobus purpureus – the asparagus pea.

Asparagus peas are common in most books about strange and unusual vegetables but not so common in seed catalogs. I purchased my seed from Patrice at la Société des Plantes during a Seedy Sunday last year. (And now we’ve added it to our seed offerings.)

The Edible Asparagus Pea Pod

Folks claim you can lightly boil the young pods then eat them. And that they taste like asparagus.

The pods look like skinny 2-inch long pea pods with 4 wings sticking out.

We didn’t get around to boiling the asparagus peas but we did sample them raw.

If you have an excessively moist mouth, and are looking for something to suck all the moisture out and leave you all pasty, then asparagus peas are the vegetable for you.

Raw asparagus peas are incredibly astringent. I hope they are better cooked.

The Asparagus Pea Plant

This winter I mentioned to Patrice how astringent the pods were. He knew what I was talking about. He said that the growing tips of the stems were delicious in salads.

Next year we’ll sample the tips and make a more informed evaluation of asparagus pea culinary merits. In the meantime we have

The Asparagus Pea Flowers

And they are stunning.

These plants are definitely worth growing as a sprawling ornamental in the ground or in a container.

A Few Word About Growing Asparagus Peas

Asparagus peas

• are fairly cold hardy (like peas)
• can be sown directly outdoors or started indoors
• have mature seed by August near Montreal

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There you have it – the asparagus pea: easy to grow, beautiful scarlet blooms, and great for excessively moist mouths.

Who else is a fan?