Gardens

All of our produce is grown using organic and sustainable methods. Our gardens contain raised beds without external confinement boards. They are not tilled once established. This practice has forced us to be diligent about weeding and mulching. Biannual applications of animal manure and/or bedding to the beds have resulted in excellent organic soil.

Gardening last year was quite a challenge due to the persistent cool and wet weather. Our asparagus quality and yields were excellent, as was the garlic harvest (about 80 pounds of softneck Italian and California White and hardneck German). The black raspberries were very productive and tasty. Our heirloom tomatoes did not fare as well; they succumbed to the late blight before bearing fruit and we pulled all of our plants (over 100) to prevent the disease from spreading. Luckily for us, we had canned enough sauce the previous year to carry us through this year.

We are excited about this upcoming year’s gardens and again being a vendor at the Mansfield Growers Market. Last year was the first year for the market and our first year participating in a farmers market. The market formed late in the spring, and we had already planted the majority of our gardens, so we had little produce to offer. We hope to change that this year.

Last spring we planted four varieties of strawberries of varying ripening times. In the fall we planted five new varieties of garlic (Inchelium Red, Kilarney Red, Chesnook Red, Romanian Red, and Xian) in addition to what we normally plant. We also created new garden spaces so that this year’s gardens will be about double the size of last year’s gardens  (which means twice as many weeds for the compost pile!).

This year we will again start and transplant a variety of heirloom tomatoes for slicing, sauce, and salad. We use our own potting soil that we make on the farm. For the shorter season crops, such as peas, beans, and salad ingredients, we will experiment with succession planting. We also plan to expand our asparagus, black raspberry, and strawberry plantings, as well as add tea herbs.

Currently Available -

Garlic!