Garden Experiments 2014

I don't believe much of anything that doesn't have some evidence to go along with it. Maybe I have issues with authority, or maybe I'm too well-trained as a scientist, but sometimes I don't even believe evidence provided by other people. I like to test things myself.

The garden is my experimental lab. I tested the 'potato towers grow twenty times more potatoes' theory, twice, and now definitively believe that the only advantage of potato towers is ease of harvest.

Two years ago, I sought proof for the garlic growing wisdom that one should remove the scape for the garlic plant to produce a bigger bulb. I planted a large patch of seed garlic. I split the patch down the middle and removed half the garlic scapes for cooking - they usually come up in early June - and left the rest as is. They grew beautiful flowers. At harvest time, we saw clearly that the plants with scapes removed produced bigger bulbs.

2014 Garden Experiments

This year, I've set up trials to answer these garden-related questions:

1. Which is better for production - organic seed garlic from out of state or high quality, locally grown garlic? I planted three varieties of garlic from multiple producers to answer this question. I am running the trial in two separate locations to eliminate location variables.
2. Are seed potatoes worth the cost? Organic culinary potatoes sprout readily and have grown well for me before. I question whether $6/pound seed potatoes are any better than sprouted $2/pound organic grocery potatoes. Because of the availability of seed stock, I wasn't able to choose varieties to directly compare but we can still measure yield from the four varieties planted (one seed stock, one grocery store and two saved over from last year's planting).
3. Can I grow artichokes in Ohio? If so, where? I grew four varieties of artichoke from seed and am planting them in locations around the garden including in the hoop house, the hugelkultur, and in regular beds.  Alex and I fondly remember artichokes from our year living in Monterey, California and we would love to have a source of fresh artichokes again.

Experimenting in the garden excites me and gives me a chance to explore my limits while learning new things to pass on to others.

What are your garden experiments this year?

Garden Experiments 2014

I don't believe much of anything that doesn't have some evidence to go along with it. Maybe I have issues with authority, or maybe I'm too well-trained as a scientist, but sometimes I don't even believe evidence provided by other people. I like to test things myself.

The garden is my experimental lab. I tested the 'potato towers grow twenty times more potatoes' theory, twice, and now definitively believe that the only advantage of potato towers is ease of harvest.

Two years ago, I sought proof for the garlic growing wisdom that one should remove the scape for the garlic plant to produce a bigger bulb. I planted a large patch of seed garlic. I split the patch down the middle and removed half the garlic scapes for cooking - they usually come up in early June - and left the rest as is. They grew beautiful flowers. At harvest time, we saw clearly that the plants with scapes removed produced bigger bulbs.

2014 Garden Experiments

This year, I've set up trials to answer these garden-related questions:

1. Which is better for production - organic seed garlic from out of state or high quality, locally grown garlic? I planted three varieties of garlic from multiple producers to answer this question. I am running the trial in two separate locations to eliminate location variables.
2. Are seed potatoes worth the cost? Organic culinary potatoes sprout readily and have grown well for me before. I question whether $6/pound seed potatoes are any better than sprouted $2/pound organic grocery potatoes. Because of the availability of seed stock, I wasn't able to choose varieties to directly compare but we can still measure yield from the four varieties planted (one seed stock, one grocery store and two saved over from last year's planting).
3. Can I grow artichokes in Ohio? If so, where? I grew four varieties of artichoke from seed and am planting them in locations around the garden including in the hoop house, the hugelkultur, and in regular beds.  Alex and I fondly remember artichokes from our year living in Monterey, California and we would love to have a source of fresh artichokes again.

Experimenting in the garden excites me and gives me a chance to explore my limits while learning new things to pass on to others.

What are your garden experiments this year?

2014 Spring Garden Update {Wordless Wednesday}

1. Bee on grape leaf 2. Bee on celosia flower 3. Chickens in their new dual pasture yard 4. Old chicken yard garden beds in progress 5. Fig finally springing back to life 6. Rows of garlic plants 7. Harmonious Gardens managed by Swainway Urban Farm 8. Potato leaves 9. Row of tomatoes and pollinator food, aka weeds 10. Strawberries

The spring garden is growing! Our annual produce garden is 75% planted, the front yard organic farm rows are in progress, and the egg-laying chickens are finally in a pastured system (more on that another time). What's going on in your garden?

2014 Spring Garden Update {Wordless Wednesday}

1. Bee on grape leaf 2. Bee on celosia flower 3. Chickens in their new dual pasture yard 4. Old chicken yard garden beds in progress 5. Fig finally springing back to life 6. Rows of garlic plants 7. Harmonious Gardens managed by Swainway Urban Farm 8. Potato leaves 9. Row of tomatoes and pollinator food, aka weeds 10. Strawberries

The spring garden is growing! Our annual produce garden is 75% planted, the front yard organic farm rows are in progress, and the egg-laying chickens are finally in a pastured system (more on that another time). What's going on in your garden?

Uptown Westerville Farmers' Market

Lil and I needed to pick up vegetables for dinner yesterday and decided to visit the Uptown Westerville Farmers' Market.

The market is held on Wednesday afternoons at the corner of North State and East Home streets. It is a small market but highly selective about vendors, choosing the best vegetable growers, meat farmers, and quality producers. We appreciated that in the compact space we didn't have to sift through crafts or junk to find good, real food.

On this particular Wednesday in early May, Lil paired bread samples from Dan the Baker with Sweet Thing Gourmet jam. I picked up asparagus from Flying J Farm and asked for radishes from Bird's Haven Farms, though they didn't have any yet. We checked in at the Swainway Urban Farm tent where we will work every other week starting in June.

We easily found free parking less than a block away from the market.  If we had more time, we could have explored the many shops and small eateries in uptown. It is a good idea to pack a cooler or insulated bag to keep your purchases chilled if you want to tour uptown Westerville.

The crowd was friendly and full but not uncomfortably crowded. Like most seasonal markets, I expect Uptown Westerville will attract more shoppers as farmers are able to bring a bigger variety of produce. It's a great little market with plenty of real, local food.

Uptown Westerville Farmers' Market

Wednesdays weekly May - October 3 - 6 pm

N. State & E. Home in Uptown Westerville, OH

Uptown Westerville Farmers' Market

Lil and I needed to pick up vegetables for dinner yesterday and decided to visit the Uptown Westerville Farmers' Market.

The market is held on Wednesday afternoons at the corner of North State and East Home streets. It is a small market but highly selective about vendors, choosing the best vegetable growers, meat farmers, and quality producers. We appreciated that in the compact space we didn't have to sift through crafts or junk to find good, real food.

On this particular Wednesday in early May, Lil paired bread samples from Dan the Baker with Sweet Thing Gourmet jam. I picked up asparagus from Flying J Farm and asked for radishes from Bird's Haven Farms, though they didn't have any yet. We checked in at the Swainway Urban Farm tent where we will work every other week starting in June.

We easily found free parking less than a block away from the market.  If we had more time, we could have explored the many shops and small eateries in uptown. It is a good idea to pack a cooler or insulated bag to keep your purchases chilled if you want to tour uptown Westerville.

The crowd was friendly and full but not uncomfortably crowded. Like most seasonal markets, I expect Uptown Westerville will attract more shoppers as farmers are able to bring a bigger variety of produce. It's a great little market with plenty of real, local food.

Uptown Westerville Farmers' Market

Wednesdays weekly May - October 3 - 6 pm

N. State & E. Home in Uptown Westerville, OH

Tiny Turtle

Guest post today by Lil!

We found a tiny turtle at Magee Marsh along Lake Erie this weekend. It was so cute I wished I could take it home.

I observed that it had a very orange belly and some stripes on its shell. It looks like its shell was layered like shingles. It was trying to jump out of our hands.

I observed that it had a teeny tiny sharp part on its beak. I thought it was an egg tooth. I put the turtle in a safe area near the marsh.

When we got home, we looked up breeds of turtles in Ohio and identified it as a painted midland turtle. We also confirmed that turtles do have egg teeth to help them get out of their shell.

Tiny Turtle

Guest post today by Lil!

We found a tiny turtle at Magee Marsh along Lake Erie this weekend. It was so cute I wished I could take it home.

I observed that it had a very orange belly and some stripes on its shell. It looks like its shell was layered like shingles. It was trying to jump out of our hands.

I observed that it had a teeny tiny sharp part on its beak. I thought it was an egg tooth. I put the turtle in a safe area near the marsh.

When we got home, we looked up breeds of turtles in Ohio and identified it as a painted midland turtle. We also confirmed that turtles do have egg teeth to help them get out of their shell.