An Early Spring on the Farm
Is Spring already around the corner or did we skip Winter this year?? This “Winter” has been extremely mild with most days at 40, 50 an even 60+ degree weather. As farmers, we always have to go with the flow to some degree, but we’re also not banking on permanent climate change... At Valentines Farm, we’re still prepared to handle cold weather until mid-April.
Due to this incredibly warm Winter we have been able to harvest turnips, radishes, carrots, and scallions, straight from the garden all Winter long. Under our hoops, the spinach we planted in the Fall, has been growing slowly but beautifully! We tried three different varieties of spinach: Seaside, Space, and Red Kitten. It was no contest, the definite winner this season was SEASIDE!
Seaside spinach has small to medium, slightly oblong and meaty leaves that stretch upward and above the ground allowing for easy harvesting. Most importantly, this allowed for greater air circulation and less contact with the soil, which led to less yellowing of the leaves and a much healthier crop overall.
In our cozy bright new greenhouse, artichokes, leeks, onions, herbs, flowers, cauliflower, broccoli chard, beets, celery and celeriac have germinated and are growing nicely! Mustards, mesclun, spinach and arugula have all been sown in the garden since late February.
Last but not least, our crocuses are already flowering! Tulips, garlic, and shallots are popping up and we have a feeling bud break on our fruit trees is just around the corner. But before they bloom, we need to prune them and get them covered with the biodynamic winter tree paste!