Diversify Your Vegetable Crops
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Diversify Your Vegetable Crops ©Pam Dawling 2018 Twin Oaks Community, Virginia Author of Sustainable Market Farming and The Year-Round Hoophouse SustainableMarketFarming.com facebook.com/SustainableMarketFarming The Purpose of this Presentation Help you • Provide the most interesting vegetables around, while still reliably supplying old favorites. • Attract and keep – Chefs (who often want something different), – Retail or wholesale customers, – CSA sharers, – School and other institutional clients. • Learn to distinguish between crops likely to succeed and the siren call of weird eggplants. Photo Baker Creek Seeds Outline Part l: What does diversify mean to you? 1. Offer a broader range of vegetables and varieties; gourmet high value crops. Consider non-food crops (but this presentation is about vegetables!) 2. Season extension – crops when people don't expect them 3. Provide favorites! Never miss a chance to sell squash! Part ll: From your list of interesting crops, winnow the chaff 1. Clarify your goals 2. Which crops are likely to succeed? Avoid distractions 3. Rate crops against each other to decide which to grow Resources and my contact info 1A. Less Usual Crops Introduce your customers to crops they haven't tried before. Keep them coming back with a new crop every week. Restaurant chefs love special new ingredients. Peanuts, parsnips, leeks, Jerusalem artichokes, chicories, radicchio, endives, celeriac, kohlrabi, multiplier onions, daikon, Asian greens, unusual Kohlrabi. Photo Emma greens, microgreens, perennial Christensen, Kitchn vegetables For details, see my slideshows Fall Vegetable Production, Storage Vegetables for Off-Season Sales, Cold-hardy winter vegetables on www.slideshare.net Peanuts • Peanuts need a frost-free period of at least 110 days. • They like warm or hot conditions, with adequate but not excessive water. Carwiles Virginia Peanut Photo Southern Exposure Seed Exchange Parsnips Root crops that thrive in mild weather, surprisingly easy to grow in warmer Hollow Crown parsnips. Photo Southern Exposure Seed climates Exchange Similar requirements to carrots and beets, but slow growing – start them in March-late April – they are almost guaranteed to be big enough by the end of the season Don’t harvest before frosts – poor flavor Hybrids are often smoother, higher quality than OPs Photo Small Farm Central Leeks Leeks are slow growing, start them in spring. Leek varieties - 2 main types: Unlike onions, leeks grow • independently of day length Less hardy, faster-growing varieties, often with Will stand in the field in cold lighter green leaves, temperatures, increasing in which are not winter- size until you harvest them. Overwintered leeks with a scattering of snow. hardy north of Zone 8. Lincoln, King Richard • Hardier blue-green winter leeks. We like Tadorna (100 days), Bandit, King Sieg (84 days) and Bleu de Solaize (105 days). Jerusalem artichokes/Sunchokes • Easy to grow, 10ft sunflower cousins • Various skin colors • Look for smooth, not knobbly shapes, to save cleaning time • Best to have a semi-permanent plot, as any small tubers you miss will regrow • Plant small, whole tubers from early spring until last frost. • Dig them from late fall to mid-winter. • Cool weather improves flavor. • Harvest 100 lbs from 25 sq ft. • Store in a root cellar or refrigerator • Save small tubers to replant Endives and Chicories • Related to wild chicory and dandelions, naturally bitter. • 3 main species: endive, wild endive and common chicory Endives and Chicories Wild Common Endive Endive Chicory Frisée Escarole Chicory, Belgian (curly (Batavian Radicchio Sugarloaf endive) endive) the weed endive Endives Frisée endive is the most bitter. Escarole is the least bitter member Normally blanched before eating. of the family - looks like a sturdy Upper photo Hudson Valley Seed Library lettuce. Can be eaten in hearty salads, but is usually sautéed or braised, which brings out the sweetness and mutes the bitterness. Lower photo Van Geest Inter- national Photo NPR Kitchen Window Chicory for Chicons • Belgian Endive (Witloof chicory) – forcing chicory • The seeding date is earlier than other chicories, to get a large root for harvest before the ground freezes. • The harvested roots are stored (planted) in deep crates of soil mix • In late winter the crates are warmed in a completely dark space to force leaves to grow, forming a tight, very pale head of leaves (chicons). • Darkness reduces bitterness Witloof chicory Heading Chicories • Some chicories including radicchio and sugarloaf chicory are storable Photo www.growitalian.com • Chicories develop peak flavor and sweetness as temperatures drop in the fall • More hardy than lettuce • Hold well in the cooler, much better than lettuce, especially when harvested slightly immature with an inch of root attached • 2 main types of radicchio - Chioggia (round and red), and Treviso (oblong and red). • Slower maturing varieties are more cold tolerant; faster maturing ones are more heat tolerant. Sugarloaf Chicory • A heading chicory between a Belgian endive and a radicchio in appearance • It grows to the size of a small romaine lettuce • One of the sweetest, least bitter chicories • But also the least cold hardy. Photo www.growitalian.com Celeriac • Also known as turnip-rooted celery, celeriac stores very well. • Growing celeriac is similar to growing celery, but is somewhat easier. • Slow-growing – 85 days to transplant size and another 95 days from transplanting to maturity • Transplant once the weather is settled warm. • Keep soil damp for uninterrupted growth and good quality roots. • Only the root is eaten, the stalks are fibrous. Mars celeriac. Photo Johnnys Selected Seeds Kohlrabi • Only 58 days from sowing to harvest. • Kohlrabi can be direct sown or transplanted in spring or fall. • We transplant 3-4 week old starts on August 3, and harvest at the end of October. • Planting mid-August provides early November harvests. • Hardy to about 15°F (–9.4°C). • Stores well in perforated plastic bags under refrigeration Kohlrabi Photo McCune Porter Multiplier Onions (Potato Onions) • Planted the largest ones in September • Plant medium-sized ones in late October or early November • Plant small ones in November or in early spring (less good) • Mulch immediately after planting • Do nothing all winter • Weed in spring • Harvest as the tops fall in June • Sell the largest ones for eating (but save back any for planting) • Cure and store the smaller ones for Yellow Potato Onions replanting or sell for growing Photo Kathryn Simmons Winter Radish, including Daikon • We sow winter radish August 4. China Rose and a daikon. • We harvest in October or November before temperatures drop to 20°F (-7°C) • Store well in perforated plastic bags under refrigeration • Popular for making Kim Chee, as well as for salads and stir- fries. Frosty daikon. Photo Bridget Aleshire Mustard Greens • Hardy to light frosts • American Mustards (eg Southern Green Wave) • Asian mustards such as Red Giant, Osaka Purple, Brassica juncea, • Attractive colors. 21 days to baby leaves, 40–45 days full size Green Wave Mustard. Photo Mature Red Giant Mustard Photo Planet Natural http://www.rareseeds.com Asian Greens Blues Napa Chinese cabbage • Quick-growing, fast returns for Photo Ethan Hirsh your market booth or CSA bags • Huge range of attractive varieties • Grow when you normally grow kale • Short spring season, bolt when it gets hot • Long fall season, no bolting. Success depends on getting them germinated and planted in June and July For details, see my slideshow • Grow particularly well in the Producing Asian Greens on hoophouse, all winter in zone 7 www.slideshare.net Advantages of Asian Greens Better able to germinate in hot weather than lettuce. Faster growing than lettuce Some of the faster-growing types are ready for transplanting 2 weeks after sowing (or you can direct sow them) A catch crop for spaces where other crops have finished early or failed. Keep a flat of seedlings ready, November hoophouse greens. Photo Ethan Hirsh pop plugs into empty spaces as they occur. Asian Greens – Many Types • Senposai • Pak Choy • Komatsuna • Chrysanthemum greens • Yokatta-na • Tatsoi • Ruby Streaks, Scarlet Frills & other mustards • Napa Chinese Cabbage • Mizuna • Tokyo Bekana • Maruba Santoh • Yukina Savoy • Mizspoona • Toraziroh • Thick-stemmed mustard • Hon Tsai Tai • Mustard-based salad mixes Unusual Greens 3 hot weather greens 3 cold weather greens Malabar spinach Miners Lettuce/Claytonia Jewels of Opar Upland Cress Purslane Minutina 3 “all season” greens Orach Sorrel Saltwort Baby Lettuce Small-leaf lettuces: Osborne’s Lettuce Mixes Multileafs, Johnny’s Salanovas, High Mowing’s Eazyleaf; Photo Lettuce Mix. Photo Twin Oaks Community Tango, Oscarde, Panisse. Osborne Seeds For details, see my slideshow Lettuce Year-Round on www.slideshare.net Brassica Salad Mixes Wild Garden Pungent Mix, Pink Petiole Mix, Brassica Brassica juncea, (Wild Garden rapa (Wild Garden Seeds, Seeds, Fedco). Fedco). A cross of pungent Indian Fast-growing, cold tolerant, mustards for those who like adds a touch of color to the brassica portion of winter salad Big Flavor. 40 days to harvest. Photos Wild Garden Seeds mixes. A varied mix of colors and shapes. Ready in 40 days. Other Salad Crops • Sylvetta, Surrey and Astro varieties of arugula are particularly cold-hardy. Even’Star arugula photo credit Southern Exposure Seed Exchange • Parsley, Belle Isle upland cress, winter purslane, salad burnet and mâche (corn salad) are also very winter-hardy.