Is it winter or spring at the farm?

The weather is fickle and playing tricks on our Winter Garden. 

There have been days where it is almost 70 degrees and 

buds are out on some of the trees already. 

celestial fig tree

Nectarine tree

It is unlikely we will see fruit on the trees much sooner than usual,
but the blossoms peeking out are harbingers
of spring and spur us on in our work.
What was even more encouraging was that only six weeks
after planting garlic, we harvested four rows about a week ago,
bringing green garlic to the girl & the fig's kitchen. 
John created a green garlic pistou with striped bass,
artichokes, gigante beans and crispy artichokes.

Green garlic ready for picking

garlic rows after recent harvest, ready for new bulbs below

Ray and Matt from Local Landscapers were back at it on the farm, 

planting more garlic so we will likely have 

one more harvest from this section of the farm 

before we put in other plants in this area for spring and summer.

 

Their careful work and the rich soil at our biodynamic farm 

ensure that what we grow is as pure as possible. 

Oyster shells which are pure calcium carbonate, 

are added as a soil amendment because they increase pH levels 

by adding lime and making the soil drain better.

It's as if we have one foot and one hand in our winter garden 

and the other preparing for spring/summer planting.

With the warm weather and our access to the greenhouse, 

we are now planting seeds in addition 

to what we are growing from transplants.  

The eggplants, peppers, herbs and tomato seeds 

will be started in the greenhouse, 

while most of the other vegetables are 

to be planted at the farm.  

We are gearing up to plant 300 tomato plants–just writing about them 

makes my mouth water, how about you?

And while we plan for summer's bounty from our seed packets, 

we continue to work the farm for what we will pick before spring.

In addition to the walla wallas and cipollinis

 we also are growing torpedo and red candy onions.

red candy onions

See the radish sprouts coming up between the red candy onions?
This is part of of our companion planting program. 

Companion planting is based around the idea that certain plants 

can benefit others when planted close to one another.

We will talk more about companion planting in an upcoming post.

Alongside the 1200 onions John 

and his crew planted lancelot leeks

Can you tell the subtle difference between 

how the leek stalk looks–straighter with a sharp edge, 

than the torpedo onions which are rounder?

lancelot leeks

leek stalk

torpedo onions

You can certainly tell the difference when you are eating them. 

grilling onions in the girl & the fig kitchen

braised leeks w/creme fraiche & truffles photo by Steven Krause

Follow how the companion plants compliment each other.

Tell us what you have been successful planting together. 

By the time we share with you again, we may have harvested 

more from the farm. For sure, we will have planted more!