Plants For Sale

This year we should have plenty of different kinds of seedlings and other plants for sale. Here is a list of what we should have available this year:

(I will post a more detailed list of what is available when it gets closer to when they will be available, with pictures of what they look like at that time, information about the variety, and prices. This is just a possible list of what may be available, check back in May, when it is closer to planting time for an updated list.)

In May and beginning of June we will have vegetable starts and possibly some flowers available, pickup only from our farm (Must call ahead or email us). Some of the varieties we should have available include:

• Black Cherry Heirloom Tomato (purple heirloom cherry tomato)
  
• Isis Candy Heirloom Cherry Tomato (striped heirloom cherry tomato)
  
• Dr. Carolyn Heirloom Tomato (yellow heirloom cherry tomato)
  
• Hybrid Sweet Baby Girl Tomato (red cherry tomato)
  
• Cherokee Purple Tomato
• Amish Paste Tomato (heirloom paste tomato)
  
• Sweet Red Pepper
• We will have a limited supply of Red, Purple, Yellow, and some other colors of peppers available
• Thai Dragon Pepper (red cayenne pepper)
  
• Coleus
  
• and possibly some other flowers, vegetables and herbs
  

At Valley City Farmers Market we should have the following plants available in gallon size pots (some smaller depending on the plant). We may also re-pot some of the left over plants from the above list for the market (of course the price will be higher since they will be larger plants in larger pots).

• Fairy Tale Eggplant
  
• Sweet Basil
• Cinnamon Basil
• Opal Basil
• Lemon Basil
• Thai Dragon Pepper
• Fish Pepper
• Mexican Sunflower Tithonia
• Sweet Peas (In hanging baskets)
• We will also have available a potted salad mix (You can have your own pot of lettuce and other greens to pick whenever you feel like having a salad!)

Some of the potted herbs that we should have available include:

• The varieties of basils listed above
• Parsley
• Rosemary
• Dill
• Oregano
• Thyme
• Sage
• Tarragon
• Mint
• and some others
• We will also have most of the above herbs available as cut bunches at our markets throughout the season

I just wanted to let everyone know that we will have many kinds plants available throughout the season, and give you a good idea of what exactly will be available and when.

Seedling update

Well, my greenhouse in the basement is almost full. Things have been pretty nice here outside lately, and as long as the weather permits I should be planting some seeds outside this week! How exciting is that? My basement temperature right now is about 62 degrees, and my greenhouse in the basement is about 80 degrees! It is really really warm in there, which is helping all the seeds that I just planted come up very quickly. This week I will also have to begin transplanting my first group of seedlings (Sweet Basil and Carnations).

Here are some pictures that I just took today of my seedlings and my light setups:

Picture of the "greenhouse" in the basement and the new shelf that I just added which will soon be filled with plants and lights.


Shelf of tomato and pepper flats, the peppers have not started coming up yet but the all the tomatoes have sprouted (both the tomatoes and peppers were planted almost 1 week ago).


Some of my eggplant seedlings (they are getting nice and big!)


Some of my little Sweet Basil seedlings that really need to be transplanted.
Hopefully I will be doing that tomorrow.

Carnation Seedlings that also need to be transplanted.

That is my update for today. Tomorrow I have transplanting to do, and since the weather is not suppose to be real good, it does not look like I will be able to plant anything outside tomorrow. Hopefully after the bad weather passes everything will not be too wet, and I will be able to do some planting, the beginning of this coming week. Outside within the next week I am going to have to plant head lettuce, romaine hearts, scallion seeds, possible swiss chard (depending on the temps.), some kale and a possibly some other things that I am unable to think of right now.

It is so nice to be able to finally watch things grow and know that warm weather and summer is finally on it's way here.

Be sure to check back on Wednesday April 1st for the post about our first vegetable of the month- Beets!

Spring is here!

Spring is here! It looks like spring outside too, now if only it were a little warmer. Oh well, at least it is not snowing, and the sun is out. It may not be warm outside but the hoop house sure is toasty when the sun is shinning. I guess I can just sit in there and pretend it is warm outside. At least we are out of winter and summer is on it way.

Happy Spring everyone!

New BA Farm Logo

I have finally got around to making a logo. I did it last night at like midnight. It was the quickest thing that I have done yet on the computer. Usually whenever I design something on the computer it takes me days, but since it was so late and I was so tired I did not spend as much time trying to get every detail perfect and debating on what would look best. Maybe I should do more that late at night, I may not waste as much time trying to get every detail perfect, since I am a perfectionist. It isn't anything too fancy, but it works, now I can start working on labels and such for this years market, and can put BA Farm logo on them! Maybe one day I will come up with something better, but for now it will do.

Well, I better get to planting seeds I have a bunch of things that I must get planted sometime this weekend. These are the things that I already have started, and have sprouted already: eggplant, hot peppers, celery, head lettuce, mint, viola, carnations, some basil, and strawberries. Next weekend will be my big planting weekend, it exhausts me just thinking of it. Some of the things that will need to be planted next weekend include: about 6 kinds of tomatoes, 5 kinds of peppers, 3 kinds of basil, some flowers and some other things that I can not think of off the top of my head. I better be going so I can get back to work, I need to replace the hoophouse plastic now so that I can start using it for some of the cool weather crops, since it did not survive the winter.

Another trip to our local garden center

I love buying seeds!
I can not stress that enough. I order a lot of our seeds online, through catalogs, but I still have to visit our local garden center Gales Garden Center, a least once a week, and I never walk out of there without buying some seeds. Today I had to stop at Gales because I had a short list of seeds that I had to get, actually a log list, that turned into a really long list. But anyhow, I bought some seeds that I am really excited about. Here is what I bought:

• Kohlrabi: This will be my first time growing this, and selling it. I mostly bought it because it is something new for me (I have to try everything), and because it should mature early enough to be able to sell at Valley City in the spring. According to the package in can be used in stew, stir-fry, sauteed, or steamed and raw with dip or in salads. It is suppose to taste like a mild white turnip, and is a member of the cabbage family. I sounds really interesting, like it could have lots of potential. I can't wait to experiement with it.
• Diakon Radish: These radishes are suppose to be different from normal radishes because of their mild flavor. They are white and can grow up to 18" long. I think that these radishes should be good for those who do not like the strong taste of regular radishes.
• Lettuce (Romaine Hearts): These just looked interesting to me and should be something else for us to have available for our first market of this year. I can also use the baby leaves for our bagged lettuce mixes.
• Leeks: I really should have bought these earlier and started them in the cold frame or hoop house, but I didn't because I did not like the fact that they take soooo long to mature. But the more I thought about it, and the more research I did I figured I can start them a lot earlier that I had thought and have them mature earlier that I had imagined. So of coarse I just had to buy them. I have read that they take to transplanting really well, so I will be able to start them earlier then expected.
• Onions: This is another one that I should have started aready. I have been debating for I long time now weather or not to grow any onions this year or not. But I love onions so how can I not buy them. I am still not sure weather we will be growing enough to sell this year or not, but at least I will have them for myself :)
• Okra: This is another one that I was not sure if I should grow or not. It has been tempting me for quite some time now, so I decieded to just go ahead and buy some seeds. I really don't know much of anything about okra. You just don't see it much around here. I wasn't sure if it was something that would sell well in our area. So I will probably only be planting a limited amount of okra just to give it a try.
• Sunflowers: I bought two beautiful kinds of sunflowers that I am really excited to grow for cut flowers. I think they should look beautiful together. I can't wait to see them bloom.
• Nasturtium: I bought these to add a little bit of color to my bagged lettuce mixes. The flowers are edible and have a spicy, peppery flavor.
• I also bought some more flowers for cutting. I am so excited to be able to add cut flowers to the list of things that we will be selling for this year, and can hardly wait to see how the flowers that I have selected look together!
• I just learned that some varieties of sweet peas can be grow for containers and hanging baskets! I can't believe that I did not know this before! I found a package of sweet pea seeds that are for hanging baskets and just had to get them. The only thing is there are progbably not enough of seeds for me to be able to sell any. I will just have to be for me :) But the good news is that I looked through one of the catalogs that I order from and they carry a few varrieties that can be used for baskets! So if they work out good for me this year I will hopefully have some to sell for next year!
  

Most of the seeds that I bought today were new things that I wanted to try this year but debated for awile weather or not to get them.
I should have just got them from the beginging, what was I thinking? I should know by now that I just can not resist buying new seeds.

And that is what happens when I make a trip to the garden center. I always come home with more seeds!

Tomorrow and this weekend I will be starting my first group of seeds for this year. I just can't wait to get started with this years growing season! Hopefully now that I will be starting seeds soon that will keep me busy enough to where I will stay away from the garden center for now, at least for a little while.

Plans for our first market on June 13th

Our first market this year will begin on Saturday, June 13th from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. And will be at Valley City Farmers Market located on Center Rd. in Valley City. It seems like so far away but market season is getting closer than you may think.

Here is a list of what we plan to have available to sell for our first market:

• Red and White Scallions
• Beets
• Carrots
• Broccoli Raab
• Bok Choy
• Dwarf Pak Choy (Bok Choy)
• Bagged Salad Mixes
• Head Lettuce
• Individual Lettuces
• Leeks
• Collards
• Peas
• Radishes
• Spinach
• Swiss Chard
• We should have some kind of bread available also, not sure what kind yet though, maybe carrot bread or mulberry bread and muffins.
• We should have some plants available for sale also but will post what kinds when it is closer to market time.

This is just a list of what we are planning so far to have available for our first market day. We will post a new list just before our first market day.

Right now we are pretty much doing the same as you probably are, just looking out the window waiting for the snow to melt, wishing is was spring already. But, spring is coming soon, we know because starting next week we will begin starting some of our seeds inside. It seems like winter drags on and on until we start planting our seeds. That is when all the work begins and soon after that, before we know it we are tilling the gardens and planting everything. So for those of you that just can't wait for spring, it will be here soon.