Thursday, March 31, 2011

"How To" Organic Gardening: Organizing for the Farmers Market

"How To" Organic Gardening: Organizing for the Farmers Market: "While it is still too early to plant I am going to plan for the Farmers Market. Last year(2010) I tried various set ups and this ye..."

Organizing for the Farmers Market


While it is still too early to plant I am going to plan for the Farmers Market.  Last year(2010) I tried various set ups and this year I will do the same.  I have made some aprons I will try to sell and then I am going to try dried spices and fresh and dried herbs.  I am also going to try fresh pastas and some sauces to expand my market.

I didn’t have apple butter last year or any of the canned, picante’s, pickles and canned jalapenos to start the season, this year I will.

I am also doing research on all the Farmers Markets with a close proximity to see how they set up and sell as well as I will try to visit some of the Organic Farms within Missouri to see how they process their products and what they are successful in selling.

One of the major differences between the Farmers Market here in Louisiana that I attend and some that I visit in St. Louis and surrounding areas is the time in which they are open.  Most open from Wednesday to Sunday, the one in Louisiana is open only on Saturday only.  Louisiana charges $5.00 for the one day while others will charge $10.00 for weekdays and $20.00 for the weekends.  The higher charge would not benefit me as I am only making between $25.00 to $75.00 on the weekend here in Louisiana now, so my small home garden is already not suited for the bigger cities.

This booth charge difference might be a clue to those of you that have a home garden large enough to sell items yet not big enough to handle the $20.00 charge.  Look for a smaller town Farmers Market to participate in to get started.

Below are some comparisons between Missouri Farmers Markets to help you find the market that may suit you.
name   product/price/license
SOULARD MARKET http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/soulardmarket/index.html  730 Carroll Street, St. Louis, MO 63104 314 622-4180
product:75% non-food: yes, weekdays $10.00, weekends: $20.00, Business License: St. Louis
Sappington http://www.sappingtonfarmersmkt.com/ 8400 Watson Rd., St. Louis, MO 63119
must qualify as Farmer
Tower Grove http://www.tgmarket.org/tgfm-home.php Northwest Dr. & Central Cross Dr.ST. Louis, MO 63139
can work with other farmers, 150 miles from St. Louis, must register farm. Weekends: $35.00
Downtown Tower Grove http://www.tgmarket.org/dtfm-home.php Locust bewtween 8th and 9th, St. Louis
can work with other farmers, 150 miles from St. Louis, must register farm.Weekends: $20.00
Clayton Farmers Market http://www.claytonfarmersmarket.com/ 8282 Forsyth Bloulevard, St. Louis, MO 63105
weekends: $25.00, Business License required
Florissant Farmers Market http://fergusonfarmersmarket.com/ 20 S. Florissant, Florissant, MO 63135
membership + $15.00
Kirkwood Farmers Market http://www.downtownkirkwood.com/    

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

"How To" Organic Gardening: Making Planters for vegtable starts

"How To" Organic Gardening: Making Planters for vegtable starts: "If you need more ideas of planner for your garden try the the National Gardening Association.National Gardening Association Planning Guid..."

Making Planters for vegtable starts


If you need more ideas of planner for your garden try the the National Gardening Association.

Now that we have a good idea of what we want to make from our garden, the planting guide is in place and we know what we need to hunt for in seeds and plants we are going to prepare for planting in advance.

We can prepare the planters and plant seed starts inside.  This can be started about the middle of March if you have grow lights or about now if you don't and live in the Missouri, Zone 5 area.

Here are the instructions for making the Garden_Crafts seedling pots:
MATERIALS:Paper towel or toilet paper tubes
Scissors
Permanent marker
Potting soil
Container that will not leak liquid, preferable an outside container.



Divide the paper towel rolls or toilet paper tubes into equal parts, mine are 2 inches long.
I use a ruler with a pencil held at the 2 inch mark and then rotate the paper tube around against the pencil, with the end of the tube remaining at the end of the ruler.
Make a hole in the paper tube with a scissors and cut around at the mark.

Place the cut tubes into a container that will hold water. I use an outdoor container that later will have other
annual plants. Use something you can move easily outdoors after the seedling have sprouted.
Fill the cut tube with potting soil. Use potting soil that does not container fertilizer, I usually find my at the Dollar Store type outlets. The potting soil with fertilizer is formulated for flowers and will not supply your vegetables with the right kind of nutrients and if you want to organic garden the commercial fertilizer defeats the purpose.
Add your seeds based on the instructions on the back of your packages. Keep moist.
Yogurt cups could also be used for containers. They will not break down organically but they are great to use instead of buying plastic containers. Poke holes in the bottom and place in containers just like the card board ones.
To see a video on how to make these: How to Organic Vegetable planters

NEXT: will be planting the lettuce and spinach, the cold crop.  Lettuce and spinach can be planted now in Missouri, they don't mind cooler weather so we are going to try no till gardening with these crops.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

"How To" Organic Gardening: Organic Garden Planning - lettuce, peppers & potpo...

"How To" Organic Gardening: Organic Garden Planning - lettuce, peppers & potpo...: "We are continuing the planning process with a couple different kinds of lettuce, radishes, spinach, cilantro and jalapeno, chili and bana..."

Organic Garden Planning - lettuce, peppers & potpouri


We are continuing the planning process with a couple different kinds of lettuce, radishes, spinach, cilantro and jalapeno, chili and banana peppers.

Lettuce, spinach and radishes seeds will be planted directly into the garden.  I will try to plant Butterhead, Baby Romaine, Red Leaf and Green Leaf Lettuce,  I like the curly leaf spinach so I will be planting that along with red and white radishes.

I am going to try to plant my lettuces and spinach in raised plots.  I first have to dig out lots of iris’s.  I am going to dry those roots or Potpourri.

Jalapeno Peppers
A hot pepper with spicy, pungent fruits for cooking a pickling,  Fruits mature from green to a deep red color.
10 to 20
6
75

6
6
 Red Cayenne
Hot peppers add zest to sauces, salads, stews and dips. This pepper can also be pickled or dried for later use.  Can be picked gree but is spiciest when red
10 to 20
3
75 to 85

3
3
bannana peppers
buy seed








The final step is to decide what I want in term of making Potpourri and some other dried ingredients to make various mixtures.

I want to have a dried mixture to make herbal butter so I am going to plant
Basil, garlic, chives, parsley, tarragon, rosemary and marjoram.

To make some hot pads and mug pads I will need
Rosemary needles and find a good source for cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice

To make up Queen’s garden, citrus and spice or rose garden potpourri I will need:

Orange peel, grapefruit peel, lemon peel, rose blooms, hips and petals from pink and red roses, orris root(my iris), bay leaves, lavender, rosemary, hibiscus pods, star of anise.


Then I am going to start some asparagus and rhubarb.  These crops take 2 to 3 years before you have a crop so we need to get them started.  Rosemary also take time to grow and if I can find some reasonable priced I will be putting in about 6 of those plants for future picking.

Next addition is planting seedlings.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

"How To" Organic Gardening: Garden Plans-Cucumbers

"How To" Organic Gardening: Garden Plans-Cucumbers: "Planning the vegetable garden(continued). We are going to continue with the planning process with cucumbers. We will need two type of cuc..."

Garden Plans-Cucumbers

Planning the vegetable garden(continued).

We are going to continue with the planning process with cucumbers.

We will need two type of cucumbers.  The pickling cucumbers for canning and last year I was selling more “small” cucumbers than I was the slicing cucumbers.  We will make dill pickles, bread and butter pickles and pickle relish.  Other than pickles we will have to plant or buy red bell peppers, green bell peppers, onions and dill.  Since fresh dill is essential for dill pickles we will have to grow that as most grocery stores will not sell this and we are not close to a Market that sells fresh dill.


Valley Green Chicago Pickling
Thick,square ended, medium green thin fruits, 6 to 7 inches, 2 1/2 inch side.  Well warted, black spines.  Can be sown indoors 4-6 weeks prior to planting.
7 to 14
6
50 to 60

6
12
Burpee Straight Eight
A favorite white spine, even deeply colored symmetrically shaped fruits best picked with 8 inches long.
10 to 20 days
6
65-75 days

3
6
Spanish onions
This is an early maturing type of onion.  Bulbs are quite large when mature.  Best when started early in flats 6 to 8 weeks before trnasplanting to insure fully mature onions.  Very mild in flavor.

entire see pack
110 to 120 days
4 inches
all
all
America's Choice, California Wonder Green Peppers
Popular bell pepper with a mild, delicious flavor,  Fruits are lage, smooth and thick walled.
10 to 20 days plant indoors 8 weeks before frost free weather
6
72 after transplanting

6
6
Dill
Uniquely flavored leaves are used in salads, dips vinegars, and meat, fish and vegetable dishes.  The seeds are essential in many pickle recipes and are used to flavor baked goods, cheese and vinegar
24
24
65 to 70
1 inch
12
12

If you noticed in the above planting schedule the onions will not be maturing early enough to use in the relishes and salsa’s.  So we are going to have to find an onion that matures earlier than the one above if we want to use our garden onions for our canned goods.

Everything above starts maturing at the 6 weeks mark so we should be selling most of this in the Farmers Market about the 2nd week of June.  We will can, on Sunday, any cucumbers that have not sold at the Farmers Market on Saturday into pickles and relishes.  These canned item need to set in the jars for about 4 weeks before the flavor is good so we should be selling our first relished and pickles about the middle of July. 

I do have some canned goods left from last year that I will take to the Farmers Market as soon as I start attending to sell Strawberries and according to the FDA these canned good are suggested to resell up to 2 years, but if sales go as good as last year I should run out of my canned goods before I start canning this year.

Monday, March 7, 2011

"How To" Organic Gardening: Planning the Vegtable Plants - tomatoes

"How To" Organic Gardening: Planning the Vegtable Plants - tomatoes: "First we are going to make a list of products we are going to plant and a planting schedule. It needs to be said that a pure organi..."

Planning the Vegtable Plants - tomatoes


First we are going to make a list of products we are going to plant and a planting schedule.  It needs to be said that a pure organic garden need organic seeds, I don’t have the money for organic seeds so we are going to follow organic gardening as closely as possible in accordance to what is affordable.
I don’t have enough space inside with grow lights or available outside light so I am going to plant in planters inside until the seedlings sprout then outside where I can control some of the growing conditions.

The first chance for planting outside should be close to the end of March and the first opportunity to plant in the garden  will depend on the type of plant but somewhere in the vicinity of May 1.
Tomatoes:  I have seeds from previous years I am going to try to start outside in planters where I can control the growing conditions somewhat. 

Planting chart for tomatoes nutritious

type
description
Days to germination
plants
Days to harvest
spacing
planters
outside
Ferry MorseTomato VF Roma
A heavy-yielding variety used for preserves, solid-pack camming, tomato paste and puree.  Very little juice and of mild flavor.
 7-10
3
85-90
36/24 inches
March 19-20           7days March 27-30         30 days growing
1-May
American Seed   Beefsteak
Noted for deep scarlet, very large flat and ribbed solid flavor. 9 to 12 oz tomatoes
15-20
6
55-60
3 ft.
same
same
Ferry Morse Tomato Rutgers
Large attractive fruits with thick, solid flesh
7-10
3
80-85
3ft.
same
same
Ferry Morse Tomato red Cherry
Delicious sweet,, bite-sized red tomatoes
7-10
3
70-75
3 ft.
same
same

With this chart is it easy to see that the Beefsteak tomato should be the first to mature, then the cherry tomatoes, then the rest.  Since the Roma are used primarily for salsas we won’t need them until later anyway.  We will want the cilantro, onions and peppers to mature about the same time and the roma tomatoes do.  We will want to plant 6 to 12 Beefsteak tomatoes plants, because they sell well; about 6 roma plants and no more than 6 cherry tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes sell well but 6 plants will yield plenty of tomatoes to sell and Cherry tomatoes are not very good for juice or salsa’s.   We may have to buy some beefsteak or other type large slicing tomatoes.

If we plant in the garden around May 1 then 55 to 60 days should put tomatoes in the Farmers Market around the end of June and the other tomatoes ready the middle of July.


Saturday, March 5, 2011

"How To" Organic Gardening: DECIDING ON THE VEGTABLE PLANTS

"How To" Organic Gardening: DECIDING ON THE VEGTABLE PLANTS: "THE NEW PERENIAL ITEMS will be: Asparagus and rhubarb. I already have a..."

DECIDING ON THE VEGTABLE PLANTS


THE NEW PERENIAL ITEMS will be:
            Asparagus and rhubarb.

I already have a strawberry patch that is about 5 years old so I am going to weed that out and separate some of my plants to give the patch more room to breathe and use those new plants to expand my patch.  This would probably have been better done in the fall but I just did not plan well so I am going to do this just as soon as I can get in an dig the ground.  Strawberries are the first crop I sell at the Farmers Market with great success.  I should be able to get my seed money for other crops from my Strawberries.

I canned up some Strawberry preserves from the strawberries that were picked Sunday through Wednesday that became to ripe to sell at the Farmers Market on Saturday.  It was an experiment to see if the preserves would sell.  I canned up 14 ½ pints and sold all of them in 2 months at $3.75 a one half pint jar.  Each jar of preserves cost me about $1.50.  This included the pectin, sugar and jar, the strawberries were of course free.

So during Strawberry picking time I will be demonstrating picking the strawberries, presenting them at the Farmers Market and canning the preserves.

To make room for my new asparagus and rhubarb I will be digging up some of my duplicated iris’s.  I will dry the roots of these plants(Orris root) to make chips of root put add into my potpourri.  These roots when dried are supposed to sell like violets with a very strong smell.  I have never done this before so we will just see together if it turns out the way the books explain that it does.

Anyone wants some free Iris?  More than happy to mail if you pay the shipping.

I already have spearmint planted that is really spreading out much farther than I would like so I am going to dig this out and put it back in the same place as a raised bed plot to control the spread.  I will be drying some of these leaves to sell as well as expressing some to make bath oil and add to the potpourri.  As I already said I have not dried to many things before so drying this will be a new experiment as well as making the oil.  I will also be making some spearmint extract for cooking.

New to my vegetable garden will be:
Beets, leaf lettuce, dill, cilantro, green beans and peas. Red, yellow and white onions.

The usual plantings will be:
Slicing tomato,  roma tomatoes and cherry tomatoes.
Pickling cucumbers, slicing cucumbers, acorn squash, spaghetti squash, butternut squash, pumpkins, zucchini, yellow squash, cabbage, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, chili peppers, banana peppers.

All the things above sold well at the Farmers Market except the roma tomatoes which is fine because I make salsa (three types hot, mild and no spice) that sells very well at $2.75.  Since all the ingredients come out of the garden the canning jars and vinegar are the only things I have to buy.

We will be canning dill pickles, bread and butter pickles, sweet pickle relish and tomato juice.  If my friend comes across with her apples again I will be making apple butter.

I will be pre planting dill, cilantro,  peppers and tomatoes in planters to see if I can start my plants from seed and if this does not work I will just buy plants at a flee market which is cheaper that buying at Starks Garden Center or Wal Mart.

I will also be adding things to the garden to keep the bugs away.  One of those will be marigolds which are good to add in the potpourri.  I will be spraying the plants with Epson salts to insure they can get all the nutrients from the soil as well as add things to help the soil and using shredded paper, straw and weeds as mulch in the aisles to keep the weeds down and calcimined lime to help with the acidity of the soil and help the plants absorb water and calcium, essential for tomatoes especially in very wet seasons.

All in all we will be learning what works and what does not together.  Your comments and suggestion will be appreciated.  We can try anything once and keep using the method if it actually works.

For those of you that don't have garden space because you are in apartments or high rises, try containers on your porches.  I put some tomatoes in containers right outside my front door so I don't have to go the garden to get a fresh tomato for the dinner salad.  I works fairly well.  We'll investigate doing patio gardening as well.  I have seen people grow all kinds of things in pots on their patios or roof tops.
Next insertion will be designing a Planting guide and planting some starts.


Thursday, March 3, 2011

"How To" Organic Gardening: PLANNING THE GARDEN

"How To" Organic Gardening: PLANNING THE GARDEN: "As I said in the previous entry I will be planting in a 5 year old garden as well as tilling up a new area. Left the garden area I have been..."

PLANNING THE GARDEN

As I said in the previous entry I will be planting in a 5 year old garden as well as tilling up a new area.
Left the garden area I have been using for 5 years.

Above: the the new area to till up.
I just read an article about how to keep perennial weeds under control. The idea is when you disturb the ground you are "planting" the perennial weeds..so do not disturb the ground.  What I will need to do in the fall of this year is till the garden for the season and put a 6 inch layer of organic matter down.  This will enable the garden to be ready for spring with no waiting to it to be dry enough to till and keep light from the perennial seeds.  Then from year to year as you keep the perennial weeds under control, you only have to keep putting down more organic matter and as it decays you are nourishing the ground and controlling the weeds.  I am going to try that for next year.

This year, however, I had not planned for that so I will be tilling up the old garden and putting organic matter around the plants as I go in hope of keeping the weeds under control, keeping moisture in the ground and nourishing my plants as the matter decays.

New items I want to add will be many different types of herbs and two additional perennial items that will need 2 to 3 years before they are productive.

            THE NEW PERENIAL ITEMS will be:
            Asparagus and rhubarb.

I already have a strawberry patch that is about 5 years old so I am going to weed that out and separate some of my plants to give the patch more room to breathe and use those new plants to expand my patch.  This would probably have been better done in the fall but I just did not plan well so I am going to do this just as soon as I can get in and dig the ground.  Strawberries are the first crop I sell at the Farmers Market with great success.  I should be able to get my seed money for other crops from my Strawberries.

I canned up some Strawberry preserves from the strawberries that were picked Sunday through Wednesday that became to ripe to sell at the Farmers Market on Saturday.  It was an experiment to see if the preserves would sell.  I canned up 14 ½ pints and sold all of them in 2 months at $3.75 a one half pint jar.  Each jar of preserves cost me about $1.50.  This included the pectin, sugar and jar, the strawberries were of course free.

So during Strawberry picking time I will be demonstrating picking the strawberries, presenting them at the Farmers Market and canning the preserves.

To make room for my new asparagus and rhubarb I will be digging up some of my duplicated iris’s.  I will dry the roots of these plants(Orris root) to make chips of root put add into my potpourri.  These roots when dried are supposed to sell like violets with a very strong smell.  I have never done this before so we will just see together if it turns out the way the books explain that it does.

I already have spearmint planted that is really spreading out much farther than I would like so I am going to dig this out and put it back in the same place as a raised bed plot to control the spread.  I will be drying some of these leaves to sell as well as expressing some to make bath oil and add to the potpourri.  As I already said I have not dried to many things before so drying this will be a new experiment as well as making the oil.  I will also be making some spearmint extract for cooking.

Next insertion will be planning the vegetables.



Tuesday, March 1, 2011

"How To" Organic Gardening: IN THE BEGINNING

"How To" Organic Gardening: IN THE BEGINNING: "This blog will be an on going discussion on Organic Gardening, products to produce from your garden and the pros and cons of various Farm..."

IN THE BEGINNING


This blog will be an on going discussion on Organic Gardening, products to produce from your garden and the pros and cons of various Farmers Markets in your area. My area will be Missouri, specifically the Mississippi River area from Hannibal to St. Louis.

I learned how to do gardening organically from my Grandmother and have prepared a garden that way every time I had a new garden.  I have learned new things during the years, tried things that didn’t work and some things that did.  We are going to investigate all aspects of Organic Gardening by putting in a garden in a 5 year old spot and putting in a new spot and see what happens.

We will experiment with pest control, weed control, planting for product production, selling the grown products to include methods of canning, drying and freezing and grow a continued discussion of various planting methods from around the country, world.

My garden is designed to give me fresh vegetables during the summer, canning extra vegetables for use in the winter and selling some at a Farmers Market to make extra money and pay for my garden so I am essentially spending no money for my food.

I am in Missouri in zone 5b with a mixture of 5a as found on the National Gardening Association map of the Hardiness Zone Finder for the USA.  Anyone that can locate one for the world please let us know and I will post that as well.

The rule of thumb is that you plant in your area after the last frost, for me this will be sometime in April or May with cooler varieties like lettuce, spinach and beans being planted first as early, as possible as these vegetables don't mind the cool weather.

Last year, 2010, was the first time I participated in a Farmers Market and ended up making $700.00 on an investment of about $100.00.  During the year I wished I would have planted other things and then at Christmas was wishing for some potpourri to make my house smell good but of course all those ingredients are expensive and most are very economical to grow.  So this year I will be planting some items to use in potpourri.  I do Organic Gardening but will often buy some plants instead of starting all my own but I want to achieve an Organic Gardening certificate for my garden and that requires Organic only seeds.  These seeds are expensive for the average person so I am going to experiment with drying some of my own seeds for next year. 

The next insertion will be PLANNING THE GARDEN.