Penzance Farm & Garden

We now have DUCK EGGS! 

$1 each.  Please call for availability -- they go FAST!  

508-476-1317 

Well, the time is coming up shortly when Miss Jane and I will be on the lookout for WILD LEEKS!  Formally known as “Ramps”.  At some horrendous price like $16.99 a pound at WHOLE FOODS I’m deterimined to find some locally to pick. 

Miss Jane accompanies me almost weekly on one travel day of trimming hooves or training horses. Spring time I drive her nuts!  Driving down a windy back road on the way to the designated stables and I’ll stop and back up screaming, “Look! Look!  Is that a clump of Leeks?”

Meanwhile Miss Jane is trying to recover herself from the floor of the car since she is terrified of backing up with me!  Smoothing her hair and patting her shirt back into place from her instant slither to safety, she’ll calmly look around and say,

“No, Gwen. I think that’s probably Skunk Cabbage.”

Well, Skunk Cabbage IS known to be edible in its early stages but the smell is a bit of a deterrent for me. So, I put the Xterra back into drive and forwards we move once again. (To Miss Jane’s great relief!)

Being a generous grand Lady, Miss Jane purchased a small amount of Ramps for John and me last year. (Our weekly spring escapades did not find much other than Skunk Cabbage and other swampy things.) I stir fried them gently with a bit of butter and garlic and some other vegetables and they were simply delectable!

This year we WILL find some. We may have to carefully pull our boots out of the mud of the early spring stream bankings but we WILL find some.

I’m determined.

(Miss Jane will have to find some sort of cushion to place on the floor of the car this year to soften the blows.  Might as well just travel in reverse all the time!)

Don't have room for a garden in your back yard? Don't want to plant in your front yard? or maybe you are in an apartment with just a balcony for outdoor private activities?  Well, you CAN grow fresh vegetables no matter where you are --- even on a rooftop!  The list below is just some of the yummies that flourish in very little space: 

 

 

Beans, Snap -5 gal. Windowbox Bush types such as blue lake, contender, and tavera Beans, Lima -5 gal. Windowbox White Dixie Wonder

Beets -5 gal. Windowbox Early Wonder, Detroit Dark Red

 

Broccoli 1 plan-5 gal. pot 3 plants/15 gal. tub Super Blend, Italian Green Sprouting

 

Brussels Sprouts -1 plant/5 gal. pot 2 plants/15 gal. tub Evesham

 

Cabbage 1 plant-5 gal. pot 3 plants/15 gal. tub Discovery

 

Chinese Cabbage or Mini Bok Choy -1 plant/5 gal. pot 3 plants/15 gal. tub Michihli

Carrot- 5 gal. Windowbox at least 12" deep Little Finger, Thumbelina

Cucumber -1 plant/gal. pot Spacemaster

Eggplant- 3 gal. pot Black Beauty, Rosa Bianca

Garlic -8-inch deep container Most Varieties

Lettuce -5 gal. Windowbox Salad Bowl, Ruby, Grand Rapids, Oak Leaf, Buttercrunch, Dark Green Boston, Little Gem, Bibb

Onion -5 gal. Windowbox White Sweet Spanish, Yellow Sweet Spanish

 

Pepper -1 plant/2 gal. pot 5 plants/15 gal. tub Sweet Banana, Yolo Wonder, Long Red Cayenne, Bell Boy, Keystone Resistant, California Wonder, New Ace, Red Cherry, Long Red Cayenne, Jalapeno, Thai Hot

Radish -5 gal. Windowbox Cherry Belle, Icicle, Champion, Scarlet Globe

Spinach -5 gal. Windowbox Dark Green Bloomsdale, Melody, America, Avon Hybrid

Squash -2 gal. pot Scallopini, Baby Crookneck, Creamy, Golden Nugget, Gold Rush, Zucchini (most varieties)

 

Tomatoes Bushel baskets 5 gal. pots Tiny Tim, Small Fry, Sweet 100, Patio, Burpee's Pixie, Toy Boy, Early Girl, Better Boy VFN, Pixie, Red Robin, Sugar Lump, Tumblin' Tom (hanging baskets)

 

For 5 gallon containers simply go to your nearest bakery or restaurant and ask if they would give you some of their 5 gal. buckets that are normally tossed in the trash!  Or, most of your hardware and paint stores will have 5 gallong buckets for around $2 each.  Not bad!  

 

Other containers?  Empty 1 gal. milk jugs, plastic shoe boxes, Milk crates (lined with black plastic to hold in soil/punch holes in bottom of plastic to drain excess water), Heavy duty plastic bags!, plastic storage boxes,  ... be creative!  

 

Or, if you want a mini-garden then purchase a plastic child's swimming pool (solid plastic, not an inflatable), punch some drainage holes in the bottom, fill with good growing medium and plant your seeds!  

 

Read more: Guide to Container Gardening (Page 2) | Garden Guides http://www.gardenguides.com/686-guide-container-gardening-2.html#ixzz1EPnuthEU

 

Spring is coming!  Winter sowed some veggies last weekend. Can't WAIT to dig into the warm, black soil in the big gardens!