Saratoga Farmers' Market

Gardening

Growing Sweet Potatoes – From Scratch

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

 

Sweet potatoes from Pleasant Valley Farm, photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

Late last winter, I wanted to try growing sweet potatoes from my own slips. I asked Paul Arnold, of Pleasant Valley Farm, for advice.

Arnold, a year-round produce vendor at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, donates a bin of these tasty, nutrient dense tubers each week to the Franklin Community Center food pantry. He pulled out a few and handed them to me.

“Cut these in half and put them in water or very wet soil,” he said. “Then transplant the sprouts when it’s warm enough for them to survive.”

I followed Arnold’s advice but started too late. By the time the sweet potatoes began to sprout slips – small roots trailing in water from the base of the tuber and purple-green leaves at the top – it was late July. Our gardens were full and so was my schedule. The slips never made it into the ground.

This year, I have a plan: I will start my slips next week, and transplant them in mid-June.

Sweet potatoes, unlike “regular” potatoes, are the root of a vine. The vine roots itself into the soil and produces a root, each time it touches the soil. Slips are the start of that process.

Although sweet potatoes require time, sunshine, and warmth to prosper, they are becoming an increasingly popular crop.

One sweet potato, cut in half lengthwise (producing two halves each with a round base) will sprout slips. These roots, once planted in deep trenches or raised rows of soil, will each yield several sweet potatoes.

To grow slips, do as Arnold suggests: Gather a few sweet potatoes, and cut them in half. Place the halves in damp potting soil or water, with half the tuber submerged. Use toothpicks to keep the sweet potatoes upright in water-filled jars.

Like plant cuttings, the sweet potatoes over six to eight weeks will first produce roots and then leafy stems. When the stems are about six inches tall, twist them gently off the tuber, and place them in fresh water for about a week until a new root forms. After all frost danger has passed, transplant them into the soil.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays through April at the Lincoln Baths Building in the Spa State Park. Our outdoor season begins Wednesday, May 2 at High Rock Park. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram; and contact friends@saratogafarmersmarket.org for volunteer opportunities.

Planning Spring Plantings

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

 

Ten days ago, as temperatures hit the 60s, I looked at the fresh-cut tree I had gotten at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market in December. It still smelled fresh but was drying out. Time to take it down and to think about filling its space with seed trays for the spring.

Farmers who bring the earliest spring herbs and vegetables to market often start seeds under grow lights, on heating mats, and in greenhouses. They rely on such innovations as high tunnels to prolong the garden season. Backyard gardens usually remain a mass of frozen soil until April.

Still, now is a good time to plan a spring garden, order seeds, and gather supplies.

Local gardening expert Sadie Ross recommends starting seedlings in starter pots or seedling trays and covering them with some kind of clear plastic to simulate a greenhouse. She often uses clear plastic deli tray covers. She recommends filling the starter pots with potting soil, dropping seeds on top and covering them with about 1/8 of an inch of soil. These pots should be watered lightly once a day with a spray bottle until the seeds germinate and sprout two true leaves.

How does one know when to plant certain seeds?

Many experts recommend creating a growing calendar with the last frost date as a pivot point. Charts listing when to start seeds indoors and when to transplant seedlings or direct sow outdoors are widely available on seed company and gardening websites. Nearly all are based on that frost date.

After taking down my tree, I created a growing calendar, based on our area’s last frost date of May 20. Working with charts on the Hudson Valley Seed Company’s website, I found out that while I can start celery and celeriac this weekend, and parsley, onions, and chives next weekend, I should hold off on starting my favorite greens and root vegetables until mid-April, as they’re best transplanted in mid-May.

“There isn’t much that one can start indoors this early,” says Ross. “Wait a few more weeks.”

Patience can pay off. As I’ve learned from years past, poor conditions will kill your plants. But when the time is right, they’ll thrive.

Visit the Saratoga Farmers’ Market 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at the Lincoln Baths Building in Saratoga Spa State Park; follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram; and contact friends@saratogafarmersmarket.org for volunteer opportunities.

Protecting Your Garden Harvest as the Seasons Change

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

 

Frost damage, photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

If you’re a backyard vegetable grower, you might plan your garden around the last and first frost dates. The last frost date – usually May 20 – signifies the date that it starts to become safe to transplant such tender seedlings as tomatoes, squashes, and peppers outdoors. The first frost date – September 20 historically for Saratoga – typically means the end of the life cycle for these plants.

But what if the temperatures get chilly sooner? What becomes of those green tomatoes, still rock-hard eggplants, still growing squashes?

Answers from Saratoga Farmers’ Market vendors who might have provided you with the seedlings that started your gardens last spring vary as widely as the weather. But the general rule is to be watchful but not worried.

“If it looks like the night time temperatures are going to drop into the low 40s, you might want to cover those kinds of plants,” says Chris Dumar, of Balet Flowers & Design. “You also might want to water well, especially if you think you might get a frost.”

Covers for plants can range from row covers or sheets of plastic or even five-gallon pails. The key is to make sure the plants are covered but that the material still gives them some room to breathe.

Dumar also recommends spraying plants hit by frost with water early in the morning before the sun hits the plants. The water moistens the leaves, which can prevent them from being burnt by the sun.

While a plant hit by a frost is unlikely to continue producing its fruit, the fruit itself often is still fine to pick. Many farmers recommend picking tomatoes if they’re still green but look as if they’re starting to ripen well in advance of frost warnings. Unripe vegetables such as tomatoes, summer squash, eggplants, peppers and winter squash can be picked even after a light frost. These fruits will continue to ripen after a harvest on a kitchen counter, shelf, or sunny window.

And first frosts do sweeten some vegetables, particularly leafy greens, and brussels sprouts, creating a new season of eating.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is at High Rock Park through October, 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays. We move indoors to the Lincoln Baths Building in the Saratoga Spa State Park on November 4. Follow our updates on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

A Tragic Tale of Zucchini

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By Mary Peryea

Last summer, I made an attempt at gardening by planting one zucchini and two tomato plants.  I’m a big fan of tomato sandwiches and all things zucchini, especially moist, luscious zucchini bread.  Well, the tomatoes did okay and I had plenty of sandwiches.  The zucchini, on the other hand, was a great disappointment.

The plant grew and even flowered, but no fruit appeared.  Jim Gupta-Carlson, a local farmer and volunteer with the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, suggested that perhaps my plant had only male flowers, or that maybe the flowers weren’t being pollinated.

I turned to Google and learned that zucchini plants typically have male and female flowers.  The male flowers appear first when the plant is young.  Female flowers appear later and have a young zucchini at the base of the flower.  In order for the fruit to develop, pollen must get from male flowers to female flowers.  This is usually done by bees, but if not, the plant can be hand pollinated.  This involves transferring the pollen via artist paintbrush or q-tip early in the day.  Not being an early riser, I knew this would not work for me and resigned myself to buying zucchini.

Denison Farm by Pattie Garrett

This year, I was determined to grow my own zucchini, come hell or high water.  I purchased a lovely little organic zucchini plant at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, and planted it, only to see it get eaten by rabbits. I was crushed. However, the Master Gardeners at the market suggested that I might still be able to get some zucchini if I kept the plant in a container.

So I bought a beautiful Black Beauty zucchini plant – actually four of them – to replace my lost one. I have planted them in a large pot, and put it on my deck, safe from the ravages of the bunnies.  It has budded and bloomed.  So far I see only male flowers.  No zucchini in sight.  I know the blossoms and leaves are edible, but I want a zucchini! Preferably, a lot of zucchini.

I’m hoping for a late frost and some zucchini to come.

If you love zucchini as much as Mary Peryea, now is the time to get it at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market: 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays at High Rock Park. Also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Growing Mushrooms Nourishes the Palate and Environment

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

My husband and I are slowly creating a mushroom garden. We filled two oak logs with oyster mushroom spawn in 2015. After harvesting a handful of mushrooms that fall, we added about more logs last summer, to grow shiitake and lion’s mane.

This spring, we are adding wine cap and cinnamon caps with different methods. We purchased two bags of wine cap spawn from Bobby Chandler of Mariaville Mushroom Men at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, and following a diagram he drew for us, have created a bed of woodchips. We’re cultivating our cinnamon caps in grow kit bags.

For Chandler, mushrooms are a “lifestyle” that encompasses pleasure for the palate, medicine for long-term health, and nutrients for the soil that produces future food. While Chandler sells a range of mushrooms at the farmers’ market, his grow kits are aimed at market goers who want to try growing their own.

“I want people to use me as a resource,” said Chandler. “Education about mushrooms extremely important, and growing them is one way to learn more.”

Chandler’s grow bags sell for $25. He also sells the plug spawn commonly used to cultivate mushrooms on logs for $5 for 50 plugs. The grow bags hold 10 pounds of sawdust inoculated with the spawn of a specific mushroom. These, according to Chandler, are the easiest to grow mushrooms. Simply cut open the bags, mist the spawn every few days, and let the mushrooms grow inside. Each bag will produce about three to five pounds of mushrooms over two to three harvests, over a few months.

Plug spawn requires more work. Growers need to obtain logs, ideally cut in late winter or early spring, and drill holes into them. They then must hammer the plugs into the holes and wax them shut. The spawn permeates the logs and then after several months the logs almost magically fruit with mushrooms.

Both the bags and logs will offer repeat harvests and can be composted or buried into gardens after they stop producing to create a natural nutrient boost.

For us, both methods offer an opportunity to expand what we grow while also nourishing our soil. That’s a part of the “mushroom lifestyle” we hope to cultivate.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays at High Rock Park.

 

Pasta with Mushrooms Photo by Pattie Garrett
Pasta with Mushrooms
Photo by Pattie Garrett

Pasta with Ricotta and Mushrooms

Adapted from recipe featured in Saveur
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients
*Ingredients currently available at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market

• 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter*
• 2 pounds mixed mushrooms (Pioppino, Oyster, and Cinnamon caps mushrooms) cut or torn into bite size pieces*
• 1 Tablespoons roughly chopped thyme, plus more for garnish*
• 5 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed*
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 pound pappardelle or favorite pasta
• 1 cup ricotta*
• ¼ cup toasted walnut pieces
• honey for drizzling*

Instructions

1. Melt butter in a 12 inch skillet over medium-high, working in batches, cook mushrooms, 1 Tablespoon thyme, garlic, salt and pepper until mushrooms are golden, 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, bring a large sauce pan of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until ad dente. Drain pasta, reserving ½ cup water. Add pasta, water, half the ricotta, walnuts, salt and pepper to skillet and toss to combine. Transfer to a serving platter and garnish with remaining ricotta and thyme. Drizzle with honey.

Notes: Other mushroom to use include: chanterelles, cremini, porcini

 

Savoring the Spears of Spring

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

Saratoga Apple
Photo by Pattie Garrett

Growing asparagus might be like raising a child. You plant it once. You nurture its tender shoots, and then you watch it grow so fast that you can barely harvest it fast enough.

For farmers, asparagus requires patience and an intense amount of labor. It also brings unending joy.

“It’s really something special,” says Christine, of Saratoga Apple, who sells asparagus at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market from early May through June. “As a perennial, its roots produce every year.”

Unlike most vegetables cultivated in the United States, asparagus harvests cannot begin until the plants have established strong root systems, which typically takes three to four years. Farmers usually start their crops from “crowns”, which are the roots of a year-old plant. After being transplanted in a deep, five to eight-inch furrow, the crown sends up a few shoots. Farmers let these shoots turn to feathery ferns and drop down into the soil for a few years. This gives the plant time to mature, enabling it to push up from the ground plump, juicy spears repeatedly through late spring. At this stage, some say the plants will produce for life.

The Darrow family planted a half-acre asparagus patch in the early 2000s to supplement Saratoga Apple’s primary apple crop. After 15 years, it remains strong.

“It’s one of the easiest plants to grow,” says Eric Darrow, “and, at times, one of the most challenging.”

One challenge is maintenance. Each spring, the Darrows burn and mow the field to rid it of weeds. Although weeds will re-appear, the initial clean up creates space for the asparagus to grow. They usually mow again about half-way through the season when, Christine notes, “the grasses get so high that the asparagus can’t be seen.”

A second challenge is the harvest. Each spear must be cut by hand, just above the soil. In the season’s peak, the spears can grow so quickly that the field is harvested twice a day.

The plants end their yearly life cycle when the spears feather out to ferns, produce berries, and dry up. The berries often get blown elsewhere.

Christine invariably discovers some asparagus growing amid her raspberries every year.

“No matter,” she says. “We pick it all, and enjoy it.”

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is at High Rock Park 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays.

Scallops with Asparagus

Adapted from recipe on www.epicurious.com
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients
*Ingredients currently available at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market

• 1 lb asparagus*
• 3 tablespoons olive oil*
• 2 lb sea scallops, tough ligament removed from side of each if attached*
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup dry white wine*
• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces*

Preparation

1. Trim “woody” ends of asparagus, then cut stems into 1/4-inch-thick diagonal slices, leaving tips whole.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch heavy nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté asparagus, stirring occasionally, until just tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate, reserving skillet off heat (do not clean).

3. Pat scallops dry and sprinkle with pepper and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add 1 tablespoon oil to skillet and heat over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté half of scallops, turning over once, until browned and just cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes total. Transfer scallops to another plate as cooked.

4. Wipe out skillet with paper towels, then add remaining tablespoon oil and heat until hot but not smoking. Sauté remaining scallops, turning over once, until browned and cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes total, transferring to plate. (Do not wipe out skillet after second batch.)

5. Carefully add wine to skillet and boil, scraping up brown bits, until liquid is reduced to about 2 tablespoons, about 1 minute. Add any scallop juices accumulated on plate and bring to a simmer.

6. Reduce heat to low and whisk in butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, until incorporated.

7. Add asparagus and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook until heated through, about 1 minute.

8. Serve scallops topped with asparagus and sauce.

 

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