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Growing Vegetables

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.

Plant Tomatoes | Here’s How To Do It

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By Mary Peryea

Count me among the 95 percent of home gardeners who want to grow tomatoes – and among the many who count on the expertise of the veteran Saratoga Farmers’ Market vegetable plant growers to help me do it.

hushan Valley Hydro Farm by Pattie Garrett
Shushan Valley Hydro Farm
Photo by Pattie Garrett

When I shopped for tomato plants in mid-May, I wanted an heirloom variety that would produce large tasty fruits for my favorite tomato sandwiches. Hybrids are bred so that the plants are more disease resistant and higher producing. The fruits also have a longer shelf life. However, some say that this means that the flavor has been bred out of them, too. I do know that I had tasted heirlooms at last year’s market and found their flavor superior to the conventional hybrids.

Charles Holub of Scotch Ridge Berry Farm showed me his Brandywine and San Marzano plants, saying that the latter was better for sauce.

Brandywines are among the most popular heirloom and are known especially for flavor. Dating back to 1885, the tomatoes ripen late in the season, but delight with huge tomatoes with even bigger flavor. Their growth type is indeterminate, and they can grow as tall as nine feet.

According to Holub, heirlooms take much longer to bear fruit than the standard hybrid tomatoes and are less disease resistant. As a result, I also chose to purchase a hybrid variety known as the Jet Star, which is a hybrid variety from the 1950s and is said to produce a large, tasty, low-acid fruit. Unlike the Brandywines which take 85 days to bear fruit, Jet Stars can be ready for picking in 72 days.

That’s still a long wait for my tomato sandwiches, but I can pick up tomatoes from the farmers’ market while I wait for my plants to ripen.

I asked Holub for his planting tips: Number one is to plant deep. If you look at your transplants, you’ll see the bottom two inches or so of the stem is indeed purple. Holub said to pinch off any leaves growing there and plant to a depth that reaches the top of the purple. He also recommends feeding tomato plants with fish emulsion, which is rich in phosphorus. Phosphorus encourages flowering, and therefore fruiting.

Of course, there are several variables that can affect how well tomatoes will grow. I’ve heard that more direct sunlight results in sweeter tomatoes. It’s also said, though, that too much water can dilute the flavor of tomatoes, which might be an issue given how rainy it’s been. And of course good soil will encourage good growth. With that in mind, I’ve added composted manure to my sandy soil and have bought a big bottle of fish emulsion.

I’ll check back later this season with an update on the tomatoes. Stay tuned.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays at High Rock Park. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

 

Tomato Sandwich Photo by Pattie Garrett
Tomato Sandwich
Photo by Pattie Garrett

Tomato Sandwich

Recipe adapted for Saveur
Makes 1 sandwich

Ingredients

*Ingredients currently available at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market

• 1 really ripe tomato (big, red-blue beefsteaks are best—all flesh and juice, with not too many seeds)*
• Butter*
• 2 slices of bread – toasted*
• Mayonnaise
• Salt and fresh black pepper
• Sugar
• Add cucumber, thinly sliced – if desired*

Instructions

1. Thickly slice tomato.Butter toast, slather a thick layer of mayonnaise on both pieces, then lay on two or three tomato slices and season with a generous sprinkle of salt, the tiniest pinch of sugar, and a few good grinds of black pepper.

2. Roll up your sleeves and bite through the crisp buttered bread and into the sweet taste of summer.

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

 

Growing a Garden When Spring Takes its Time Coming

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

It’s May. Tulips are blooming, the scent of lilacs fills the air.

And how are our gardens growing? Well, maybe, they’re not.

For many home gardeners, this spring has been challenging, as the weather has swung from sunny and 70s to gray and rainy with threats of overnight frosts. If you’re like me, you’ve watched small healthy starts of spinach, kale, broccoli, and other “cool weather” crops droop and die overnight.

Scotch Ridge Berry Farm by Pattie Garrett
Scotch Ridge Berry Farm by Pattie Garrett

“It can be challenging when you have a lot of days with temperatures that won’t get above the low 50s,” said Charles Holub, of Scotch Ridge Berry Farm, one of several Saratoga Farmers’ Market vendors who sell vegetable and herb seedlings. “There’s not a whole lot you can do, except be patient.”

Creating gardens in a region with a short growing season often means gardeners must start seedlings indoors until soil temperatures are above 60 degrees. But starting seedlings requires space, sunny windows, and frequent watering – all of which take up time. Several Saratoga Farmers’ Market vendors make that job easier by selling seedlings that they’ve started in greenhouses or under high tunnels.

Still, these seedlings also are vulnerable to the cold.

“We always advise people to watch the forecasts carefully, especially at this time of year,” said Chris Dumar, of Balet Flowers & Design. “If you think there’s going to be a frost, cover your plants, or even if they’re in containers, put them under something like a picnic table to protect them.” Dumar also recommends an old farmer’s trick: Spray frosted plants with water before the sun hits the leaves.

Otrembiak Farm by Eric Jenks
Otrembiak Farm by Eric Jenks

Steve Otrembiak of Otrembiak Farm encourages gardeners who purchase seedlings not to rush to transplant. Wait until the time is right. For tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, and other hot weather crops, that time is early June. For cooler crops, May can be optimal – unless a cold spell is in the forecast.

Otrembiak also says letting seedlings develop a strong root system before transplanting them will help them survive. He picked up a potted herb, tapped the bottom and flipped the pot over, removing the plant and the soil around it. At the base was a thick webbing of roots. “That’s what we like to see when we transplant,” he said.

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

 

Pea Shoot Pesto

By Chef Dan Spitz

Ingredients
*Ingredients currently available at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market

  • 1 cup, packed, of fresh pea shoots*
  • ½ cup of fresh parsley leaves*
  • ¼ cup of fresh mint leaves*
  • 2 garlic cloves, smashed and roughly chopped*
  • ½ cup grated parmesan*
  • ½ cup lightly toasted walnuts
  • 1 cup good quality olive oil*
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. To make pesto using a food processor or Cuisinart, combine the pea shoots, parsley, mint, garlic, and 2 oz of olive oil and pulse until nearly smooth.

2. Continue by adding the parmesan and walnuts, pulse again until combined.

3. Then, while the machine is running, slowly pour in the remaining olive oil and a pinch of salt and fresh cracked pepper. Turn off and taste for salt and lemon.

Enjoy on eggs, sandwiches, salads, pasta, and just about any savor breakfast, lunch, and dinner dish. Buon Appetito!

Green Goes Beyond Great Vegetables

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By Julia Howard, Market Director

It’s not easy being green. But as one of our shoppers put it, it’s better for all of us.

Camm Epstein arrived at the market to shop on a recent Saturday with a backpack. He filled his pack, and prepared for a one-mile walk home. “It’s good for me and the planet,” he said.

As we join the nation in celebrating Earth Day, we recognize that while we are a source of healthy, locally grown food, being green should be more than that.

Our customers noted in a survey last year that while they loved the range of local foods that we offer, they wished we could reduce our waste and be more earth-friendly.

We took that advice to heart and have launched two initiatives:

The first is a compost station.
We invite shoppers to bring fruit and vegetable scraps, egg shells, and other easily compostable items from their homes to our compost bin. We also encourage you to deposit any leftovers from foods that you might consume at the market that you don’t plan to take home to eat later. This compost is going to a farm owned by two market volunteers and turned into their compost pile. Nearly 1,000 pounds of new soil that has resulted from these efforts is being put into the Franklin Community Center’s food pantry garden, said volunteer Jim Gupta-Carlson. From leftovers and waste come vegetables for our community.
Our second initiative is about recycling.
If you’re one of our weekly shoppers, you might be buying cups of coffee, snacking on yogurt cups or cookies, or buying a hot meal to enjoy while listening to our musicians. Consider disposing of these items’ packaging not in the trash but in bins labeled with recycling signs. The same goes for napkins and other paper items.

Photo by Pattie Garrett

We hope our market becomes a green collaboration between farmers, shoppers, and the community. As Gupta-Carlson notes, by using baskets and reusable bags and by adapting such healthy habits as walking to the market when feasible, we all can contribute to “the environmental benefit of supporting local food systems and healthy farming practices.”

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market will be at its winter location – the Lincoln Baths Building in the Saratoga Spa State Park – for two more Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1p.m., before moving outdoors May 3 to High Rock Park.

 

Photo by Pattie Garrett

Sauteed Asian Greens

Recipe by Pleasant Valley Farm
Serves: 2 to 4

Ingredients
*Ingredients currently available at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 clove garlic minced*
• 1 bunch Asian greens*
• 4 oz mushrooms*

Instructions
Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add garlic and saute. Do not let it burn. Add mushroom and greens. Toss greens until wilted.