If you have been following the local news and weather this past month, you shouldn't be surprised to learn that we won't have any apples, peaches, plums, pears or cherries for sale this year. They were wiped out by the weird weather this spring. As you may know, March was so warm--nearly two weeks straight of temperatures from the mid 70s to near 90--that it fooled the trees into thinking it was May. Then in mid to late April, the weather came closer to normal and we received a couple of nights in the 20s which did the fruit in. To try to make up a little for this lack of tree fruit, we are planting more watermelon and muskmelon than normal. We also have rented some additional property and expanded our total plantings including more sweet corn, pumpkins, squash, cukes etc. So while are fruit this year is gone, we hope to have more vegetables than ever. Of course, how much we have for sale depends upon the weather, just like all farming.

Because of the early spring, we have had the doors open at Magicland Farms since about April 1. Each week we have gradually expanded our selection of produce and gardening stuff. This week we will be continuing to pick radishes and we will start harvesting young, tender white turnips and  garlic scapes. We also will have potted giant pumpkin and chive plants.

We'll start off the week with several annual flowers including Nasturtiums (in 6" pots and hanging baskets), Ageratum, Angel's Trumpet (Datura - a deer resistant plant that should be kept away from children and pets. Hanging this out of reach is one idea.), and Morning Glories. Later in the week we'll have two more annuals: Balsam Impatiens and blue Sweet Peas and a good selection of perennial plants including Delphiniums, Rose Campion, Old Fashioned Foxglove, Evening Primrose, Kolkwitzia shrubs, American Bittersweet vines, climbing Hydrangeas, Disco Belle Hibiscus, and Flowering Crabapple seedlings.

Additionally we also have a few vegetable plants including tomatoes and cucumbers. Plus we also have seeds for your garden. These are some of the same varieties that we plant:

• Sweet Corn: Magic Bi-Color (82 days), Rembrandt (white, 81 days), Bon Appetit (Bi-Color, 71 days)
• Giant Corn (field corn that can reach 12 feet high), perfect for corn stalks for fall decorations.
• Giant Pumpkins
• Green Beans: Magicland's Famous Green Beans (55 days)
• Tomatoes: Mountain Fresh (slicer) and four heirlooms: Cherokee Purple, Green Zebra, Carolina Gold, and Brandywine Pink.
• Watermelon: Crimson Sweet
• Herb: Dill Bouquet
• Carrots: Sweetness III
• Lettuce: Buttercrunch (butterhead), Freckles (romaine), Grand Rapids (leaf), Green Ice (leaf)
• Parsnip: Javelin
• Radish: Champion
• Kohlrabi: Early White Vienna

Also available are pint jars of hulless Robust yellow popcorn which we grow and harvest ourselves. This popcorn is absolutely scrumptious and 99.9% of the kernels pop. We also are selling this popcorn on the ear.

            As many of you know we are also growing pecans at Magicland Farms. These pecans are unusual since the original seed source came from Wisconsin. Because of this, our pecans aren't only completely hardy but ripen their pecans every year. We have seed pecans available at our stand. We have sold thousands of Wisconsin seed pecans throughout the country, Canada and even Europe through our website Magicland Farms. We now are selling small potted pecan trees and have a few available at our stand. We also still have seed pecans available.

Nashle,

Tom