Berry season is in full swing!  Last week Unger Farms started the market.  Deep Roots Farm had a small amount of early marionberries.  And Happy Harvest Farm was full of hoods and seascapes.  This week, we welcome back Leopold Farms, adding to the berry goodness.  And Thompson Farms starts the market on June 8th.

Also in the market this week, you'll find the Better Bean Company, Captured By Porches, Hot Mama Salsa, House Distillery and Reverend Nat's Hard Cider.  THINK Unique Gardens and Mocha Roma Coffee are both back this Saturday.  Old House Dahlias will be in the market for two more weeks, so be sure to get your dahlia bulbs.  And while you're gardening, don't forget about tomatoes, eggplants and peppers.  Read more about planting nightshades in this week's featured article. 

 "Can I plant that now?" is a question we hear often when we are selling vegetable starts at the market.

 

A short answer is, "If Gales Meadow Farm is selling this plant this week, the weather and the plant are both ready, and it is time for the plant to go into the garden." We want everyone to be successful in their gardening endeavors, and we won't offer plants too early.

 

Some vegetables are "hardy," which means that they can stand frost and that they will grow in chilly weather, with daytime temperatures below 50°F and freezing nights. These include lettuce, peas, onions, broccoli, kale, cabbage, chard, beets, and others. We start these plants from seed in late January and bring the starts to the market from the first weekend in March through April and beyond. Customers who bought them in March and planted them right away have been enjoying fresh vegetables from their own gardens for weeks by how.

 

Other vegetables are "tender," which means that frost will kill them or severely damage them: tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, melons, cucumbers, basil, and many others. These plants love heat and will only grow and develop above a certain temperature, which is different for each kind of vegetable and sometimes for different varieties of the same vegetable.

 

Tomatoes can be planted safely outside as soon as the danger of frost is past, usually about the middle of April in Portland. However, they will grow better and ripen fruit just as quickly if they are planted a few weeks later, sometime in May. We aim for our tomato plants to be ready for market and transplanting the first weekend of May. At our farm in Gales Creek, it has frosted as late as May 22, and so we usually wait until the last week of May to plant tomatoes. Tomato plants will grow and develop when the temperature is above about 50°F. (They need higher temperatures, of course, to ripen their fruit.) Even the middle of June is not too late to plant cherry tomatoes and other varieties that will ripen fruit quickly

 

Peppers, eggplant, squash and cucumbers are much happier if they are planted in the garden when the night temperatures are staying above 45°F and the daytime temperatures are reaching the 70's or at least the high 60's. Planting these at the end of May or anytime up until the summer solstice is ideal.

 

Basil should not be planted outside until the nights are staying above 55°F and daytime temperatures are in the high 70's. When the conditions are right, it grows fast. If you can't do without pesto until July, explore the many other greens that make beautiful pesto: sorrel, garlic scapes, fava shoots.

 

For the vegetables mentioned here, the calendar is less important than the day and nighttime temperatures, and the temperature of the soil. Pay attention to how your plants respond to the weather, and next year, remember what it was like when your plants grew the fastest and appeared the healthiest. Have faith in your experience, and you will become a "seasoned" gardener.

Summer Kick Off Celebration 
Tuesday, June 4th
10-2
New vendors and new events all summer!

www.lloydfarmersmarket.com for more information and to sign up for weekly updates.