4 Harvests of Greens

After 4 harvests of some greens (and I'm not done harvesting yet), here's what I've gotten off of 3 beds of mustard, turnips, and kale.

Harvests took place on 10/11, 10/18, 10/25, and 11/1

• Kale total = 3.27#
• Mustard greens total = 9.94#
• Turnip greens total = 4.56#
• TOTAL = 17.77#

Here's what the last harvest looked like:

Mustard (2.11#) is on the left, turnips (0.90#) in the middle, kale (0.86#) on the right.

Each bed measures 7.5' by 3' and seed were broadcast on August 15.  So we began harvesting about 60 days after seeding.

Our FCS Agent, Edith Lovett, has preserved some of our greens by blanching and freezing in freezer bags.

Greens are extremely nutritious.  They are high in vitamins A & C and have lots of beta carotene.  They also have a fair amount of iron.

Greens Harvest #1

Here at the Extension office, I have raised beds that contain mustard, turnips, and kale.  Today I harvested about 7.5# of greens.  Here's the breakdown:

Mustard -- 5.05#
Turnips -- 1.61#
Kale -- 0.88#
TOTAL = 7.54#

The picture to the right shows kale, turnip greens, and mustard greens, the entire first harvest from 67.5 sq ft of raised beds.

Mind you, this is only my first harvest. Mustard was by far the largest of the 3 crops, all planted on Aug 15, 2011.  Kale is so lightweight compared to mustard, it may never rival it in the number of harvested pounds.  But on a small scale, you don't exactly make decisions based on yield.  You grow what you like to eat.

Each bed of greens measures 7.5 ft x 3 ft., only 22.5 sq ft of space.

You can grow a lot in a little bit of space, something that's been proven over and over.  Now,  gotta get to finding me some good recipes. 

Living on a Few Acres update

Our Living on a Few Acres class has been postponed for 2 weeks.  It seems people keep signing up so we figured we'd do more advertising, try to get several more farms/homesteads to sign up.  The original start date was to be tonight, Oct 11.  However, the first class will now start on Oct 25.

This class is not designed to teach you to be a full-time farmer.  What we want you to get out of it is some helpful, farmer-friendly resources that are available.  We also want to teach you some self-sufficiencies, especially as it pertains to feeding you and your family.  Basics concerning your water resources, fences, paddock sizes, and raising livestock and horticulture crops are just some of the things we'll cover in the six session class.

We are still taking registrations.  The cost is $50 per person or $75 for 2 people from the same farm.  Call the Pulaski County Extension Service office at 606-679-6361 for more information.  We can take credit cards as well.

Square Foot Garden Fall Veggies

Anyone, anywhere, can grow (almost) anything, in a square foot garden.  The concept goes by many names:  no-till gardening, raised bed gardening, etc.  But the fact is, you can feed your family using any number of different raised bed techniques.  Square foot gardening is just one.

Here are some pictures of my fall vegetables in a square foot garden.  This garden is located at the Pulaski County Extension office and was planted August 15.  You can come by and check it out anytime you like. 

 The 4 X 4 square foot garden above consists of 16 squares.  Broccoli and cabbage are planted at 1 plant per square.  Notice that we have a weed-free barrier.  Very important if you have bermudagrass or just turfgrass surrounding the bed.

At each corner I've planted spinach.  They are to be planted 9 per square.  I'm having some issues with germination.  Between the spinach on the outside edge I've planted kale.  The book did not address kale so I have 4 squares planted at different densities: 2, 4, 6, and 9.

The next 2 pictures are some other raised beds at the office.  The first picture has kale, the second picture shows mustard in the foreground and turnips in the background.  These seeds were broadcast into the area and not thinned.  Still, it's easy to grow healthy food at a fairly low cost (around $10 from my bad memory).  This cost does not include the materials used to make the beds.

I hope this inspires you to think about using square foot gardens, raised beds, or lasagna garden methods in your garden next year.

Living on a Few Acres

I think people in general believe farm life to be a tranquil, solitary existence.  Many people after working for 30 years want to retire on a farm or at least on a few acres out in the country.  Maybe you're not at retirement age yet but want to prepare for a life away from the city after you're done working.

That's why the Ag Agent and I have teamed up on a program called Living on a Few Acres.  We want the training to focus on living sustainably on the farm.  In fact, I wondered if we should call in Living Off a Few Acres.  Self-sustainability is kind of a big thing right now.  This program will help you do that.

A fellow horticulture agent sent me this graphic just yesterday about how much land it would take a family to support themselves.  It gets you to think about your different needs and how you might best obtain those resources.

Our program will begin on October 11 and classes will be every Tuesday until November 22.  We skip November 1, however.  We start with a meal at 5:30 and then begin the program at 6 each night.

Registration will be $50 and that covers your meals, a resource binder, and a jump drive.  We hope this sounds like something you or someone you know might be interested in.

Children's Botanical Garden of South Central KY

I hope that everyone living in Pulaski Co (and maybe even some surrounding counties) have had a chance to visit the Children's Garden located at the Pulaski Co Public Library in downtown Somerset.

Yes, it's not new, but yes, it's a delight to walk around in.

Two years after its grand opening, volunteers are still working extremely hard.  We forget a lot of times but a garden is not fixed.  Once hardscapes were finished and plants were planted, the work does not end.  And it won't ever end.

A handful of people make this garden work.  Spread the word.

Redundant Rose Rosette

    Knockout Roses have been all the rage for the last few years.  Even as a non-rose person, I have been impressed.   No black spot (or very little) and pruning?  Prune whenever you feel like it!  The plants will live and bloom and bloom and live!

     However, like all good things, they must come to an end.  Case in point:  Several calls and many rose specimens in the disease diagnostic lab with weird, red, thorny growth. 

     All the Knockouts here at our office were removed due to this problem, a disease problem.  You might say ‘How?  Knockouts are disease resistant!’. 

     Nope, sorry, they are not resistant to rose rosette.  

     Symptoms. This lethal disease affects all weedy and cultivated roses. Earliest symptoms include increased growth of shoots with red coloration and distortion and dwarfing of leaves (Figure 1). Affected shoots appear to be more succulent than normal and they develop a proliferation of thorns (Figure 2). This abnormal overabundance of thorns is a useful field symptom for diagnosis, because the new shoots of many roses are naturally reddish colored. Diseased shoots are not winter-hardy and will produce few blooms or flowers may be deformed. Infected plants produce fewer roots than normal. The disease progresses to the rest of the plant until all the new growth is affected and the plant declines or is killed in winter. Roses may succumb in just one season, or symptoms may continue for another season or two.

     The cause of rose rosette disease was thought to be a virus, but recent research suggests that a phytoplasma infection is responsible for the symptoms. In nature, it is spread by a tiny eriophyid mite.

     Disease management. Infected plants must be removed and destroyed so that the pathogen is not spread to healthy plants nearby. Care must be taken to avoid scattering disease-carrying mites to the other plants. Early detection is essential. Rose rosette disease is normally systemic in the plant, but at the first indication of infection on a shoot, it might help to clip off the affected shoot in hopes that the rest of the plant is still unaffected. Multiflora rose could be a reservoir for the disease so they should be removed from the neighborhood of cultivated roses.