market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Market Farming
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- From: "Beth Spaugh" <lists AT rhomestead.com>
- To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: [Market-farming] winter salad
- Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 20:03:14 -0500
I am growing some hardy and forcing lettuces in a hoophouse
this winter. Zone 4 – below zero tonight, but they made it through the
other zero degree night. They taste great! I intend to expand this commercially next year.
I am still at the point of looking at them and debating whether to sell them
now while they are so good, and then have to buy salad, or hope they survive
and keep them for our own eating. Looking forward, I am questioning the size to grow/sell them
at. They are currently 6 to 8 inches tall. This is an easy size to clean, and a
pound is MUCH bulkier, like at least quadruple the volume, of small salad mix.
I am questioning whether growing baby salad mix or this size (or larger) is
more economical. Labor of course is one issue. But, during the regular growing
season I could plant more successions of baby size, which would probably tilt
the economics in favor of baby on a land use and number of crops basis. But, at
this time of year the stuff isn’t regrowing much, so if cut at baby size
would just sit there. And I am not set up to harvest and clean baby salad well –
it is a wet, sloppy job which means very cold this time of year. What I see as the plusses of this size are: Reduced
disease pressure because the plants are 6 to 9 inches apart Much
less messy rinsing (and therefore dryer/warmer) I
am cultivating a restaurant that is starting a salad bar, and because of the
bulk of the larger size, I think customers will eat less of this size, making
it more economical for him. This even applies to spring/summer/fall crops. Picking
the outer leaves, there is more leaf area left for photosynthesis than cutting
baby mix, so maybe it will regrow more? It has kept growing surprisingly to
date. Questions: I
didn’t plant these until mid-October (at that point they were in plugs
but still less than 2 inches tall – they surprised me the way they grew).
If I had planted sooner the plants would be larger, but would they withstand
the cold as well when larger? Of course, I could have been harvesting the
larger outer leaves so maybe they wouldn’t actually be larger. I
have empty space in my hoophouse. When can I start seeding or transplanting
spinach, arugula, mizuna, kale, and the lettuces? I am really psyched about this. I want to find ways to
spread the workload out and make summer a little more sane and enjoyable. I would
like to actually cook and eat my veggies and preserve some,, and therefore
answer customers’ questions about flavor and preparation. This looks like
a way to spread some work away from summer. I suspect outside harvest would be
miserable, but in the hoophouse it is still rather pleasant. Yes the fingers
can get cold, but, because of the light workload this time of year, I can stop
and warm them up. I am searching for more cold hardy lettuce and other greens.
I gave up on mache because it was so small. Any suggestions? The list I have so
far is Magnet, Akcel, Winter Density, Brune D Hiver, Grand Rapids, Lobjoits
Green Cos, Hardy White Cos, Rouge d Hiver, Winter Marvel, Capitane. I have Sweet Valentine, Red-tinged Winter lettuce, and North
Pole lettuce, and others but I don’t have the list handy - dill, cilantro,
raab, and a couple other lettuces along with some Red Russian and Winterbor
kale. The North Pole is hard to harvest outer leaves – it seems better
for cutting the whole plant. The Sweet Valentine is really beautiful with
excellent texture and flavor. Thank you. Beth Spaugh |
-
Re: [Market-farming] Raised Beds and Yield Estimates,
Willfindley, 12/13/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] Raised Beds and Yield Estimates,
TxBeeFarmer, 12/13/2005
-
[Market-farming] winter salad,
Beth Spaugh, 12/13/2005
- Re: [Market-farming] winter salad, Lucy Goodman, 12/14/2005
-
[Market-farming] winter salad,
Beth Spaugh, 12/13/2005
- <Possible follow-up(s)>
- Re: [Market-farming] Raised Beds and Yield Estimates, Willfindley, 12/13/2005
-
Re: [Market-farming] Raised Beds and Yield Estimates,
TxBeeFarmer, 12/13/2005
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