We'll be at the Longmont Market 8-1 tomorrow.

Come visit Longmont for the last of the garlic that we have to sell this year! There are several kinds including Chesnok Red, Lithuanian Purple and some larger heads of Persian Star. Also bargain bags of separated cloves left over from planting, a few variety bags and some planting garlic. (It's not too late!)

The garlic that we planted during the last 2 weeks is snug in the ground now, under a nice layer of snow. I planted the two main fields, but have one small area to plant this week. I often plant some on Thanksgiving morning- a tradition at WeeBee Farms.

Not at Boulder Market anymore

Although we will miss being at the market- we are busy planting next years' crop. There is a little garlic left to sell, and we may be at the final Longmont market on the 19th.
Have a great Winter- I will miss all of you!
Karen

Garlic Sprouting in November! What to do.

Garlic coming up in November?

If you planted garlic in mid-October, you may have some garlic sprouts or leaves starting to show now. This happens when we have a warm Fall. "Turban" type garlics like Tzan or Shantung Purple are especially likely to come up early.
Although it is not ideal to have it coming up now, it won't affect the garlic you harvest next summer very much.  I think the extra root growth that the garlic is developing helps compensate for the green leaves that will freeze and die back when the weather turns colder.
There isn't too much you can do about it. Just make sure your garlic doesn't dry out during this time. If you didn't do a big watering right after planting, do it now! When the ground is very dry as it is now, watering a LOT will help to soak it down deep to keep it from drying out in the winter when it is often dry and windy.
Mulching? Be aware that if you mulch, there are many, many cases of long-lasting herbicide residue in mulch, especially straw mulch. We do not mulch anymore at WeeBee Farms since our terrible experience with herbicide residue a few years ago. http://weebeefarms.blogspot.com/2013/10/warning-about-straw-mulch-manure.html
Frost Heave? Something else you may notice in the late winter is some garlic cloves showing on top of the soil, especially if you haven't mulched. This happens because of frost heaves. This, too is not something to worry about as the roots actually pull the garlic back into the ground!

What garlic will we have Nov. 5th?

You may be surprised to see some BIG garlic on Saturday.

We have more big garlic than we have room to plant so some of it will be for sale for you to eat or plant. Also there are variety bags (5 kinds of garlic, color-coded to identify), some longer-storing garlic and many unusual and exotic types by the bulb and in bargain bags.
There is still time to plant garlic, and of course to stock up for Fall and Winter cooking.
If we sell out, this will be our last Boulder Market. Otherwise Nov. 12th will be the last.

Cold weather WILL come... Cooking garlic and medicinal garlic available Saturday.

With the warm weather hanging on who is in the mood for cooking soups, stews and sauces?
We haven't had our usual rush of people buying garlic for cooking, so we still have plenty to sell. We all know the cold weather is around the corner and THEN we'll be wanting to make pumpkin soup, roasted veggies, stews &  breads.
Use our garlic for Cold and flu prevention- Shatili
We have Shatili- the most highly medicinal garlic this weekend! Press a clove, mix with honey for a VERY potent remedy.  (see the post on Medicinal garlic in the upper right "pages" section)
Shatili is also fabulous for making green chile, soups and stews.
We will be at market tomorrow (10/29) and next week (11/5).

We're still going strong! Planting garlic and long-storing garlic are still available

We will be at market on October 22nd and October 29th and still have many kinds of garlic including the long-storing types and some larger bulbs for planting. (Ask for our information sheet on how to plant, including the recommended hot-water soak)
Link to planting instructions: http://weebeefarms.blogspot.com/p/how-to-plant-garlic.html

Medicinal use of garlic- stock up for the cold and flu season!

Getting the Maximum Health Benefits of Garlic

The medicinally active compound in garlic (allicin) develops after you cut or press the garlic. Pressing it or crushing it activates the most allicin. After you press it, let it sit for 10 minutes before cooking. This gives you far more allicin. Eating garlic raw retains all of the allicin. Microwaving it for 30 seconds destroys 90% of the allicin.

I highly recommend the book "Eating on the Wild Side" by Jo Robinson. She describes how to get the most nutrients from your fruits and vegetables by selecting the best ones, the best storage techniques and the best preparation. Here are a few facts about garlic from her book:

• 3 cloves of garlic contain the same antibacterial activity as a standard dose of penicillin. (although eating isn't equivalent to injecting penicillin)
• quercetin found in onions and garlic was more effective than "Tamiflu" in test-tube studies for flu prevention
• garlic was 100% effective in blocking the growth of cancer tumors of the stomach, breast, prostate, kidneys and brain in a test-tube study
• Allicin is a powerful anti-cancer medicine and antibiotic and is a strong anti-oxidant

The "hot" taste of garlic is generated by "sulfer-based nutrients called thiosulfinates, which play a number of beneficial roles in our bodies, including fighting cancer and reducing the risk of artery-blocking blood clots. As is true in many other plant families, the more bite, the more benefits."1
Benefits increase with storage:
The longer you store your garlic, the hotter it gets and the more benefits it has, the allicin content can increase tenfold.
 Also see Garlic as a Prebiotic, and Much more info on our "page" in the top right corner of this blog. http://weebeefarms.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_30.html

What garlic stores the longest? Inchelium Red!

Inchelium Red Garlic was discovered on the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington State. Where it came from before that is unknown. It is one of the best-tasting softneck garlics and has won taste tests for its mild but lingering flavor. It is a good garlic for roasting, general cooking and mixed with salad dressing.

Softneck garlics are known for their long storage and this is no exception, usually storing until January. Part of what helps it store long is that the cloves are tightly wrapped in their garlic skins- which helps keep it from drying out. This also makes it harder to peel unfortunately.

Inchelium Red garlic with our favorite garlic peeling device

Tip on peeling garlic: We have had good luck using a rubber roller (the very inexpensive little item you can buy at a cooking supply store). If you slice off each end of the clove before putting in the roller it works like a charm!

Storage Tips: If you want to prolong the storage you can try keeping it in the refrigerator in a paper bag. Otherwise just keep it away from heat and direct sun or even try the garage. We have found that it stores in a shady outbuilding pretty well until it gets below zero.

Selling at the Longmont Farmer's Market Sept. 17th and 24th- come see us!

For the next two Saturdays we will be selling our garlic in Longmont as well as Boulder. The Longmont Market is at the corner of Hover Rd and Nelson Rd and is open from 8am to 1pm. (We'll also be in Boulder from 8am-2pm)

WeeBee Farms helper Georgia will be staffing the booth at WeeBee Farms Longmont location and can get you the right garlic for cooking, storing, preserving or medicinal uses.

We will be at the Boulder Market until we sell out- Probably until October 15th or so.

Garlic Descriptions- for sale at Boulder Market Saturday, August 27th

Gourmet Garlic From WeeBee Farms

(Color codes- bulbs are marked on top with colors)

To taste, slice thinly (raw) & serve on a cracker or chip

It's been so nice to see all our favorite garlic customers over the last 4 weeks! And some new ones, too. In the beginning of the garlic selling season we concentrate on selling the garlics that don't store as long, and have the best flavor when they're freshest. Tzan, Uzbek Turban, and German Extra Hardy all are at their best right now, and taste extra good with Pesto, Bruschetta, Guacamole, Hummous, Gazpacho, Fresh tomato sauce and Fresh Salsa. And of course our favorite preparation- sliced very thin on crackers or tomatoes.

• Chesnok Red- Excellent-tasting hard neck garlic originally from the Republic of Georgia. Earthy with a unique zesty bite. For roasting, sauteing, casseroles & soups.

Highly medicinal. Stores to December.    PINK

 •   Inchelium Red-  Softneck that is excellent for roasting.  Discovered on the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington State. One of the best-tasting softneck garlics with a mild but lingering flavor. Stores til Dec. or Jan.     RED  

• German Extra Hardy- Great sliced raw, an addictive garlic taste, with full flavor. Big, easy to peel cloves. Excellent in red sauce: put in at end of heating. Loses flavor if cooked too long. Will keep to November.  BLUE
• Persian Star- Spicy, exotic, and very flavorful. Try on salads, in dips or in pesto. Great with green beans and veggies or raw on crackers! Stores through December.    GREEN

• Tzan - (Also called “Mexican Red”). Superb Taste & EASY to Peel! Tangy & flavorful with pasta and for oriental cooking. A delicious raw garlic. Will stay firm through November, but sprouts early.  Harvests 3 weeks earlier than others        NO COLOR

• Uzbek Turban-  Delightful flavor  -smooth and mellow.  Excellent choice for gazpacho, bruschetta, fresh tomato sauce.  A hardneck Turban from former USSR. Harvests very early. Stores to November.    YELLOW

 • Shantung Purple- Extra-flavorful Asian softneck has 6-8 beautiful rosy/tan cloves. Cook for a strong earthy flavor, or eat raw for a fiery heat you won’t forget! Stores to January. PURPLE

See you tomorrow!

We'll be at the Boulder Farmer's Market tomorrow, July 30th. We will have German Extra Hardy, Chesnok Red, Inchelium Red, Tzan ("Mexican Red"), Uzbek Turban, Shantung Purple and more. Also lots of bargain bags ($5 bags of smaller or blemished garlic), 6/$6 bags of smaller heads and variety bags- with 5 garlics, each color-coded to identify them. Most of the garlic is medium to large size this year (yay!).

Garlic Update- A Great Harvest, Lots of good garlic! See you July 30th through October

After a little confusion as to when the garlic was ready to harvest, most everything turned out great! The leaves turned brown early, but the majority of the garlic wasn't ready to harvest until July 5-12th. (Except the Turbans which got harvested mid-June, and the Inchelium Red which was harvested June 22nd.)  This has been one of the best garlic crops ever all in all. We will be at market July 30th with the first batch to sell and will probably be selling through the end of October.
For seed garlic (home gardeners only) it's best to buy later in the season, as we will have the larger garlic, and garlic from the "cleanest" areas disease-wise.
Disease Report: One small field of garlic had some White Rot. Luckily the 2 main fields only had a few suspicious bulbs and one had a section with nematode damage. We will ask everyone to use the hot water soak treatment if you do plant our garlic for seed. This prevents nematodes or white rot spores from transferring to your soil. We do not sell seed to other growers/ sellers or CSA farms.

Using the harvester for some of the garlic. Most of it was hand-dug, though

Some of the larger Chesnok Red bulbs

On the drying racks (the middle garlic is already dry)

some garlic was dried in our boxcar

Garlic Is Being Harvested Now! Check Back for Garlic Sales Dates. July 30th will probably be our first market back with garlic

WeeBee Farms won't be at market for most of July, but we are planning to be back with garlic July 30th, or possibly earlier. Be sure to check back for updates as garlic sales get closer! In the meantime we'll be harvesting, sorting and cleaning the garlic and taking a little break from market.

So far the garlic harvest has been good, overall, with a few disappointments like small German Extra Hardy. A few bulbs have shown sign of disease- but only a small percentage so far. Compared to last years disappointing harvest due to our big hailstorm - it's been a huge improvement!

Early harvest! Watch the leaves- harvest when half of them are brown!

Some of our garlic is ready to harvest earlier this year. Probably due to the heat, and possibly being under- watered. We harvested the "Turban" types on June 15th, about 5 days earlier than usual. Some of the regular season garlic is ready early, and we just finished pulling the Inchelium Red- about a week earlier than usual. Keep an eye on your garlic leaves! (Growers- see note below photos)

Using the tractor harvester

Tzan (Mexican Red)was harvested June 15th

Tzan

Note to growers. This year it has been hard to tell when the garlic is ready to harvest. The 2 bottom leaves have browned and fallen off, and the tips are very brown/ yellow, but some of the bulbs are still not fully formed. TheChesnok Red just had it's scapes harvested

Curly time!!

This will probably be our last Saturday at market until later in July when we come back with garlic. We will have a few coolers full of garlic scapes this Saturday the 25th so come by and stock up. If you know of a restaurant or someone having a big church dinner who would like a LOT, please pass the word on!
Here is a photo from 2004- much is the same but we are calling them by their official name of scapes these days and the price has gone up to a whopping $1.50/bag!

See you Saturday and stay posted on when the first sales of garlic bulbs will be....

Garlic scapes are here!

We will have garlic scapes for sale this weekend!

Also plants for your garden: Peppers, Cucumbers, Squash, Melon, Tomatoes and Flowers.

Scapes will be at market from now until June 25th (or possibly July 2nd) being at the peak on June 18th.
Harvesting Your Scapes- (Hardnecks only) Clip or break the central seed stalk when they make a loop, or shortly afterwards (usually in June.) Clipping the scapes will give you larger bulbs. (However your bulbs will store longer if you keep the scape on.) Eat the scapes!
How to use: Put in your eggs, beans, potatoes, pasta, soup - anywhere you would use garlic. Make pesto (puree with olive oil and salt) and spread on bread, sandwiches, pizza crust. Sautee for a minute, add salt and serve as your pasta topping. You may want to cut off the bottom part if it is tough, and the tip. You can use the flower part in your food if you like. They are great grilled whole too!
Scapes will store for 2 months in the fridge in a plastic bag.
Harvest time comes about 3 weeks after scapes. Stay tuned for a post on when to harvest garlic (or search posts from previous years)

Garlic Report

The garlic is looking superb!!

Our garlic on a stormy evening May 29th

The ideal winter conditions (good snow cover, cold temps, not too much drying wind) have made for a nice-looking crop with big, tall garlic this season.


We are starting to harvest some scapes, and predict harvest will start July 1st for the main types of garlic.

Look for garlic at market starting July 30th!

Come before noon tomorrow. We're across from the Teahouse for Creekfest day! Pepper and Tomato plants available!

Look for us directly across from the Dushanbe Teahouse tomorrow. Free Parking at the RTD lot for easy access. (from Canyon go north on 14th, enter from Walnut).
Hope to see you there!

Sweet Peppers • Hot Peppers!

It's finally getting close to time to plant peppers!  We will plant ours around June 10th (they can often go in a bit earlier in Boulder). They do NOT like cool ground temperatures! (The peppers just don't thrive if planted too early.) We have gotten a good crop of peppers every year for the last 20 years with the late planting strategy. Some will have to be covered when we get the first frost in September or October. Most of the green ones will turn red by September, some in August.

We have many kinds of hot and sweet peppers. Many are ready to sell at market on Saturday including our very favorites that grow well at WeeBee Farms.  For hot peppers we are growing Jalapeno, Anaheim, Ancho (Poblano), Serrano, Hungarian hot wax, Bulgarian Carrot chile, Santaka hot Asian. The Sweet Italians are our favorites and we have Oranos, Belcanto and Jimmy Nardello. For Bell Peppers we have King Crimson- a very tasty early Bell.  Also look for Lunchbox mini sweet peppers . These are all varieties that we have grown here and have produced well for us. And we are trying two new types: Shishito (http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-non-gmo-seeds-Shishito-Pepper.html)and Fatalii.

Fatalii Pepper is Fiery Hot-

Fatalii pepper

Fatalii is a new pepper for us, a type of habanero, but matures a bit earlier. (Habaneros usually don't grow well here since the season isn't long enough) http://sustainableseedco.com/heirloom-vegetable-seeds/pe-t/pepper-heirloom-seeds/hot-peppers/fatalii-pepper-seeds.html

Belcanto Sweet Italian- A favorite sweet pepper in our gardens for 5 years.  In our search for good organic pepper seeds we found this one that turned out to be amazing. These huge red Italian peppers taste SO sweet, and the plants are really productive! We got lots of these last year and used them for salads, stir-frying, stuffing and eating fresh off the vine. These are definitely worth growing. The Oranos is the orange version of the same pepper. It's just as good and gorgeous in salads. (The Belcanto are almost identical to the "Atris" pepper we sold in the past.)

Belcanto Sweet Italian

The only ones we could not find organic seeds for are the Serrano, Hot Asian and Bulgarian Carrot Chiles. The rest are grown from Certified Organic seed.

Cooler weather, chance of showers...PERFECT gardening weather!

Come before noon to get your plants before the showers and the CU Graduation crowd. We will have a big selection of plants from cool weather plants to flowers, basil and tomatoes....

See you at market May 8th! Don't forget Salad Bowl Planters for Mother's Day!!!

The cool weather plants are thriving in this weather!!!  But, because of the snow, rain and wind we won't be there tomorrow April 30th, so gear up for gardening next weekend.
We will take good care of the plants until then. They are inside our "shade frames" which are like cold frames, but with just a shade cloth to protect them from the weight of the snow and the full sun on sunny days. These shade frames offer no protection from the cold, but the greens like this weather!

Lettuce and Bok Choy outside enjoying the weather near the shade frame

The greens are pretty happy inside the shade frame too

May 8th will still be a good time to plant all the cool weather plants, and we'll have a few of our famous "Latah" tomato plants. (Super-early tomatoes that are very juicy and flavorful.)
Don't forget to get your Salad Bowl Planter for Mother's Day weekend!!!

April 23rd Market Update

We missed last market due to the cold, rainy, snowy forecast- I didn't think too many people would be gardening last weekend.
Now we have twice as many plants to sell this Saturday! They are all well-hardened off, as they were out in the cold and snow with just a shade cloth to protect them from wind and heavy snow.

It's still cool enough for all the cool weather plants to thrive!

-->We have 8 types of Kale, Broccolini (Broccoli Piracicaba), Rapini (broccoli raab), Colorful Red Mustards, Colorful lettuces (heat tolerant types), Komatsuna ("Japanese Spinach") Onion starts, bok choy, Pea starts, Salad bowl planters, Swiss Chard (3 colors), Collard greens, Cabbage, Garlic greens, arugula and more.

See you at Market!! Saturday April 2nd

We'll be there with cold weather veggie starts: Arugula, Asian Greens, Peas, Lettuce, Kale,  Bok Choy and Salad Bowl planters.

How to "Harden Off" your plants

Acclimating Your Plants before planting them in your garden

WeeBee Farms takes pride in selling you plants that are ready for planting today. However, during periods of extreme weather, we need to protect the plants in the greenhouse and they may need re-acclimated to the outdoors. Or you may have kept your plants indoors or in the shade for a few days and will need to harden them off yourself before planting.
Cold weather plants  (lettuce, kale, broccoli, peas, etc) Plant these in April!!!!!
Acclimating your plants to the outdoors is extremely important to their survival. Because plants usually are grown in greenhouses, they've been pampered. They need to be introduced slowly to the elements of wind and intense sun. The cold temperatures don't bother the plants as much as wind and sun. Once fully hardened off they can take quite a bit of snow, and cold down to 10 or 20 degrees.
Initially, you will put plants outdoors only for short periods of time, perhaps for an hour.  (If you see it wilting, put it back in the shade for a while). You'll want to set them in a semi-shaded area of the yard. Gradually, you will increase the time plants are kept outdoors; you also will gradually increase their exposure to sun. After 6 to 8 days, these plants will be ready for the outdoor life.
Do not cut back on watering. Plants that are in small pots dry out very quickly and need to be kept moist. Plants are also more susceptible to heat and cold in their small pots. Once in the ground, the soil will moderate the temperatures.
It's a good idea to transplant on a cloudy day or in the evening, when the plants won't get full exposure to the hot sun on their first day in the ground. Water the plants and planting hole deeply.
Hot Weather Plants  (Basil, Tomatoes, Peppers, Cucumbers, Squash, Beans)
We don't plant our tomatoes or basil out until May 31st, Peppers a week or two later. They will die at 32 degrees, and they do NOT like cold ground temperatures, especially peppers. We have been successful at growing tomatoes and peppers for 16 years. We are in Boulder County 10 miles north of Boulder. Boulderites may be able to get away with planting a week or so earlier.

9 days til the first Farmer's Market!!

I am looking forward to seeing a lot of familiar faces on April 2nd! Lots of lettuce, kale and other cold weather plants are thriving in the greenhouse (despite losing electricity for a couple of days).

Onions, Swiss chard and kale

lettuce seedlings - "Freckles"

Swiss Chard and Lacinato (Dinosaur) Kale seedlings

We plan to be at market on April 2nd assuming we can get some of the plants hardened off enough to sell by then.

This Wednesday we were just about ready to put down the drip lines since the garlic plots had dried out just enough from the March 17-18th snow, when the wind picked up and we decided to wait. Then we got about a foot of heavy wet snow, so it'll be a while now.

This is a little section of garlic in the (foreground) looking very scenic in the earlier snow. With the more recent (3/23) snow it is totally covered up. This will be good for the garlic in the long run, but will make laying down the drip lines trickier.
The garlic is looking exceptionally good due to the favorable winter (good snow cover, good moisture, cold temps, not too much wind). We will cross our fingers for no natural disasters (like the hail and flooding we had at our farm last June.)

The garlic came up right at the usual time- January 29th. Only the early garlic was up then (the Turbans like Tzan, Uzbek and Shantung Purple). Now the others are coming. German Extra Hardy, Chesnok Red and Inchelium Red are about a 1/2" high.

Tzan on February 24th

Uzbek Turban on Feb 24th

Photos are from February 24th