Early garlic is being harvested now

Most of our garlic won't be ready to harvest until June 30 through July 10th, but our earliest garlic varieties "Tzan" and "Shantung Purple" were harvested on June 21st. These are Asiatic garlics that mature earlier than the others.
It's so good to finally smell the unique earthy combination of garlic and dirt again!

How can you tell when to harvest your garlic?

Harvest- Dig up when half of the leaves are brown, usually June 25- July 10. Shade immediately. Hang or put on ventilated shelves for 3 weeks to “cure” with stems on. They must have good air circulation and shade.

How To Store- Clip off the stems after they are cured. Store at room temperature or cooler, out of direct sunlight. Cool basements and garages can work well for storage. The bulbs need air circulation, but storing in paper bags can keep them from drying out too much. Hardnecks generally store up to 5 months. Softnecks up to 9 months.

Garlic "Curlies" are here!!! In season for 3 weeks only

Tomorrow (June 11) WeeBee Farms will be selling lots of garlic curlies (scapes). These are a great vegetable for all sorts of uses, and they keep in the fridge for a month! We'll only have them for 3 weeks so get them while they're in season.

• Chop and add to cooked beans, chili, eggs, omelets, quiche, soups, stir fry, tomato sauce and veggies.

• Chop and sautee in olive oil for a minute. Serve generous amounts over pasta or veggie dishes

• Chop fine and eat raw in cold salads, potato salad, tuna or salmon salad, hummous, tabouli

• Roast on the grill whole with a little olive oil and salt 

You can use the whole thing including the blossom, maybe slicing off part of the tougher end.

Also we'll be selling squash and pumpkin plants- with some interesting heirloom varieties, cucumber plants and basil plants for your garden.

Salad Bowls for Mom!!

This weekend is Mother's Day weekend, and we will have lots of salad bowls to choose from. Moms have been admiring them for a month now- and would love to have one of their own!

Salad bowls are a way to have homegrown salads with a mini-garden on the deck or patio. They are filled with lettuces and other cool-weather greens that have been hardened off and are ready to keep outside. Usually you will harvest a salad a week, or more, by picking off the outside large leaves, and leaving at least half the plant. Most of the greens will be done by the end of June when it's too hot for them to survive.

Care of your salad bowl: Keep in a cool spot if possible. They love sun when it's cool, but it helps to move them into the shade when the weather is hot.

Wild Strawberries!

There's nothing like the taste of wild strawberries! They are so much sweeter and delicious than regular garden strawberries- there's no comparison. This year we got seeds of Alpine Mignonette wild strawberries from Renee's seeds and have plants to offer starting May 7th. They are hardened off and ready to plant.

from Renee's garden website

Information from Renee's Garden website: Alpines can grow in full sun, although in very hot weather areas (Colorado), they will also thrive in half day sun or an area of dappled shade. Like other berries, they love a rich, fertile, and above all, well drained soil. Alpines need little special care beyond consistent moisture and occasional feeding. Mulching the plants to tuck them in and keep roots moist is a good strategy unless snails or slugs are a menace in your garden.
They will produce fruit the first year in the garden.
For more information visit http://www.reneesgarden.com/articles/strawberries.html  

Plants that love cold and snow! NO need to protect them during the cold snap...

Tomorrow the forecast calls for a high  of 45 and possibly snow and rain. Great for the plants!! Terrible for the humans!! I will be there with LOTS of plants that are ready for your garden

Luckily all of the plants I am selling are cold-hardy. Kale, chard, lettuce, parsley, lettuces, broccoli, collards, cabbage, onions and pea plants will all survive just fine in cold and snowy weather. Just leave them alone and they will pop back soon. The weather that is hardest for these plants is wind and heat.

Salad Bowls- leave them on the patio or deck in cold and snowy weather. At this time of year they can be in a spot in full sun. As the weather gets warmer they would love a slightly shady spot to keep them cooler.

Cold weather greens hardening off outside

Plants in 2 inch pots. Only plants in the 2 inch pots should be brought in because they are less able to withstand harsh weather. Never leave the 2 inch pots out in full sun and wind unless you can water at least twice a day.

Lettuce!

25 Different Kinds- The time to plant is now!

2011 Spring lettuces from WeeBee Farms
	Australian Yellow	looseleaf	tasty, bright yellow/green
S	Bronze Arrowhead	looseleaf	Gorgeous, taste test winner
	Buttercrunch	butterhead	very sweet and crunchy
S	Canasta	crisphead	red tinged, very sweet
	Crisp Mint	romaine	compact, upright, excellent flavor
S	Flame	looseleaf	taste test winner, heat tolerant
S	Freckles	romaine	a favorite!

Peas

Swiss Giant snow peas

My son Caley grew his own pea plants to sell, and I grew some too. Now is a good time to plant them outside.

Norli peas (photos from davesgarden.com)

Types of Pea Plants that WeeBee Farms is selling:
                             Type                      height trellis?
Progress #9           shelling     58 days    18"    no
     heirloom, superb flavor, 5" pods
Green Arrow          shelling     65 days    24"     no   
     high yields, 4" pods, disease tolerant
Wando                  shelling     68 days    24"     no
     heat tolerant heirloom

WeeBee Farms will be at market this Saturday April 9th with cold-hardy plants for your home garden

We've had the plants out in the hot and windy weather for hardening off, and now we'll be ready to sell some on Saturday.
We'll have 6 different kinds of kale, swiss chard, lots of lettuces, baby bok choi onions and pea plants. Salad bowls will be there too. Come down and visit!

Salad bowl for sale

Garlic field "A" on 4/6/11

Lettuces in the greenhouse

Greens to sell April 9th

Onion Plants For Sale

New this year. Try growing onions in your garden from transplants. Transplants are better than sets, especially for the sweet onions like Walla Walla. We'll have Italian Red Cipollini onions and Italian Red Bunching Onions too. Read on for the instructions and list of varieties we'll be selling:

WeeBee Farms is getting ready for market

Greenhouse starts- ready to harden off

                          Onion Starts- Copra, Candy, Italian Red Cipollini, Red bunching onions, Leeks

Can't wait to get there. I'm busy hardening off plants to sell. We have peas, lettuce, kale, chard and onion starts- started in our new greenhouse. The garlic looks great, too. I've been watering it like crazy in this hot, windy weather.