Thoughts of an Urban Farmer
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I voted on One Seed Chicago a while back. From their website: Each year One Seed Chicago selects one plant to be the focus of a season-long celebration. Imagine thousands of the same vegetable or flower linking community gardens, yards and window sills across the City! As One Book, One Chicago is to reading, One [...]
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One thing is clear in the Midwest — there is plenty of knowledge on growing corn around here. I’ve grown corn for the past few years with moderate success. Since I’m not growing acres of corn, I’ve had a number of stalks break in heavy winds (even with a 1 or 2 inch thick stalk). [...]
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Salsa is probably my favorite fresh summer “from the garden” dish. Tomatoes, Cilantro, Onion, and Garlic and you have a fresh easy salsa. Garlic and Onions go in the ground in the fall and Cilantro goes in the ground first in the spring. Cilantro is fresh — coriander is the seeds that grow when the [...]
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Parsley is a staple herb in the garden. Basil, Cilantro, Thyme, and Sage are others. Parsley is really tough to get started but grows well once sprouted. For new gardens, this is one of the few plants I’d recommend buying as a start. In years past, I’d have planted them indoors a few weeks ago [...]
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I think people forget why April showers bring May flowers. This weekend was a great example — Saturday was a great day to work in the garden. Since then, we’ve had 2 great days of rain — .9 inches on Sunday and .16 on Monday. That’s a full inch of rain. With freshly planted seeds [...]
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It was a big weekend for the farm — we’re about 10 days away from the last frost of the season. The long time Chicago native would recognize that a 70 degree weekend does not mean we won’t have one more snow ahead of us (I hear Tuesday). In the ground on Friday went Carrots. [...]
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All of this talk about what I’m planting deserves a review of where I buy my seeds. A couple of things that are important to me when I buy seeds. First, I want unique versions of the vegetables I grow — no standard grocery tomato for me. Second, I’d prefer an organic seed although with [...]
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FarmerJay.com reader Alexander Roman encountered an issue many of us face — he planted his seeds indoors too soon. This is my fourth year urban farming and while I might make it look good today, I’ve definitely had a fair bit of trail and error along the way. Living in Chicago, the growing season isn’t [...]
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It’s the second day of lettuce planting — you’d think I would have an acre of lettuce, but it’s just about 15 square feet. Yesterday, I planted European Mesclun Salad. Today it is another mix from Baker Creek Farms – Rocky Top Lettuce Salad. Rocky Top is probably the least descriptive seed I’ve bought. From [...]
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More seeds went in the ground today and more tomorrow. Today I planted a lettuce mix. As a home farmer, growing single types of lettuce can get boring. The fun of growing at home is growing a number of varieties that you wouldn’t necessarily buy for yourself. This year, I’m planting two mixes of lettuces [...]
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