Halloween is still a few weeks away, but we’re celebrating early at the Broadway Community Market tomorrow with a fun Trunk or Treat event! This is a great opportunity for kids to dress up and enjoy free games and candy while the adults shop from local vendors. We have only two market days left of the season, so come out and join the fun! Remember, fall hours are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
As we approach the end of market season, we also near the first frost, which means tomorrow might be your last opportunity for summer produce. This morning, I harvested jalapenos, ripe and green tomatoes (mmm, fried green tomatoes), carrots, green onions, and even some perpetual spinach. I’ll also have garlic and knitted and crocheted items.
As the current market garden winds down for the season, the new garden is sprouting, showing hope and promise for next year. The rain last weekend nourished the cover crop seeds I planted just before, and the beds are now full of fresh green life.
A mixture of winter rye, daikon radishes, and Austrian winter peas will hold down the compost I spread and send their roots deep to break up the soil in preparation for spring crops. And when I mow them down ahead of spring planting, the cover crops will add nutrients back into the soil. It’s such a simple thing to broadcast seeds in the fall and let them do so much good work over the winter.
In the “old” garden, I’m still harvesting a few tomatoes, green onions, and peppers as we ease into fall. You can pick up some of these fresh vegetables at the Broadway Community Market tomorrow (9am-1pm), as well as garlic and knit and crocheted items.
I’ve missed a couple markets lately, and I’m finally telling you why: Fairydiddle Farm is moving! Paul and I settled into a new house about a month ago, and while I still have access to the “old” market garden, we’ve been busy putting in a new one. It will be bigger, at 2,000 square feet (vs. 1,500), and hopefully better, as I’m being more intentional about the preparation. I’m so excited to see how things grow next year!
Before we moved in, while we were still cleaning and painting inside the house, I laid down plastic sheeting and some borrowed landscape fabric to kill the grass. Now, about two months later, the plastic has been pulled up. On five out of eight beds so far, I’ve laid down newspaper and spread garden soil – a 50/50 mix of topsoil and compost – over top.
I’m hoping to start seeding the finished beds today, ahead of this weekend’s rain, with a cover crop mixture of winter rye and daikon radishes. These cold-hardy plants will grow through the winter, with the radishes, sometimes called “tillage radishes,” breaking up the soil in preparation for spring planting. I’d also like to get a sixth bed prepped today, but I’ve been moving slowly this week due to illness.
Which leads me to my other, far less exciting announcement: Once again, I will not be at the market tomorrow. My friends will still have plenty for you to shop, though, with fresh produce, pasture-raised beef and eggs, healing salve, moisturizing balms, take-home meals, sourdough bread, handknit items, and more.
