June 19, 2008

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VEGETABLES
Arugula Regular, easy to grow spicy green
Broccoli The perfect year round vegetable
Cabbage Miniature varieties in red or green
Cucumber Little Leaf Pickling, a good slicer and compact plant does well in containers. Marketmore, the classic slicing cucumber Diva, robust Asian type Lemon, a juicy round variety Rocky, bite size and crunchy Many other varieties coming soon
Eggplant Italian Nadia – the robust black eggplant Japanese Orient Express – the long purple variety
Onions Leeks and Spring Onions
Peppers (Small seedlings)
   Piquillo a thick walled sweet red pimento
   Padron, harvest early and green, some will be hot, Spanish tapas pepper
   Bell Peppers, sweet peppers in red, green, yellow, red, lilac and chocolate
   Corno de Toro, red or yellow, classic Italian frying pepper
   Jalapeno, classic Mexican spicy hot
   Anaheim, large stuffing pepper, mild
   Fresno, a beauty and a little hotter than the Serrano Serrano, a little hotter than the Jalapeno Red
   Hot Cherry, mild pimento pepper with a little kick
   New Varieties are coming on daily, check with your Cole Canyon vender
Squash
   Zucchini “Partenon” This is a parthenocarpic variety (self pollinating) that tolerates cooler weather, produces consistently through fall. Very expensive seed.
   Zucchini “Raven” Standard dark green
   Crookneck a classic yellow heirloom
   Costata Romano the best tasting Italian heirloom
Tomatoes (small seedlings)

LETTUCE & GREENS 
Temporarily sold out

Available NOW!
STRAWBERRIES
Seascape Variety Everbearing and ready to plant
for early spring harvest!

HERBS
3" Pots $3 for Perennial, 3" Pots $2 for Annual
Basil  Sweet Italian, Genovese, Thai Siam Queen, Purples and frilly
Catnip 
Chives, Common & Garlic
Cilantro
Dill, Fernleaf
Marjoram, Sweet 
Mint; Peppermint, Chocolate & Apple
Mint, Spearmint, Kentucky Colonel
Oregano, Italian
Oregano, Greek
Oregano, Hot & Spicy
Parsley, Plain, Curly and Italian
Rosemary, Upright culinary varieties and Mrs. Howard’s creeping
Sage, Berggarten, Golden, Tri-Color, Purple and Dwarf
Savory, Winter & Summer
Stevia
Tarragon, French
Thyme, German and English
Thyme, Golden
Thyme, Silver
Thyme, Lemon

5" Pots $5
African Blue Basil
Artichoke, Globe
Lavender Sweet
Oregano, Greek
Rosemary, Tuscan Blue
Marjoram, Sweet
Sage; White, Berggarten, Purple, Tri-color and Golden

WINDOW BOXES $20-$45 [For more information]

Love Potion 12" oval window box planted with Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme plus a surprise or two
Mixed Herbs 12" and 20" window boxes filled with culinary herbs
Herb Squares Large square boxes arranged with green, lavender and silver edibles
Lettuce Bowls 12" bowls filled with a lavish variety of cutting lettuce
Herbes de Provence in 3 gallon Eco pots coming soon. Elegant black containers made of rice hulls planted with lavender, rosemary, summer savory, thyme, basil and sweet marjoram for your own blend of the classic Herbes de Provence. Limited number available.

SPRING APRIL - JUNE 2008 NEWSLETTER 

Greetings, Gardeners!
        We had a heat wave a couple of weeks ago, remember that?  And even though the days have turned cool, and the nights even cooler, you will find that your garden soil is significantly warmer now than it was before that heat wave.  So now is the very best time to put in CUCUMBERS, sweet and hot PEPPER PLANTS, BEANS, SWEET CORN, and more of that BASIL that you dearly love.  In fact, you can plant just about any summertime plant now and count on four months of good growing weather.  If you have already put in your garden, you might consider putting in a few more of those vegetables you will want over the long California summer. 

SUCCESSION PLANTING:  Our long growing season lends itself to multiple plantings of BUSH BEANS spread about three weeks apart.  The same goes for determinate TOMATO plants such as Roma if you want a continuous harvest.  LETTUCE, CILANTRO, and other fast growing annuals can be planted every two weeks or so throughout the summer for that bountiful harvest for summer salads.   CUCUMBERS ‘wear out’ after a while, so it’s a good idea to plant fresh plants two or three times during our long growing season.  We have many varieties, so try a Chinese Suyo Long and a crunchy, Persian-type Rocky for two distinct cucumber flavors and textures. 

SMART GARDENING FAIRE ON JUNE 1ST: We are very pleased to be a participant this year in the Monterey Bay Master Gardeners’ Smart Gardening Faire on June 21 (first day of summer) at Skypark in Scott’s Valley.  Hours are 9 AM to 4 PM. The theme of this years’ fair is water conservation, and will include many speakers and venders with information on ways to conserve water in this drought year.  For more information, a list of participants and speakers, directions and accommodations, visit the web site at http://www.smartgardening.org. 

We will be featuring many plants in recycled and biodegradable containers at the Faire.  If you haven’t checked out the EcoForm pots made of rice hulls, stop by our booth to see perennial herbs planted in a variety of EcoForm colors and styles.  The pair featured below are Tiny Thyme Pots planted with various types of culinary and ornamental THYMES. 

These pots are said to have a life span of 1 – 3 years (planted and kept outside year round) or up to 10 years in dry storage.  For more information about EcoForm pots, you can visit their website at www.ecoforms.com.

We are also experimenting with straw containers.  These work especially well for plants with a deep tap root, such as these Italian PARSLEY and CHIVES featured below.  Mints have a wonderful time in straw pots; braiding their roots out one side and back in the other.

TEMPORARY FAREWELLS:  Summer brings a shift in crew assignments and some of our folks are moving on to other things – some temporarily.  So many thanks and “we’ll miss ya’” to Kate, Paul (Hayward Market), Glenn (Bayfair and Mountain View), Corina (Aptos and Campbell) and Charles who is off fighting fires in Big Sur.  We welcome Deasy (Salinas), Genevieve (Carmel) and Rose (Mountain View). 

PLANT RECOMMENDATIONS: Dusky Eggplant:  Recommended by an Aromas Neighbor as a good producer in our climate. According to the Territorial Seed Catalog, “Dusky is a proven performer in shorter-season areas. Disease-resistant, 24-30 inch tall bushes produce deep purple, 8-9 inch long, oval fruit that mature early for their size. Even during a poor summer at our London Springs trial grounds, Dusky still produced many small to medium fruit. Perfect for eggplant parmigiana.”

Our seed starting calendar includes another round of WINTER SQUASH (Butternut, Acorn, Spaghetti and Sweet Dumpling).  We are still starting summer squash and CUCUMBERS on a weekly basis and will add BRUSSEL’S SPROUTS (plant in July for November harvest) and KALES, COLLARDS and BEETS for those of you gardening on the coast.
               
Our best summer salad LETTUCE is Summer Crisp – a loose head lettuce that does well in warmer weather. Anuenue, a green lettuce is from Hawaii, and Cherokee is a brilliant red.  We also have Merlot and a bibb variety for cooler gardens coming up.

END NOTES

We have closed the Moss Landing stall for the season and hope to reopen there or another retail space next spring.
 
If you would like to come out to the farm and build an herb box or two, our Herb Box Workshops should be great for you. We have scheduled six workshops in the Fall; the first two will be in September, Tuesday, Sept. 9th ( 9 AM – Noon) and Saturday, Sept. 20th ( 9 AM – Noon).   Workshops participation is limited to ten people and all materials will be included in the $50 fee.  We will be sending out more information in August.

To receive quarterly planting notes from Cole Canyon Farm, sign up on our web site at www.colecanyonfarm.com.

This page updated >>>>>>>>>>>June 6, 2008 11:36 AM