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In
the Trial Garden
- by Lindsay Del Carlo, Trial Garden Manager
It's
fall weather in the trial garden and we are having regular light frosts at
night, but the many cool weather plants that were sown in early fall are growing
happily as we approach Thanksgiving.
We are enjoying
the thinnings of the Purple and Green Pak Choy combo sown in late August. In the
spring, we grew both green and purple varieties separately, but decided that a
mix of the two would be fantastic. It will definitely be introduced in our
packet line in the future!
 Our
ongoing fall cabbage trial has been a great success. In the past we had trouble
with Cabbage root maggots (tiny flies that lay their eggs at the base of the
leaves, attracted to most of the Cruciferae family). The flies' maggots burrow
into stems and roots, causing plants to collapse and die. Our non-toxic solution
to protect against these pests is using floating row cover (easily available at
independent garden centers). This very thin white woven cloth lets light and
water in while keeping pests out. When the plants are covered, the flies cannot
lay their eggs at the base of the leaves and plants mature to full size.
 We
are looking forward to our stand of "Garden Circus" carrots for the holidays.
These multicolored roots will be a future seed packet intro. We thin our carrots
2 times: first when seedlings are very small to about 1 inch apart, then again
when several inches tall, thinning them out to a final spacing of 2-3 inches
apart which allows remaining roots to fully size up. We use the second thinnings
as tiny baby carrots - they are tender and delicious eaten raw. Properly thinned
seedlings will mature to full size and hold well into cold weather. Provide a
layer of mulch for extra protection.
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