April 15, 2008 - Joanne

Wyndhavyn Garden 2008

Asaragus
Spring Garden

Asparagus is up all over the place so I know spring is here. We’ve been making frequent visits to Harmony Farm Supply – our local organic nursery and have been adding plants around to spruce up the winter beds.


A Visit to an out-of-the-way Nursery
We took a short trip to Mendocino recently and visited the Digging Dog Nursery in Albion, CA (by appointment only). They have a tremendously interesting array of plants which thrive in California and we came home with the car loaded with Euphorbias, Deuztia, Brunnera and my very first Hypericum as well as some Spirea (Magic Flame and Golden Carpet) which I could not leave behind.


Fig Tree 1 year old
New in 2008...
We replanted our 4-year-old fig tree last month, which we had been growing in a pot, and it has figs already on it, so it's doing well. We planted a few citrus trees, a pink variegated lemon, a Kaffir lime and a calamondin lime, and three flowering quinces (one makes small fruit). Trent’s garden addition was a kiwi vine, a mushroom project and a potato bag (as blue/purple potatoes are his favorite).

Other new edible additions to our garden are some new high bush blueberries, and an assortment of currants (imperial white, red lake & black) and gooseberries. I also planted some Josta Berry which I’m excited to try as they are cross between currants and gooseberries. The white currants have fruit on them already. We also planted a Mulberry and a White Pomegranate but I think they are not going to make it as they have yet to leaf out.


Heirloom Tomatoes from Love Apple Farms
Exciting Source for our
2008 Heirloom Tomato plants

We managed not to have time to start our own Heirloom tomato plants this year, despite my best intentions. However, we were able to source biodynamic heirloom starts from the much heralded (and rightly so) Cynthia at Love Apple Farm who is famous for her Heirloom Tomatoes.

I’ve been wanting to take one of her growing classes and been unable to make the journey down to the farm in the Santa Cruz Mountains, which is the exclusive kitchen garden for David Kinch’s world-renowned Manresa Restaurant (Los Gatos). So we made an arrangement to purchase some of her starts (which she sells in March – May or until they are gone). Hurrah!

Cynthia offers the best Heirloom Tomato Growing Instructions I’ve ever seen. We are hopefully going to follow them to the letter, with a fish head, egg shell, bone meal and worm casting infusion in every hole! We’ll be using the Biodynamic Planting Calendar to plant and work on the garden this year.



Love Apple Farm in Ben Lomond, CA
So these are the Heirloom (mostly) Tomato varieties we will be growing in 2008 from Love Apple Farm:
Amazon Chocolate, black, round, medium
Bi-color Cherry, bi-color red/yellow, round cherry
Black Bear, pink/black, round, medium
Black Cherry, purple, round cherry
Black from Tula, purple, round, med/lrg
Black Striped Cherry, striped, round, cherry
Bloody Butcher, red, round, small
Chuck’s Yellow, orange, round, large
Copia, striped yellow/orange/red, round, medium
Earl’s Faux, pink, round, large
Green Doctors, green, round cherry
Grub’s Mystery Green, green, round, medium
Homer Fike’s Oxheart, yellow, large               
Japanese Black Trifele, purple, pear, med/lrg
Northern Lights, bi-color orange/red, round, medium
Stupice, red, round, small
Sweet Horizon, orange, oxheart, medium
Tigerella, striped, round, small
Tree’s Bottom Yellow, bi-color, round, medium
Valena Pink, pink, round, med
White Cherry, pale yellow round cherry

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