Carol,

I thought of the festival this weekend, and just knew you'd be there. (Happy Birthday, too!)

It sounds like it was a lot of fun. I'm growing red, yellow, purple and orange carrots. I may have planted white ones too. I can't remember. I love having everything in as many colors as possible.

Pretty soon, you'll have one packet of every variety of seed Baker Creek sells......not that there's anything wrong with that!

Dawn

I don't think I will have every variety, but I do have a large stock. LOL

Actually, carrots are something that I eat but I'm not in love with. My DH dearly loves them as he does most veggies. You may have seen my question to Jay the other day about the soil that they prefer. I have not had really good luck in the past so I have been thinking about a raised bed with maybe a higher percentage of sand than my normal garden. I need a carrot education.

Thanks for the birthday wish. Tomorrow is our 38th wedding anniversary. When you add Mother's Day to that, I get everything over with in about a week or two every year.

I did learn in the last few years that my DH doesn't like butternut type squash. I have squash volunteers in my garden and I haven't pulled them up yet eventhough they are not really in a great place. When they first came up, I moved three of them to the edge of the compost where they can climb over the chicken run and provide some shade. I don't know if I would want to eat them because it is pretty much unfinished compost, but the leaves on the plants are really getting big. With my luck, I probably moved the spaghetti squash (which he loves) and left the butternut in the garden. LOL It is hard to pull up and discard a plant that wants to grow so badly. LOL

I hope we have a nice day tomorrow because I would like to put more tomato plants into containers. I think I need to make another trip to pick up some pine bark fines and other things. I also need to buy straw or track down something to use in my potato beds. I also need to plant cukes and a few other things.

I think we are going to build a cage next year to put the potatoes in. I think we can line it with cardboard about 8 inches up everytime we need to add new cover. The cardboard would likely last the summer, but even if it doesn't the soil should have been firmed up enough that it will stay put inside the wire cage.

Carol,

Carrots like light, fluffy, well-drained soil and do best in sandy loam.

I would think that carrots would like the soil you have there. The issue might be your rainfall or maybe you have a high water table? Excess moisture can make them grow slowly and have poor color and flavor. Since you get so much rainfall most years, the moisture might be your biggest challenge. Or, your soil may be too acidic. Do you know your soil pH? Carrots grow best at a pH between 6.5 and 7.5. If your soil pH is lower than 6.5, you can use lime to raise it in the carrot bed.

Carrots grow best at air temps between 45 and 85, so I plant in Feb. or Mar. for a harvest in June or thereabouts. I scatter-sow seed, then cover it with handfuls of compost scattered on top of it. The seed only needs to be barely covered. I water with a watering can and try to keep the soil evenly moist. They can take a couple of weeks to germinate in cool soil and are prone to wash out in heavy rainfall before they sprout.

Once the carrots are up and growing, wait until they are 2 or 3" tall and thin them to 1" apart. Water to settle the soil down after thinning. Later on, after they reach about 6" in height, thin them to 2" apart, and water again to settle the soil back down around the remaining carrots. (You can eat the small carrot thinnings in salads or soup.)

I don't fertilize my carrots, relying instead on the well-amended soil to feed them.

When I harvest, I wash and dry them and put some in the refrigerator (they'll last for months) and the rest in the freezer. The ones that I freeze are divided....some are sliced and frozen to be used as the veggie part of future meals, and others are shredded and frozen to be used later in carrot cake or muffins.

Hope this helps with the carrots.

Happy, happy, happy, happy anniversary!

Dawn

To be honest, I have only planted carrots once in this garden and they did just like they have done most places I have lived, so I just stopped planting them. They were cheap to buy and I just didn't fight it. They don't seem to be the 'cheap' food they once were, but maybe that is because I search out the baby ones and not just those that are peeled to look like baby carrots.

I have read lots about them lately and have been happy to have the info from 'real' gardeners like you and Jay, although both of you grow in very different conditions than mine.

The problem has been that they didn't develop underground. The tops always looked perfect, but there was just not much under it. I would guess that much of my problem has been that I didn't thin enough. I think I am going to make seed tapes like seedmama does, and then I won't have to do that part. I am thinking that I will build a small bed so I can control the soil, and try some in the fall. It will be just another learning experience for me. One side of my garden drains a lot faster than the other.

I have not planted any of the summer crops that you listed above either except for green beans. I planted some pole beans and the germination was not as good as normal. A little later, I planted Contender bush, and they seem to be doing fine. One of the market gardeners that posts on the Market forum says that if you want to plant early beans, make sure the seed color is brown. In her opinion the brown bean was more tolerant of cooler temps.

Your temps have been surprising low, haven't they? I think our low for May so far is 47. I've got a ton of work to do outside, so I had better get started. Thanks for the carrot help.

Oh, here are the seeds I bought:
Cosmic Purple Carrot
Atomic Red Carrot
Amarillo Carrot
Greasy Grits Beans
Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli
Chinese Red Meat Radish
Lettuce Leaf Basil
Red Malabar Spinach
Stevia
Zucchino Rampicante Squash (Already growing for this year)
Long Island Cheese Squash
Precoce D'Argenteuil Asparagus
True Black Brandywine Tomato
Pineapple Tomato
Flame Tomato
Big Yellow Zebra
Arkansas Traveler Tomato
Amish Paste
Flame Lettuce
Mascara Lettuce

Because I went back in the store and bought 3 different times during the day, I got a free pack of seeds each time. LOL I didn't plan it that way, it just happened, plus with the crowd, it was very hot and crowded in there, expecially early in the day, and I couldn't stand it very long at a time. Last time DH went he was grabbing seeds everywhere and throwing them in the basket. This time he stayed about 3 minutes and headed for the porch to wait for me. After I had bought seeds and thought I was finished, I remembered that I wanted Malibar Spinach, but didn't want to fight the crowd for one pack of seeds. Then I went to hear Oster speak and remembered I wanted Lettuce Leaf Basil also, so I went in for the 3rd time.

The free seeds were Clemson Spineless Okra, Watermelon Jublee, Quadrato d'asti Giallo Pepper. I already have that pepper growing in my garden this year also.

I hope I didn't duplicate the tomatoes because I didn't check my inventory before I left home since I wasn't planning to buy anymore tomatoes, but since tomato and lettuce seed were were their Spring Festival special priced item, for $1 a pack, I just had to have a few more. LOL

Carol,

All top and no carrot normally means too much nitrogen, so try planting them in soil to which you haven't added any fertilizer or to which you haven't added a lot of amendments.

You know, you could grow them in a big plastic storage container (I'm picturing a really big Rubbermaid Roughneck type because it is so sturdy). Drill a gazillion drainage holes, fill with a soilless mix, and add a couple of bags of sand to the soilless mix. Even if you found the soilless mix had two much fertility the first year, it would be better the second year after the fertilizers had leached out. I'd suggest mixing your own and not adding any granular fertilizer, but that likely would be too low in fertility, so think it likely better to start out with something like Miracle Grow or Fertilome and seed how it worked the first year.

Our nighttime lows have been ridiculous and it is very frustrating. When I opened the door and felt that cold air this morning, I immediately felt like we were in danger of having a frost, but we stayed just a degree or two too warm for even patchy frost, for which I am exceedingly grateful. On the other hand, maybe the cool nights will help keep the cool-season crops happy despite the really hot days. At least the really cold nights at this time of year do warm up quickly just as soon as the sun comes up.

I'm glad you were able to add a few more seeds to your seed stock. Soon, you'll have to build them their own little seed house.

Have a lovely day working outside.

Dawn

Carol,
Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary. Sounds like my way to celebrate!

Carol Happy Birthday and Anniversary. Glad to see you still need some more tomato seeds. I've got a few that I need to send you. Because here I just bring them to life and then kill them with good intentions before they can even feel the real dirt. LOL. Jay

Carol, Happy belated birthday and anniversary!

Did you go to the store located behind the salvage yard? I think there are two. I just went to the salvage yard one (all owned by the same people).

I positively love the white wheat flour. I just bought a bag of the flour (Prairie Gold) since I don't have my grinder...........yet.

I am out and am thinking about heading back that way. The local Wal Mart is now carrying the Bronze Chief (hard red) and it made wonderful bread, no bad or off flavors which I was worried about.

Hi, don't often get to post on the OK forum, but I was looking for info on Baker's Creek and read the posts on wheat. Are these wheat berries? And, where are you obtaining the berries? I've had a stone grinder for about 30 years, and haven't had access to good, fresh wheat berries for a long time. I love to bake fresh whole wheat bread with freshly ground flour. Nothing can compare!

Thanks for any info.

Sandy

Thanks for the good wishes folks. When you get older birthdays don't seem to have the importance that they do for the young, but my husband insists on celebrating. Anyway, it happened to be the day of the Baker Creek Spring Planting Festival so that's what I decided to do. We had a motel in that town but didn't go back for the 2nd day and instead started home.

Just this side of Mansfield is the town of Seymour, MO and it is a small town of about 1800 but I always find it interesting because it has a large enough presence of Amish that you always see buggies on the roads. We drove around a little and looked at the farms. They have a special form of architecture and have several places that build chicken coops, greenhouses, and storage buildings.

The store we went to was Bylers Country Store. It was on Star Road and just a little north of the highway. I don't remember a salvage yard, but it is like an old general store with hardware. They also sell lumber, and sheet metal products.

Prairie Gold wheat berries are what I bought. They had small bags of a few pounds of the flour and they had 50 pound bags of the berries. When I asked about it, he said they also sold in in 25 pound size. He went to the back to get it and it came in a heavy brown paper bag so I think he just split one of the 50 pound bags for me. If I like it, I will probably buy in the 50 pound size next time. I have LOTS of red winter wheat and it makes great bread but I just wanted to try something different. The white wheat is hard to find and is always expensive.

We bought some other flours, noodles, and several kinds of cheese. They had jellies and jams, and it was the same brand that we buy when we go to the Cheese House in Chouteau, Oklahoma.

Sandy, I have worn out one grinder and this one is on it's last legs. It still grinds good so I just keep using it. I guess when it dies, I will buy another. I have probably gotten 12-13 years out of this one.

Byler's is the one we went to also. I understand that there is another one down the road some where.

Happy belated birthday & anniversary! I can't tell you how jealous I am of your trip! I may have to stow away in your luggage next time.

Diane

We drove from the Tulsa area over the this festival. I could not have been more dissappointed. It was not much different from the Jenks or Sand Springs herb festivals. It was, for the most part, just vendors selling seedlings and crafts. Not much else. I was hoping for more info on raised beds or drip irrigation or different types of mulches (plastic, rubber, wood etc) or organic gardening techniques etc. The speakers and topics were not very informative. All very basic gardening 101 type of stuff. They didn't even have anything growing in the few gardens on the property. It is not worth the 4 hr drive over there.