Adding More Beds & Seeding Corn

Village Farm Team,

We tilled and shaped more than 50 new beds adjacent to our Farm Club plots. Though some of these will eventually be reserved for future Farm Club members, the majority of the new beds will be planted with crops in the coming weeks. Last week we seeded 6 rows of Natural Sweet corn and a row of Sunn Hemp cover crop. Natural Sweet is a hybrid, bicolor variety of corn with plump white and yellow kernels. Not only is this variety delicious but it has common rust resistance. Common rust is caused by the fungus Puccinia sorghi and though it is rare in our area, in other regions is can be devastating to corn crops.

Remember back at the end of January when we had a Farm Fun Day event to plant wildflower seeds in a few of our beds? We’ve been seeing the first of those flowers bloom over the past week! These primary blooms are Cosmos, an annual flowering plant in the Sunflower family. They are popping up in a variety of pink and magenta hues and are providing a lovely treat for our pollinators and a visual treat for us.

Did you know we have more than perennial herbs growing in our planter boxes? Over the past couple of months we’ve been growing tender greens like tatsoi and spinach as well as root veggies like French Breakfast radish, Black Spanish radish, Chioggia beet, and carrots. A departure from the typical red-fleshed beet, Chioggia beets are characterized by their concentric alternating rings of pink and white as well as their mellow flavor. They are named for the historic town of Chioggia, Italy in which they are believed to have been originally grown. We’ve been harvesting and selling these beauties at the farmers market for the past couple of weekends so make sure you come by this Saturday and grab a bunch before their season ends!

Happy Harvesting,

The Agmenity Farm Team

Words & Photos by Courtney West