Seeding Peppers & Harvesting Radishes

Village Farm Team,

Now that our tomato seedlings are coming along in the greenhouse, we’ve been able to continue with our spring seeding. Next up for this week: peppers! We’re seeding a mix of sweet and hot peppers with varying colors, sizes, and flavor profiles. For sweeter varieties that are perfect for frying or grilling, we’re planting Antohi Romanian, Cornito Giallo, Cornito Rosso, and Mellow Star peppers. For varieties with some heat that can be pickled, roasted, or grilled, we’re planting Bastan, Big Jim, Sandia, Felicity, and Jalafuego peppers.

We followed up last week’s large harvest of cauliflower by harvesting all of our remaining Crunchy King radishes. This radish variety is probably what you think of when you imagine the quintessential radish: bright magenta skin, round shape, and crisp, white flesh. When eaten raw, they have a horseradish-like kick. This flavor mellows out when they are roasted or pickled. Looking for a way to extend the lives of your radishes so you can keep enjoying them until we grow more? Try quick pickling! Use this recipe as a base to work from and adjust the amount of chili flakes and other spices to your liking. We’ll have radishes available at the farmers market this weekend so make sure to stop by!

Now that we’ve harvested our remaining radishes we were able to turn the beds under and continue our preparation for spring. The former radish beds were planted with a mix of Hakurei and Purple Top turnips. We’ve also been turning under former cauliflower, broccoli, and mustard green beds in an effort to slowly transition from winter to spring. Some of these beds are being covered with silage tarps in an effort to cut back on weed growth and discourage erosion until we can get them planted with spring crops.