May 11, 2011 - All Set!

 

With much anticipation the West Chester Growers Market opened this past weekend! I've been waiting for it ever since the first marathon snow shoveling day back back in January- and now it's finally here.  We didn't have much time to browse and explore since we were heading on a road trip to visit friends at the Crooked Farmhouse as soon as we finished, but it's looking to be a great market season complete with all the usual vendors and a few new ones.

 

Here's my Tomato Guy Paul, who is affectionately known as "Neil Young"

 

 The herbs this year were a bit expensive (4 for $10), but they were real nice and healthy looking. And a great variety!

What a helpful wife!

Here's the final list of what's going in this year... well there's still a few purchases this weekend (weather pending) that need to be made that are listed as 'coming soon'.

In the Garden:
Pink Brandywine
Grandma Cantrell's Tomato
Amish Paste
Golden Yellow
Be My Baby Cherry
King Aurthur Red Pepper x2
Eggplant x 2
Peas
Butternut Squash
Crystal Apple Cucumber
Cucumber
Yellow Squash
Zucchini
Golden Midget Watermelon
Orangello Watermelon
Purple String Beans (coming soon, almost ready to transplant)
Green Beans (coming soon, almost ready to transplant)
Hot Peppers (coming soon)
Sweet Pepper (Frying Pepper maybe? coming soon)
Another (or two) Heirloom Tomato
Another Plum Tomato


In Containers:
Red Leaf Lettuce
Deer Tongue Lettuce
Spinach
French Breakfast Radishes
Dragon Carrots

Herbs:
Rosemary
Lemon Thyme
Majorum
Spicy Oregeno
Cilantro
Dill
Taragon
Sage
Purple Opal basil
Lemon Basil
Italian Basil x 2 (coming soon)
Flat Leaf Parsley (coming soon)


I finally admitted defeat and determined that my hose mending skills were not up to the challenge of so many busted and neglected hoses.  It seemed that every one I pulled up was cracked and the connections were bad.  So I finally broke down (after some encouragement from Stacey) and bought all new hoses).

The new system isn't too complicated, but I made a few improvements as to what was previously there.  Now  hose runs out out of the barn through a bit of PVC pipe.  I ran it slightly underground (about 4-6 inches) to the post I replaced.  From here it splits into a 4-way array.  One of the arrays flows slightly underground again along the north side of the plot to a second post.  From here I put a 2-way split on it.  One leads to a 50' hose with a spray nossel, the other to a timer connected to the irrigation system - which is now fully operational!

After some testing, I also admitted defeat with the electric fence.  The apparatus that sends the current to the fence itself seems to have stopped working.   The landlord now has it in his possession and will try to repair it, but to be honest I'm not expecting him to be successful.  For one thing it says "not for outdoor use" on the box and it has been an 'outdoor' fence for several years- which begged the question: who uses indoor electric fences?  So now I'm trying out Plan B: Liquid Deer Fence.  It smells like "the rotten asshole of a roadkill skunk" (sorry but it does, it was the only way for me to convey how foul it is) so it better work!  The spray bottle lives outside BTW.

On that note: Cheers!