The Restaurant Garden Blog; CT Wins, Losses and Drawing Boards

So this is how it’s going to be, Huh, Connecticut!?!… Lets start off by talking about the teardrop garden. We have beautiful Mesclun greens we will harvest this week, it is unfortunate the harvest will be without the accompaniment of their sister baby mustard greens, presumed drowned.

The beets are doing well most standing at three inches. The row was bit scattered and areas included no visible plants, we think washed out so we replanted and are looking forward to a bumper crop. I love roasted beets but I also love sauteed beet greens splashed with a good quality imported Sherry Wine Vinegar. I have learned that harvesting 1/3 of the Beet Greens will not disrupt the growth of the beet.  We are all excited about the shallots, they look very happy and more are surfacing daily.

Spinach never rooted, Lisa actually checked the package to insure it was planted, we presume they were also washed out. Atomic Red Carrots, De-atomized to a no show for the entire row, presumed drowned. We’ll rethink the placement of them and replant somewhere else with a little more drainage The Big Garden West holds three rows (93 linear ft.) of fingerling potatoes. We are showing tremendous success on the south sides of the garden but lost quite a few potatoes to rot where drainage was a problem on the northeast side of the potato area.

I have no complaints about these losses, a little bad luck along with a last minute garden plan change put us here. That’s Farming. We didn’t cut a corner nor did we knowingly use poor judgement, things happened beyond our control. Today Joe, Lisa and I laid out and planted the Big garden east with eight varieties of squash totaling over 100 plants.

We love summer squash at the restaurant we use it everywhere. This year however, we hope to offer daily, fresh picked, produce for sale to our guests. I’m particularly looking forward to working with the two varieties of patty pan squash, Mexican Tatume Squash and an eye catching hybrid yellow squash that I nicknamed “John Deer squash”. We know they all should be delightful. The Big garden West has just been tilled lightly so that is the next area for some heavy work.

Our intent meanwhile is to plant the rest of the “old garden” (approximately) 80 more tomato plants representing 6 varieties. One variety that we are all hoping for success is from the farm foreman Rick’s dad. These are huge, imported Italian Roma tomatoes that “Poppa Joe” seed saved for a generation. So far so good in both germination and in the green house.

It was great to dine al fresco with Lisa after gardening all Sunday, one of the highlights of dinner was the first harvest of lettuces from BGE !!