Anatomy of a spinach plant

Spinach is my favorite leafy green vegetable. It is one tough little plant, and will keep on growing (albeit slowly) even when temperatures are very low. See more at FeedTheDataMonster.com.

Enterprise budget for bench-top production of salad greens

Have you wondered if you could grow salad greens in the fall, winter and spring like I did? Is it possible or profitable? 

Using the enterprise budget we've put together you can start to figure it out! An enterprise budget estimates the profitability of an agricultural enterprise. They document all the steps, resources, management practices and technologies used to grow a crop. This enterprise budget is built using all the data collected from the past few years of salad green production. It will help determine if you have all the resources needed to grow salad greens, the growing period of greens as the seasons change, and potential yields. It's important to note that this is an educational tool to be used for planning. We've given users the ability to customize many aspects of the budget to reflect their own growing spaces. 

This budget is built using Microsoft Excel. When opening the file make sure to 'enable macros.' You can download the enterprise budget here.

Research reports: winter green varieties for bench-top production

Fifteen minutes aren't over yet!

Want to see lovely pictures of all the varieties I successfully grew on bench-tops in the past few years? See the full report here or visit the Research Reports page.

Research report: media evaluation for bench-top salad greens

I'm famous! 

At least if you can navigate through the Cooperative Extension website and find the section on fruit and vegetable research reports.  You can see the recent report evaluating media for bench-top production of salad greens here and I've added it to the Research Reports page.

What's been happening behind the scenes

A fair amount has happened since I last posted something (in December!):

1) I defended, finished my thesis and graduated.

That's what seven copies of my thesis looks like.  It looks a lot like donuts, but much heavier.

2) I went on a real vacation and visited a farm where papaya volunteers dot the fields of salad greens.

3) I moved to a new state (New York).

What's in the future for wintergreens?

Now that my thesis is (finally!) complete, I'm focusing on research reports and cooperative extension publications.  You can see a compiled list in the new "research reports" tab at the top of the page.  We've got a few publications that will be ready soon. 

I've also got a new project to work on that encompasses the same ideas as wintergreens: local, wintertime salad production, but in a different direction than the projects of the last two years.  More on that in the next few weeks!

On the origins of lettuce

Did you know there are six groups of cultivated lettuce?  I only grew lettuce from one of these groups - romaine - during the past two years.  

To read the rest of my post on the origins and cultivar groups of lettuce visit feedthedatamonster.com.

"Basics for winter, bench-top salad green production" part two on Floricast

Part two of Basics for winter, bench-top salad green production is now up on Greenhouse Grower as an episode of FloriCAST.  You can see it here!

The brassica family (again)

Exploring the Brassica family and how many of the plants I grow is a topic I have written about here and here.  Last week I wrote a third piece on this group of crops, which can be seen in its entirety at feedthedatamonster.com.

(What is feedthedatamonster.com? A collection of researchers who write about interesting science-y stuff.  Go take a look!)

"Basics for winter, bench-top salad green production" on Floricast

In late July I put together a slideshow on basics of winter salad green production on bench-tops for the video podcast Floricast. Last week it came out and you can see it here! If you've been following along this blog you may recognize some of the information and pictures. I believe it's the first time we've started to take all the experience and data from the past year and begin making it into more public-ready formats.

Where have I been?

I haven't written anything in . . . over a month!  In part because this is a blog about winter salad greens (it may be pretty cool outside for August, but it's definitely not wintery), but mostly because I've been working on finishing my thesis, and working on extension reports.  The end is in sight!

What information would you like to see?

Graphs? Tables? Information on seeds? varieties? media? profitability? planting dates?  Let me know, and I'll write about it!

I'll post, or link, extension publications in the new 'research reports' tab once they come out.

We feed old greens to nearby goats.  Right now too much kale is definitely a problem.

Thesis defense postponed

I've postponed my thesis defense to sometime in September.  I was given the option to take a bit more time and jumped on it.

Biological control graphic

I found this unused graphic while cleaning out a 'pictures' folder on my computer. 

Thesis defense date set (the end is in sight)

It has been quite around here recently hasn't it?  With my thesis defense just one month away I've been working on the not-so-fun parts to research - writing.  The goal is to have useful growing information ready for use ready about the same time since most of it will be part of the thesis anyways.  So, the end is in sight and quickly approaching!  

Greens in the garden

We went away for a long weekend and came back to a garden bursting with greens.  The swiss chard above is interplanted with leeks.  I chopped it down, and pulled some plants out to give the leeks more room to grow.

The other green I pulled out was the vitamin green.  I had such high hopes that it would push through the bug problems but I was wrong.  Or maybe I'm just too lazy to deal with all the bugs.  Hole-y leaves aren't that appetizing anyways.  So I pulled it all out and planted basil in it's place.  I'll try planting it again later this year and keep row covers on to keep the bugs out!

We have a lot of other vegetables growing in our garden, like the scallions above.  Aren't they cool looking when they emerge?  Our garden neighbor is growing a lot of mesculn mix (above right).  I counted at least five varieties of greens.  Can you name any of them?

Salad greens in the garden

About a month ago, when salad green production in the greenhouses was starting to slow down I had a bad thought:

"What I am going to eat when the salad runs out?"

I  took some of the flats of greenhouse greens that had been harvested, divided them up and stuck them in our outside garden.  You can see the swiss chard above is still planted very close together - not at all the recommended 4-6 inch spacing between plants.  I wasn't about to untangle all 150+ plants that were in the flat.  Since the plants are so densely packed we harvest leaves are still pretty small - about the size of my hand.     

I also squashed in a flat of red russian kale.  Given more space to grow its leaves are much broader than when grown in the greenhouse.  Hand-sized leaves mean it's still tender enough to eat in salads or on sandwiches.

Lastly, vitmin green.  Like red russian kale, vitamin green really spreads itself out when given more space.  The broad leaves are mild and tender.  Beetles seem to like eating them just as much as we do.  If I had been smart I would have covered the plants right away with some lightweight row cover.  Now it's too late.  Covering the plants would probably trap pests in.  I don't mind the holes since I'm not trying to sell these greens.  Other brassicas that beetles like include arugula, mustards and napa cabbage.  See here for more information on managing flea beetles in brassicas.

UNH Today! Wintergreens is in the news!

Since I have finished growing and measuring salad greens I've spent most of my time inside, on the computer, wading through all the data.  This is the not-so-pretty part of research.  The plants are long gone to the compost pile, and I have yet to figure out any super exciting results.

In the meantime, take a look at this article in UNH today which features the wintergreens field day back in March.  Pretty cool!

* An update a few hours later - the UNH Cooperative Extension website has the same story - with a bigger picture!

Organizing salad greens by yield

When looking at yield data collected this past spring, I found the salad greens I've grown could be roughly categorized into three groups: heavy, mid and light weight.  These distinctions could be useful when building a unique salad mix with some lessor known salad green varieties.

The highest yielding greens were the lettuces and loose headed cabbages.  These make a good basis for a salad mix because they are a) heavy and b) mild tasting.

Medium yield greens contain some of my favorite greens.  Ok, they are all my favorites and when mixed together they make a nice salad.  None of these have any spicy-ness, but they do offer good tastes and nice curvy leaves.  And beets and chard just so pretty.

Spicy mustards, arugula and kale make up the light weight category.  They are 'lofty' and add texture, color and interest to salad mixes.  Often, these are the greens that you don't want too much of in a salad anyway.  I've tried the mainly-mustard-greens salad and it was too much. The keyword there was 'tried.'  Other varieties of kale may produce a heavier yield, but the russian kales have rather spindly leaves when they are young.

What would you choose to put in your salad mix?

Bolted brassicas

Right now the greenhouse is filled with bolted, flowering brassicas.  Most brassicas have yellow flowers.  Arugula flowers are totally different in color - they are cream colored with red viens.  They do have the same number of flower petals and stamens.

Brassica florets are tasty when small, but once the stems elongate and the flowers open they are tough.  Last year I have enough tat soi flowers to eat in a stir fry. This year I let everything bolt.    Brassicas tend to bolt quickly in this greenhouse because there are so many plants in such a small area.

Varieties, clockwise from top left: wasabina, arugula, mizuna, tat soi, chinese pac choi, tokyo bekana.

What did I plant? Telling apart sprouted greens

Does this happen to you?  Do you plant things and forget what they are?  I certainly do! (See vates kale.) It's pretty easy to tell what family salad greens are in based on their cotyledons.  You might not be able to tell what variety is growing, but at least you'll be able to tell the lettuce  and spinach apart.

When lettuce sprouts it's small and cute - the bunny of the salad greens.  The cotyledons spread wide open on the soil surface.  Red varieties of lettuce will change color if it's warm and sunny. 

Spinach cotyledons are long and slender, forming a 'V' shape.  

All brassicas have heart shaped cotyledons.  This includes leafy greens and cole crops (cauliflower, cabbage etc).  The picture above shows tokyo bekana, kale and scarlet frills.  Cotyledon size varies between varieties, and so some brassicas make good microgreens.  Broccoli, although not a salad green, is a good example.

Members of the beta family, including swiss chard and beets, are also good microgreens because their stems are often bright colors.  I've taken a lot of photos of them because of this.  Their cotyledons are oblong with a slightly pointy tip.

More on Vates kale

I wrote about vates kale about a month ago.  Two harvests later it's still going strong.  Whether or not a variety is a good cut-and-come-again green when grown on benches is something I started to assessed this week.  Kale seems to be a good contender.