What Are You Planting Right Now? Part 2

We asked Modern Farmer readers to show us their crops, and you obliged. Here’s part two in our series of stories from farmers all over the world and what they’re planting and harvesting right now, from rural plots to rooftops, and from Ohio to Morocco. Weather conditions and stories are from April 2013. Images were provided by the farmer or author.

Borgio Verezzi, Italy: WEATHER: Mostly mid 60s to 50s, with highs in the 70s and lows in the 40s. / WHAT’S GROWING: The violet asparagus of Albenga grows only here in Liguria, according to Elda Morelli. The variety’s disadvantage is that it is harvested much later in the season than others. And its advantage is that is costs 3 times more. Morelli will use her whole production in her agriturismo, a kind of farm-restaurant, that by Italian law has to prepare at least 35 percent of its meals with farm-made products. – Georges Desrues
.

New York, NY: WEATHER: Mostly in the 50s and 60s, with dips into the 80s and 40s./ WHAT’S GROWING: Jay Genske is growing about 40 potted plants in his 7th floor apartment, most of them filled with spring and early summer crops like kale, arugula, red velvet lettuce, spinach, and early blood, golden and Chioggia beets. There’s also chives, hyssop, thyme, fennel and tall telephone peas. Cucumber and dragon’s tongue bean are also in the ground, and eggplant, Charentais melon and peppers live indoors under a growlight. Oh, and that’s not all – he’s experimenting with an early transplant of heirloom tomatoes and ground cherry under individual HotKaps (a kind of diminutive greenhouse).

[mf_image_grid_item src=”https://modernfarmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/alemany.jpg” link=”http://www.alemanyfarm.org/” title=”San Francisco, CA” caption=”WEATHER: Mostly in the high 40s to low 60s with highs in the 70s. / WHAT’S GROWING: After a relatively dry winter, spring rains combined with bursts of warm, sunny days have been “perfect for tillage and planting,” according to Jason Mark, a farm manager at Alemany Farm, a 3.5 acre organic community farm and education center. In March and April, he says they’ll be planting just about everything, which includes tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, squash, collards, leeks, lettuce, pole beans, collards, leeks, lettuces, turnips, radishes, basil, Asian greens, and more. “]

Easton, CN: WEATHER: A cooler spring than usual, with day temperatures in the 40s-60s. / WHAT’S GROWING: Patti Popp (yes, she assures us, that is her real name) is the owner of Sport Hill Farm. She is harvesting arugula from her greenhouse and planted kale, lettuces, carrots, turnips, collards, peas, broccoli raab, broccoli, and cabbage in high tunnels in the fields. According to Popp, their heated greenhouse is holding the summer crops like tomatoes, cucumber, fennel, and herbs – but she’s still busy planting and transplanting.

Wicklow, Ireland: WEATHER: Mostly in the low 50s and 40s / WHAT’S GROWING: Just outside of Dublin, at the East Hill Farm, Alun Owens is planting potatoes. He says the Colleen variety is a tough little potato, which is good for an organic farmer, because they are fairly resistant to blight. Their growing cycle is about 90 days, after which they’ll be ready for roasting or baking. Owen said the current spell of good weather and low risk of frost meant it was the perfect time to plant. The sunny weather will help ensure they sprout well and grow quickly, which is good because everyone’s a bit behind this year after a long winter. – Sophie Kevany

Dakar, Senegal: WEATHER: Mostly in the high to mid-70s, with lows in the mid-60s./ WHAT’S GROWING: Jori Lewis is a writer and keeps a small rooftop garden. Lewis is growing fennel, broccoli, and something that might be zucchini that sprouted from the compost. Lewis is also growing okra, and a small tree called nebadaye or never-die (the formal name is moringa oleifera) prized for its leaves.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.