What seedlings can you buy now?

Fellow DC-area garden blogger The Dirty Radish had a rant last week about tomato and basil seedlings being on sale at local farmers markets.  As she wrote:

Why are people selling basil and tomatoes now? At least put a warning label on them! While the air temperature may be a balmy 75*F today, that’s not going to last and the soil temperature isn’t that warm. You plop a tomato in temperatures that are just now coaxing daffodils to bloom, the plant is going to go all “What is THIS?!?” on you. Planting before the soil and air temperatures cooperate isn’t going to give you an early harvest. If anything, it might inhibit the plant’s overall growth, according to a horticulturalist on the local news last night.

I tend to agree.  There isn’t much advantage, and there is certainly some risk, to putting your tomatoes and peppers out now.  I did see one vendor at the Dupont Circle farmers market selling a few heirloom tomato and hot pepper seedlings on Sunday, and I just hope that whoever buys them will know to keep them indoors for a couple more weeks.

On the other hand, I saw a lot of herbs for sale, and I think most of those (with the exception of basil) would hold up okay even if you put them out now.  Herbs are pretty resilient, especially the woodier ones like oregano and rosemary.  The sage and thyme and rosemary out at my garden are already bouncing back after the harsh winter.  You’re still probably better off waiting, but if you find those seedlings at the market irresistible, I would go for the herbs first.

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More Than Tomatoes: Neat Stuff at the Market

These days I’m buying a lot of my veggies at the cheap farm stand, but the Dupont Circle Farmers Market is still my source for fun and interesting veggies, meats, dairy, and so on.  There have been some neat new items at the market recently that remind me how fun it is to have access to a market with a diversity of vendors.

Bird Beans in their beautiful shells. So cool!

Asian pears.

Sustainably raised, pasture pure proscuitto. I can't afford it (no joke, it's $80 per pound), but it's pretty.

Fresh ginger.

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Local Produce on the Cheap

Here’s a tip for DC residents who find the Dupont Circle farmer’s market prices prohibitive.  There’s a produce stand that just started showing up on weekends in the parking lot of the Embassy Row Christ Church (3855 Massachusetts Ave).  It’s a farmer from near Charlottesville who apparently used to sell at the Tenleytown market until the fees got too expensive.  The produce is beautiful, and the prices are WAY cheaper than at the organized markets.  Tomatoes were $1.59 per pound – quite a contrast to $4/lb at Dupont.

I bought two eggplants, two zuchinni, two summer squash, two gigantic green bell peppers, four huge tomatoes, and a white peach, and the total price was $8.50.  Along with some of my homegrown red onions, I turned most of those veggies into a huge batch of ratatouille that will  be several meals for me.

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Local Flour Comes to DC

I was excited to get the following news in the weekly email from Freshfarm Markets:

New Farmer at Market: This Sunday, August 2, Moutoux Orchard is at our Dupont market with locally grown and freshly milled flours grown in Purcellville, VA. Robb Moutoux is growing wheat, spelt, rye and oats on his family’s farm. The organically grown flours are being harvested now and freshly ground at the farm. Find Moutoux Orchard flours along with directions for using them for baking; the farm stand will be next to Cedarbrook Farm on 20th Street at the Dupont Circle FRESHFARM Market.

In Barbara Kingsolver’s excellent Animal Vegetable Miracle, I believe she said that Virginia grown and milled flour was very difficult to come by.  I’m glad to see that has changed.  Maybe next time I make carrot cake muffins I can make them even more local.

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The Olympia Farmers Market

I got back to DC late on Sunday, which meant I didn’t get to make my usual trip to the Dupont Circle farmers market. But I did get my market fix back home in Olympia. The Olympia Farmers Market is one of the defining cultural institutions of my hometown, and probably explains a lot of my obsession with local food. This is no collection of tents that show up for a few hours once a week. Dozens of vendors sell their wares under a soaring wooden roof Thursday through Sunday, 10am to 3pm.

With the exception of two stands that bring fruit from east of the Cascades, everything in the market is from Thurston County. That means that every bunch of beets, every basket of strawberries, every wedge of cheese, and every cut of meat comes from within about 25 miles of the market itself.

The prices are reasonable and the quality is impeccable. When I was growing up, I never realized how special it was that my town of 40,000 would have this enormous, four-days-a-week super-local produce market. Of course, it made me a little spoiled. By comparison, the produce at the Dupont Circle market is more expensive, less local, and only available one day per week (but, on the plus side, it’s open even in the winter).

I only started buying local consciously within the last couple years, but the Olympia Farmers Market no doubt put the idea into my subconscious brain long ago.

Washington apparently still has forageable morels, even this late.

I bought some delicious shell peas from this guy.

Rich, resiny black walnuts. They take a lot of labor to shell, so this is a very good price.

Still plenty of herb and vegetable starts at the Olympia Farmers Market.

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Sunday Photos: Purple, Blue, and Black

Most fruits and vegetables occupy the red-orange-yellow-green part of the rainbow.  Blues and purples are less common, which in my mind makes them all the more special and beautiful.  Click on the photos below for extreme close-ups!

Baby purple eggplants.

Blueberries.

Black raspberries.

Purple cabbage.

Shiny black Asian-style eggplants.

Purple Island peppers.

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