1. Editors Corner
   • Oops!
   • Recognition:
   • Rowdy Roots Fungus
   • Dr Tomato on Container Growing
2. News & Events
   • Newmarket Farmers Market
   • Northwood Farmers Market
   • Portsmouth Mushroom Outlet
   • Other Farmers Markets

Editors Corner

Oops!

Yesterday, several people asked me “where is my newsletter?” Well, here’s what happened. Two weeks ago, I wrote a newsletter. It began by telling all of you that May was/is the busiest month of the year for us. James and I literally work 16 plus hours a day seven days a week and still can’t quite keep up with all that needs to get done. So I opened the newsletter by telling you that I/we were so busy that I could only write a brief newsletter and asked your understanding and patience until the next newsletter (this one).  Well, I/we got so busy that we actually forgot to post that newsletter!!! So I suppose that now I should apologize for not getting the newsletter out that was apologizing for being so busy that I couldn’t write a “normal” newsletter. Anyway – I’m sorry for the boo boo.

Recognition:

The first thing I want to do is to give some very well deserved recognition and heart felt thanks to a few people who are seldom seen but essential to the operation and function of Healthy Home Harvest LLC.

LORETTA SALAZAR – Dr. Tomato’s sunshine, water and nourishment. Last year when I was struggling to stay alive, Loretta was my rock. Never far from my side. Since I was completely out of the picture and unable to work at all, Loretta would care for me, work her own 40-hour job and then work with James to keep the business running while I was recovering. If you know our business, it involves a LOT of hard, demanding, physical work. She continues to keep this demanding schedule to this day. Most 20 – 30 year old people could not begin to keep up with her – physically OR mentally! THANK YOU LORETTA!!!!

PAUL CAVARRETTA – James’ father. Paul’s belief in the vision that James and I have about the business is a key to our success. Because the Mothership and Hobbit house are on the land owned by James and Paul – where their home is – he is constantly immersed in the business operation. Paul works tirelessly to help the business grow. Whether building the Mothership in the dead of winter, making deliveries in the Veggie Van or planting and moving stock for the Spring wholesale season, Paul is always right there with James and I. In fact, Paul just took a 2 week “vaction” from his 40 + hour a week job to help James and I with the immense amount of work required to produce the Spring wholesale plant crop. Paul probably worked 80 hours a week on his vacation! THANK YOU PAUL!

RICK CAVARRETTA – James’ brother. Rick provides all the development and support for the newsletter and website. Being a person who doesn’t even have a cell phone (Rick has a hard time conceiving this! ) I truly appreciate his expertise in guiding me/us through the winding paths of cyber space. THANK YOU RICK!

Rowdy Roots Fungus

Several of you have written in asking what the white/gray fuzzy stuff is that seems to grow on the surface of our ROWDY ROOTS POTTING MIX when you start using it. Is it harmful to the plants?

When James and I first started making and using ROWDY ROOTS, we noticed the same thing. In my usual manner, I decided to look into the situation. After talking with several research scientists, our common conclusion was that the cause is linked to the fact that we put an organic fertilizer “charge” into the ROWDY ROOTS mix. One element of that fertilizer is dehydrated organic matter. When you add water to the potting mix as you plant your veggies or flowers, air borne fungus spores land on the mix and start to feed on the now moist organic compounds. These fungi are known as SAPROFITIC which means that they live on dead organic matter. They are ubiquitous and harmless. They will do no harm to your plants and will disappear after a while. They are another indicator of the “living soil” formula.

Dr Tomato on Container Growing

Now that it is the second week of June, a LOT of people come up to me and tell me that they would love to put a garden in but they just didn’t get around to rottotilling their garden area. Or they got busy and didn’t have time to start their garden from seed and now all the plants are gone from the stores. They lament that it is now too late to start a garden. Oh well, maybe next year!

Take heart and cheer up!!!! There is still time for you to enjoy a beautiful and productive garden – this year! The answer lies in CONTAINER GROWING.

If you have a deck or a porch or a driveway area or a lawn or just a set of front stairs – YOU HAVE A GARDEN! Most people don’t realize that virtually anything you can grow in a “real garden” can also be easily and successfully grown in containers! If you just understand a little bit about the process and follow a few simple rules/guidelines you can enjoy a beautiful and productive garden of flowers and vegetables. Let’s take a look at the basics.

FIRST:  Look at your yard or deck and evaluate what nature has given you to work with. You are first evaluating THE SUN! In general, vegetables that actually set fruit (tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant for example) will require 5-6 hours or more of FULL sun everyday. Less sun than that will dramatically decrease productivity, size and quality of the vegetable. Too little sun will result in NO PRODUCTION at all. Containers can be set on the lawn, the deck, stairs, or the driveway. As long as they are in the sun and receive food and water, the vegetable plants will grow. Leafy vegetables grown for greens (lettuce, chard, spinach, endive for example) can tolerate lower levels of light but still need somewhere around 3 or 4 hours of sun a day. If you have sun ANYWHERE you have a garden waiting to be grown!

When you have evaluated the sun situation in your yard or on your deck, then you can choose what types of plants will grow there. Full sun for 5 plus hours a day – you can grow virtually anything. Less than that, tend towards greens, beans etc.

SECOND:  Now that you have a plan for what plants can be grown where according to their sun requirements, you can start to actually build your container garden. This means CONTAINERS. The most basic rule to remember here is to USE A LARGE ENOUGH CONTAINER! A single tomato plant generally needs a 5 gallon container or bigger. 5 gallons is the size of a sheet rock “mud” bucket or the orange buckets you can buy at one of the big box stores. I probably have 100 of these buckets and have never bought one! When you start looking for them – THEY ARE EVERYWHERE! You can buy a fancy ceramic container that looks great on your deck or you can use a donut filling bucket – just as long as it is big enough. Smaller plants like peppers can use smaller containers. But when in doubt – OPT FOR THE NEXT SIZE UP!

When you have chosen your container, MAKE SURE THAT IT HAS DRAINAGE HOLES. A store bought plant container is most likely going to have drainage, but a five gallon bucket or storage container probably will NOT have drainage holes. Just take a ½” or 5/8” speed bore drill bit and drill around a half a dozen holes in the bottom of the container.

THIRD:  Next step- soil! Here is where I get a lot of questions. The most common being – “can I use garden soil or plain loam?” Or, “What about those bags of top soil I see in all the stores?” Well, yes you CAN use garden soil or top soil BUT that is not your best choice. Remember back to a couple of earlier newsletters (you can go back and access them in the archive) when I talked about soil STRUCTURE  and TEXTURE? How worms and bugs and bacteria and mycorrhizae all contribute to give the soil its “tilth”and make it FRIABLE. And the importance of soil AGGREGATION?  Well, when you take top soil or loam and put it in a container, you take it out of the macro-environment where the worms and bugs and microbes and mycorrhizae can give it that magical structure that makes plants happy and productive. In a container, top soil and loam can begin to compress as you water repeatedly. Gradually, instead of a container of beautiful, light, well aerated soil that allows moisture, gases and roots to run freely, you end up with a bucket of highly compacted granules that resembles cement!

To prevent this, we recommend that you use a soil less mix specifically formulated for use in containers. These mixes are usually made up of a combination of ingredients like peat moss, vermiculite, perlite and various mulches. The best known mix is probably PRO-MIX. But many other companies produce such mixes. Blue Seal in Rochester carries the Lambert potting mix. It comes in a 3.8 cubic foot compressed bale that will fill a LOT of containers. At around $25.00 a bale, it is a good economical route to go. We produce our own famous ROWDY ROOTS organic growing mix – the mix we grow in at the Mothership. Why is ours organic and theirs not? Well, peat moss is very HYDROPHOBIC – meaning that when it is dry, it does not “want” to absorb water. Companies will add a chemical WETTING AGENT which changes the chemistry of the surface of the peat moss and allows it to absorb water much more easily. The wetting agent they use is not accepted for use in organic growing. Therefore, we make ROWDY ROOTS with an organic wetting agent that keeps it compliant with NOP (National Organic Program) guidelines. These soil less mixes maintain a light fluffy structure in the container and allow those roots, moisture, food and gases to move freely and happily. We grow in ROWDY ROOTS and NOT in soil.

So take your soil less mix and fill your container, leaving a couple of inches of room below the rim of the container to allow for a water pool when you water your plant.

FOURTH:  Plant your vegetable! (or flowers). Don’t put too many plants in one container. One tomato per container. Generally, one pepper or eggplant per container. Remember, you will have to make provisions for a stake or cage for larger plants like tomatoes.

FIFTH:  Now we come to watering and fertilizing. We have spent a LOT of time talking about fertilizers in past newsletters. You know I am a BIG proponent of organic fertilizer for a LOT of different reasons (re-read archived articles). We use our own fish and seaweed fertilizer – DR. TOMATO’S ORGANIC FISH AND SEAWEED FERTILIZER. Again, previous newsletters will explain the many benefits of organic fertilizers and the near amazing properties of the seaweed component.

A very important concept to understand in ANY container growing (veggies in pots or hanging flower baskets) is that THE ONLY FOOD THE PLANT GETS IS WHAT YOU GIVE IT! In the ground, when a plant needs more nutrients it sends out roots to go find them. Roots can travel deep and wide in search of food. But in a container, the roots can only go as far as the walls of the container. Both vegetable and flower plants need a LOT of food to produce fruit and flowers. They can quickly deplete all the nutrients available in the container. Ever dump a hanging basket of flowers out of its pot? You will find a solid mass of roots that completely fill the pot. If YOU do not give the plant adequate food on a regular basis, it will literally starve! Flower production will rapidly drop off and shortly end and the plant will begin to look sickly. Fruit production will be sparse or non-existent. YOU MUST FEED CONTAINER PLANTS ON A REGULAR BASIS!!! This will vary some according to the fertilizer. With our fish and seaweed fertilizer, the directions say feed the plant 1/8 cup of fertilizer per gallon of water once every 2 weeks. When we are growing in containers, we use 1/8 cup of fertilizer per gallon of water twice every week. With hanging baskets of flowers (such as big baskets of petunias) we will feed every other time we water! THEY NEED THAT MUCH FOOD! Some of the commercial fertilizers such as the simple 20-20-20 mixes will also suggest fertilizing every time you water. Remember – you can’t go without food for too long and neither can your plants!! If you buy prepackaged potting mix, read the label. Some mixes already contain fertilizer which will change your application schedule.

Keep your plants consistently moist – not too wet and not too dry. On a hot, windy day, you may have to water twice during the day. You can cut down on watering requirements by placing a piece of plastic mulch on the top of the potting soil. This will cut down on evaporation. If you are interested in SELF WATERING CONTAINERS, you can look into pre-made products like the EARTH BOX. Or, you can build your own. They are quite easy to build and remarkably low cost. They also work well. The summer 2010 issue of URBAN FARM had a good article on building your own self watering container.

SIXTH:  Pick and enjoy your vegetables and flowers!!!!

One last comment. A couple of weeks ago, some radio show had comments about fertilizers and/or potting mixes with beneficial bacteria and mycorrhizae in them. Many people have asked about these products since that show. First – what are these products and do they “work”. My first suggestion is to go back and read the past newsletter articles on soil and what is in it. I talked a lot about beneficial bacteria and their positive action on soil structure and plant nutrition. The same with mycorrhizae – which are actually the HYPHAE  or long filaments of the mycelium of fungi (I talked about them in a past newsletter). In healthy, well managed organic soils, both these components – beneficial bacteria and mycorrhizae – are (or should be!) present in abundance. If you are just beginning to build up your soil, the addition of amendments containing beneficial bacteria and mycorrhizae can be very helpful. But remember, when you compost it is these beneficial factors that actually break down the organic matter and turn it into that black gold you add to your garden. So when you put the compost into your garden each year you are adding beneficial bacteria and mycorrhizae. Both factors work SYMBIOTICALLY with plants to aid in nutrient and water uptake, immune system health and soil aggregation.

Container growing, as I stated earlier, is a little different environment than in ground garden growing. We have already changed the environment by using a soil less mix instead of garden loam or top soil. Thus, we are providing the “perfect” soil structure through the ingredients in the growing mix and are not so dependant on that structure being developed over a long period by the action of the beneficial bacteria and mycorrhizae. Second, when we provide a constant level of a broad spectrum, highly BIOAVAILABLE (go back and read that newsletter) organic fertilizer such as a fish and seaweed blend, we are not as concerned with the action of beneficial bacteria and mycorrhizae as we would be with an “in ground” situation. Bottom line? If you use a soil less mix and a good fish and seaweed fertilizer your plants will do just fine. We have been growing in containers with that combination for years and have never been disappointed. Our yields and quality are exceptional.  Would the container plants benefit from the addition of one of the products with beneficial bacteria and mycorrhizae? Yes, a little. But, for us anyway, cost is a definite consideration. Most of those products are fairly expensive and we grow a LOT of stuff! In addition, we are only growing in the containers for a period of months. The decision to add such products to your containers is yours. You certainly will do no harm and they are good for plants! Experiment and see what you find for quality and yield difference. In fact, give me/us your feedback! But remember, use experimental control procedures so you are not just being subjective in your evaluation.

OH, AND BY THE WAY, WE STILL HAVE SOME GREAT PLANT VARIETIES AVAILABLE FOR YOUR CONTAINER VEGETABLE GARDEN. SOME VARIETIES OF GOURMET EGGPLANT AND PEPPERS. SQUASH AND CUKES. HERBS.  AND YES – TOMATOES! COME SEE US AT THE FARMERS MARKET!

Until Next Time,

The Healthy Home Harvest team
feedback@healthyhomeharvest.com

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News & Events

Newmarket Farmers Market

When: Saturday, June 19th from 9:00am until 1:00pm.

Where: The Stone Church, Newmarket NH.

The Newmarket Farmers Market starts again next Saturday, June 19th  at the Stone Church on the hill in downtown Newmarket. It runs from 9:00am until 1:00pm. Great people, good music and a lot of fun. Dr. Tomato will be back on the 19th!

The venue is small and intimate. The vendors are diverse, enthusiastic and friendly. There is great food available and some very talented live musicians provide first class entertainment. The feeling is more like a family gathering than a trip to the local store. We look forward to seeing you at the next Newmarket Farmers Market!

For those of you not familiar with Newmarket, the Stone Church is up on the hill behind the Post Office in downtown Newmarket. This is our favorite farmers market! Good atmosphere, live music, some wonderful vendors, good food and a variety of  products. See you there!

Northwood Farmers Market:

Don’t forget that we are at the Northwood Farmers Market every Thursday afternoon from 3:00pm until 6:30pm. The Market is held at the intersection of Routes 4 and 202. There is parking and a good selection of farmers. We have plants, in season produce, fertilizer, low tunnel hoops and of course our famous mushrooms. Come see us.

Portsmouth Mushroom Outlet

We are happy to announce that PHILBRICK’S FRESH MARKET is now carrying our famous MYCOANGELO organic gourmet mushrooms in their produce department. We pick and deliver often so you are assured a fresh, quality product. Now you can access our mushrooms in the Portsmouth area whenever the spirit move you! Other regional outlets to be announced soon.

Other Farmers Market:

Yes, we are planning on being at another large, local farmers market soon. We will announce that in the next week or so.

About the Newsletter

The Healthy Home Harvest newsletter is a bi-weekly publication which consists of news, events, how-to and reader submitted questions.

If you have any questions or feedback, please email us at feedback@healthyhomeharvest.com