Tips
Search our Tips to find out how to use, grow, and store all the produce we grow at Cedar Circle Farm.
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Garlic Scapes
Garlic scapes are the flower bud of the garlic plant. The bud is removed in late June to encourage the bulbs to thicken up. Scapes make a fabulous addition to a flower bouquet, but that is not why you are getting them in your basket.
[ Posted in Kitchen Tips, Meet the Veggies ]
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Geotextiles: Row Cover or Reemay Cloth
Row cover is a non-woven polypropylene or polyester clothlike material, often called Reemay, that transmits 70% of available light. It keeps heat in, bugs out, and is an excellent windbreak for young transplants. It allows rain and overhead irrigation to reach plants and soil. Read more…
[ Posted in Growing Tips, Gardening, Pests ]
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Fertilizing Young Plants
Memorial day weekend is traditionally the time to plant the warm weather garden crops like tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, melons, squash, peppers, eggplant, basil, lavender, rosemary, and all the other tender annual flowers, herbs, and veggies. Young bedding plants do best with a fertilizer boost when planting. Read on to learn more about fertilizing young plants.
[ Posted in Growing Tips, Gardening ]
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Hardening Off Plants
Remember to harden off your plants! Any plants you buy from inside of a greenhouse have not been hardened off, those that are sold from outside have likely been conditioned to the cold weather and are ready to be outside.
[ Posted in Growing Tips, Gardening ]
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Brussels Sprouts - Tips from Seed to Harvest
These nutritious miniature cabbages are often under celebrated and even disliked! Don’t give up on them though! It is well worth noting that often store bought Brussels sprouts are picked to early and it shows in their bitter flavor and tough texture. Picked fresh from the farm or garden after a few frosts settle, sweetens the flavor and makes them tender offering a whole different experience!
[ Posted in Growing Tips, Gardening ]
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Carrots, Beets, Parsnips, and Similar Roots: Storage Tips
Storing food in small amounts is easy, but in larger quantities it can be tricky in our increasingly energy efficient homes. Root vegetables store best in the refrigerator. Here are some more tips for keeping them longer.
[ Posted in Kitchen Tips, Storage ]
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Celery
Celery is more than just crunch, it is also contains apigenin, a chemical that potentially helps to fight breast cancer according to a University of Missouri study. Learn more about how to cook and store this veggie from this tip taken from Asparagus to Zucchini.
[ Posted in Kitchen Tips ]
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Cilantro
Cilantro is best known for its role as an ingredient in fresh homemade salsas. The seeds of the cilantro plant, coriander, are also a popular spice and have quite a different flavor than the leaves.
[ Posted in Kitchen Tips, Meet the Veggies ]
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Companion Planting
Companion plants help each other to grow in some way. For instance, some plants can extract certain nutrients from the soil and make them more available for other plants.
[ Posted in Growing Tips, Gardening, Pests ]
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Cover Crops
Got an area in the garden that just is not going to get planted? Try a cover crop! Cover crops are crops that are grown simply to enhance soil quality, rather than to directly produce food for people. Cover crops provide food for the living soil.
[ Posted in Growing Tips, Gardening, Soil Life ]
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Cucumber Beetles
Cucumber beetles are a small, yellow, oval beetle, smaller and more oval than a potato beetle. There are two types: the spotted cucumber is yellow with black stripes; the spotted cucumber beetle is yellow with black spots. They will devastate your baby summer and winter squash, cucumbers and melons. First they will chew the leaves, especially on young plants, then they will spread disease into the new wounds.
[ Posted in Growing Tips, Pests ]
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Deadheading Flowers
Deadheading your flowers—pulling or clipping spent blossoms off—will ensure better blooms throughout the season.
[ Posted in Growing Tips, Gardening ]
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Drying Herbs
June is great time to go out and collect herbs to dry for tea and spices.
[ Posted in Kitchen Tips, Storage ]
