Farm Update The First

There have been a few changes to the Smye Farm this year, blowing our options for what we grow wide open!

Chiles, in the PNW? YES!

Check below the jump to see the latest updates to the Smye farm garden. Animal updates coming soon.
We added an automatic vent opener to the greenhouse last month and now everything inside is going like gangbusters. Gone are the days of 120 F and the nights of 50 F when we forget to close the vents. Gone too are the worries of denatured pollen or dropped fruits. If you have a greenhouse, or are thinking about building one, buy a pneumatic automatic vent opener. The one we purchased is pretty nifty - it has a piston and cylinder filled with vegetable wax that expands on reaching ~70 F and keeps expanding up through 90 F, then contracts again when it drops below those temperatures.

As a result, our black Hungarian chiles (which are actually a deep purple) are finally fruiting.

They turn brilliant red when ripe

and the pablanos, anaheims, bells, and bhut jolokea's are all full of buds and even a few blossoms.

Ghost chiles are on their way!

ACE Sweet Bells

Our tomatoes are also loaded down with over 200 blossoms on 3 plants, we'll be pruning them back to increase the available energy for the tomatoes that we grow to full ripening - not to mention the fact that small green tomatoes make EXCELLENT pickles.

I quick pickled and at these right after taking the photo

Our chard and kale have also gone gangbusters - despite daily harvests the chard is now taller than I am! We've particularly liked these plants this year and so we're letting them go to seed in our first attempt at seed saving (to be documented here on another day). The chard is nearly there and the seed heads are gorgeous!

I counted over 80 seeds on this seedhead currently sitting at 6 ft 6 inches above the soil

And you can't forget the zucchini, the plants doubled in size within 3 days of installing the automatic venting system and now each leaf is roughly 15 inches in diameter.

For reference, that mustard in the background is 3 ft tall

Yep, things are booming in the greenhouse. But we also have a lot of success in the newer garden beds on the backside of the garage. From 8 dozen radishes that went from seed to harvest in only 18 days...

 

To the kale, lettuce and spinach explosions that are coming out our ears. Expect to see a lot of new recipes soon featuring these amazing greens - most of which you will be able to feed to even the most adamant kale hater (I'm one of these by the way, full disclosure, I can't stand the stuff raw).

YUM! One of 17 varieties we're trying this year



Apologies for the lens cover not fully retracting - Spinach and Kale

We've also got salmon berries (red and gold), strawberries, huckleberries and herbs galore!

 

 

 

 

Which brings us to the apogee of my work with the garden, the pinnacle of my efforts and my pride and joy in terms of gardening prowess (which isn't a lot). My Yuzu.

They said I was mad. They said it couldn't be done, that it went against all the laws of nature and the natural order of things. But I disregard their warnings and am determined to grow citrus in the great Pacific Northwest and by gum, I've done it! (Well, almost).

Yuzu is an incredibly aromatic, versatile and delicious fruit originating in central China and Tibet. It's used extensively in Japanese and Korean cuisine and is awfully hard to come by. It's kind of like a cross between a lime, a citron, a Buddha's hand, and the most amazing wisteria bush you've ever smelled, with just a hint of pandan thrown in for good measure. When I was a child I lived with 27 different families, 14 of whom were from southeast Asia and Yuzu was often a highlight of the menu and I've not been able to get my hands on it since.

I've got a friend who used to grow Yuzu in the highlands of Japan and I realized that it's incredibly similar in climate there to the Smye farm and figured - hey, why not try to grow my own? They're popular enough that any that are imported to the area are instantly snatched up by gourmet chefs for their restaraunts, but if I should be able to make it work.

And friends, I did it. I've had this Yuzu for 2 years now, it's about 4 years old and this morning, for the first time ever, it had flower buds on it! So without further ado, I present to you the Yuzu.

The little Yuzu was so cute when it first arrived, but fruitless

You can see the blossoms forming at the notes of the leaves

By no means am I guaranteed fruit at this point, but I've got buds forming and the plant has grown to three times its original size - I'm fully expecting to get nascent fruit this year and, if I'm particularly lucky, one or two ripe ones. But regardless, my Yuzu is well on its way to full PNW Citrus production. Concept proven, now just waiting for the payout.

What about you? What are you proud of in your garden? Your home? Your life in general?