Grow Happy

By Robin Ostfeld,
Blue Heron Farm

Everyone who has the opportunity should grow some of his or her own food. Even if it’s just a container with herbs or a single tomato plant, it’s worthwhile to grow something. Of course, I’m biased. Plants play a huge role in my own life, being both my livelihood and my hobby.  But there are so many reasons to get your hand dirty!

One morning last summer, a friend brought a copy of the magazine Discover to the farm. In it was an article that linked contact with soil bacteria to the release of serotonin in the brain.  In other words, inhaling or touching the soil bacteria (called mycobacterium vaccae) can cause a peaceful state of mind or, in a depressed person, an alleviation of the symptoms of depression. Wow! A new reason to garden! Not only is it good for the environment (there’s no food more local than that which you pick from your own backyard) and personal health (from the standpoint of the exercise involved and the fact that fresh picked produce has the highest amount of nutrients), but now it’s been shown to promote mental health as well! Of course, I knew it all along.

After a dreary winter of indoor planning, spring is an exciting time of year for gardeners.  It’s actually time to get started digging and planting. That excitement is palpable at GreenStar and the Ithaca Farmer’s Market when I unload the first flats of seedlings for display. Some are flowering, but many have yet to show their full potential.  And there’s a huge variety of herbs, flowers and vegetables to choose from. Every year we increase the number of varieties we grow, mainly in response to customer requests.

People often ask me how I choose which plants to grow for sale. I have a few simple criteria, which apply to nearly everything. I do my best to grow plants that:

• are not commonly available at big box garden centers;

• (in the flower category) are ones I would grow in my own garden, because of their beauty, reliability, disease resistance, and often their benefit to birds or pollinating insects;

• (in the vegetable category) are delicious, productive and well adapted to the local climate. Often the varieties of vegetables I sell as plants are the ones I have learned, through 20+ years of trial and error, are truly superior;

• promote local food production, even in small spaces. Everyone has room for a few basil or thyme plants, and you can grow enough and preserve enough to supply yourself all year round.

New gardeners frequently ask me for advice. Usually I can answer their specific questions. But gardening is something you learn by doing. Books can be very helpful and talking to experienced gardeners is indispensable. But each garden site is a little bit different and the gardener has to learn to work with the soil, microclimate, and light available in that place.  I encourage people to experiment, as I have done so freely over the years. Of course you will sometimes fail and it’s disappointing when that beloved perennial doesn’t survive the winter or the eggplant doesn’t yield well. But there will be successes too, and any good gardener learns how to build on their successes. We develop relationships with plants, some short-term and some long term, some reciprocal and some not—just like with people. Ideally, each relationship teaches us something.

We’re offering lots of new varieties for your experimentation this year: 

• Many more choices in greens, such as Winterbor kale, the most cold tolerant variety and Bonsai bok choi, which, as you would guess, is very compact;

• New varieties of heirloom tomatoes, such as Striped German and Japanese Black Trifele,  a favorite on the farm in 2007;

• More types of peppers, both sweet and hot, including Ancho/Poblano (best for chile rellenos) and Yummy, a small, very sweet orange snacking pepper;

• More herbs, including garlic chives, orange thyme and feverfew; and

• More multi-purpose flowers, such as nasturtiums and calendulas, which are both edible and ornamental.

Our plants are certified organic by NOFA-NY. This means that the plants are grown from organic seeds whenever possible.  (Flower seeds are trailing behind the vegetable and herb seeds in organic availability, but many of the marigolds, sunflowers and nasturtiums that we sell are grown from organically produced seeds.) The plants are grown in an approved, locally-sourced, compost-based soil mix and are fertilized with east coast seaweed and fish emulsion. Any pests, such as aphids, are dealt with by releasing beneficial insects, like parasitic wasps or ladybugs. Each greenhouse at the farm (there are four) is identified by size and structure type and each practice is documented. From start to finish the plants are carefully monitored, until the day they are loaded into the truck, ready to be planted in their new homes.

Happy gardening!