Wednesday is my day off and I got to spend it with Jason. My man is in NYC!
We kicked around the city today. Ate in a bunch of places but the show stopper was visiting the Highline.
The Highline is a 1 mile linear park built on a section of an old elevated railroad track http://www.thehighline.org.
On the edge of the Meat Packing District there are bees and miniature birch trees and lovely art and wonderful concrete planks!
So tomatoes can be afflicted with many different viruses, bacteria, fungi and/or moulds. One that Brooklyn Grange is fighting is Septoria.
It can happen when it is hot and humid and there has been a lot on rain… and we have had all of those! The fungi will not go away but it can be controlled by removing the infected leaves. These leaves can not be composted, they have to be destroyed.
The fungi can also be controlled by spraying copper. Mixed with water and poured into a backpack like sprayer/pumper you look like a member of the ghost busters team. (That might be as close to a pic of me as you might get ladies and gentlemen).
First signs… lower leaves first start spotting. Then round, yellow or water-soaked spots appear on the undersides of leaves. They quickly emerge on leaf tops and turn to black or brown with tiny black dots in the center. The spotting may work its way up the plant and can infect stems.
Prevention… crop rotation, raised beds… better drainage, good air circulation… wide spacing, water the soil… not the plants, mulch with black plastic, or use hybrid varieties.
Today was another harvest day. We cut 50 pounds of lettuce and mustards, bunches of basil, parsley, mibuna (japanese green), franco braco (chicory), chives, pulled more carrots and shallots.
I learned that you should not water your plants or seeds…seedings mid/hot afternoon day not because it will scorch the leaf but because the water does not penetrate the soil well enough before it evaporates. Less bang for your buck… so to speak.
Something else… Always the stack the crates with the root vegetables or pulled veg on the bottom in the event that some soil should fall.
Below… Shallots and new Austrian friend Karin. She is doing her Phd at NYU… in as much as I can tell… The economics of food.
Up bright and early today. We harvested zucks and cukes, tied up pepper plants and transplanted basil. Rocking 31C here today. Compost temperature hit 163F… Big news at the farm!
So we started early this morning and we were working hard and now not so much! Happy Independence Day America!
We raked beds and seeded them. Then I sprayed liquid copper on the tomato plants to protect them against a virus and everyone got a kick out of “penny” spraying “copper”. I will post pics and more information on that later.
Then we were in the bee hive… with no protective gear, an Aussi named Asher was the brave soul handling the frames.
Now we are relaxing at a metal shop having a BBQ lunch, a few beers and playing “wiffle ball”. Metal vs Dirt.
Yesterday was a long day. Harvest at the farm started at 6:30. We… Oliva and I, left the farm at 12:00 and went to The NYC Botanical Garden in the Bronx.
The garden is so lovely and beautiful. There was an exhibit on medicinal plants which took us through greenhouses displays and installations.
We also viewed a Renaissance Herb where I learned that vanilla pods/beans plants are only pollinated naturally in Mexico. All other vanilla is pollinated by hand. Apparently only in Mexico is there a bug… bee… wasp that can reach into the flower… knows how to reach into the flower, and perform the magic!
I learned a bunch more to but I have notes and the pedicure that I am getting done while I draft this post is almost done.
Check out a few pics that I took. 
After we left Eagle Street we took the East River Ferry walked to Grand Central Station and jumped on a train to Tarrytown where we visited Blue Hill Stone Barns.
It is an centre for agriculture and education… It also has a pretty great restaurant.
Oh… Did I mention that Oliva is a horticulturist and she could have been possibly the best companion to visit a farm EVER!
Check out the “chicken tractor”. They move it around on the field. Chicken eat weeds and pests and then they poop. Farmers love chicken poop because it is so high in nitrogen. When the chickens have pecked at the pests enough the farm raises the wheels and moves the tractor to a new location. Amazing! I have included a pic below.
Yesterday Oliva (new Aussi friend) and I checked out another local roof top garden. It is about a 1/4 of the size of the Grange. Their roof get particular hot so they grow mostly peppers. They don’t have drip tape irrigation but they make it work.
PennyGrows 