At the Farm is located on Highway 5 in Carver County, Minnesota - 2.5 m. East of Waconia - 4.5 m. West of Victoria - 10 m. West of Chanhassen
Donna Frantz, Proprietor - 8880 East Highway 5, Waconia MN 55387 - imthefarmer@earthlink.net - 952-442-4816

At the Farm Newsletter

Sent June 10, 2009 Hello, June is exploding At the Farm! As I breathe in the fresh air, it smells of newly mowed hay and the wonderful rain. The peas are starting to bloom. So, soon I'll have organic peas for sale.   I'm Picking Now: Fresh organic leaf lettuce (see photo above), bib lettuce, green beans, beet greens and rhubarb. Just In! New 2009 crop of Maple Syrup. It comes from just a half mile from my farm, on the shore of Lake Waconia. Of course, I also have honey from the bees on my farm. And I have fresh-cut Peony Blossoms and Gas Plant Blossoms to brighten your indoor spaces. For your gardens and patios and decks and outdoor rooms I have for sale: Tomato Plants Pepper Plants Eggplant Plants Cucumber Plants Zucchini Plants Basil Plants, Thyme Plants plus many other Herb Plants Potted Vegetable Plants for your deck or patio or outdoor rooms Hanging Flower Baskets Flowering Container Gardens for your deck or patio or outdoor rooms When you care enough to plant the very best, ask Donna! Thanks for shopping At the Farm! Enjoy Spring! Donna

Gardening According to Donna! Peas-You need to put up a fence or netting for them to climb on. Beets or Carrots-Thin so they have room to grow. Beets tops (greens) can be eaten in a salad. Lettuce-Pull clumps of them, then the rest of the plants have room to grow. If your lettuce is 4 inches tall you can start to pull it and eat it. You can also cut it off and it will regrow. When picking, bring a pail of cold water to the garden and dunk the lettuce in cold water to keep it crisp (see photo at top of letter). Radishes-Pull and put in cold water. Sorta pick every other one to give them more room to grow. If you have all tops tops just pull them out, they will not grow. You maybe planted too thick or too late in the season or the wrong variety for your conditions. Basil-When harvesting, cut stem about 3 inches from ground and it will regrow quickly. If you cut it at ground level it takes too long to regrow or it doesn't (I've done this!). Cilantro-Remember to start this from seed. A plant just bolts and is done. I do not sell cilantro plants because of this problem. I do sell seeds. Plant multiple times, about 10 days apart, so you have cilantro all summer. Peppers-Just let them grow. Pick off first pepper so the energy will go to the root. Then afer that you can leave them on. Tomatoes -Too early to mulch. Meadow hay is better! Yes, I will have meadow hay afer June 20th. Cucumbers -They also can be mulched with meadow hay. Mulching keeps the produce clean and the moisture in. Potatoes-Watch or potato bugs. Pick them off and drown them. Bring a can or pail of water to garden. I have organic spray for potato bugs. Egg Plant-They just grow! But watch because they, too, can get potato bugs! Onions -Can be pulled now for little green onions or let them grow for eating later. Green or Yellow Beans-They sometimes get a few holes in the leaves. Just look the other way! Soon the plant gets taller and you do not see the holes in the leaves. I do not dust. Cabbage-The white butterflies are coming. They lay eggs and then the green worms hatch and eat the cabbage. I have organic Dipel dust for this. It works! I use it! Photo below is from my garden, its the "Blue Lagoon" variety that I sell. Happy Gardening!