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 May 13, 2009 Hello, ITS A BIG WIDE WONDERFUL WORLD WE LIVE IN WHEN YOU'RE A GARDENER YOU'RE A MASTER OF ALL THAT YOU GROW! Guess what? You can start to plant warm weather crops soon. The soil is warming up so you can start to plant beans, dill, flowering plants, popcorn. May 15-20th: Zucchini, cucumbers, cilantro, basil seed, winter squash May 20-30th: Tomato plants, peppers, egg plant, basil plants, melons, rosemary, lavender, marjoram, mint, sage June 1st: Pumpkins-seed or plants. You can continue planting into June: Bedding plants, herbs, vegetable plants, zucchini, cucumbers, beans. This will give you a continued production season, but NOT radishes as they get hot when the weather warms up. And leaf lettuce struggles in the heat too. Melons and also squash need a long growing season but you could put in plants. Thanks for all who attended my workshops last Saturday. It was so great to see you! And please email me with the results of your gardening. If you have any questions during the growing season please call or email me. Enjoy Spring! Donna

May Gardening Feature - Heirloom Tomatoes Heirloom Tomatoes-Try Me! They have excellent flavor BUT ... (there is always a BUT)! Heirlooms are easy to grow and tough to pick at the peak of perfection. They love to crack, scar, get a cat face and what ever else can go wrong. BUT it's worth the challenge. The shelf life on your cupboard is short, so eat fast! Very pretty on a platter with all the different colors. The Blacks are really the easist to grow. I grow mostly the blacks, as they scar the least. Red Paul Roberson is one that looks good but I have not tried it. I like the Wisconson 55 to grow for canning. It's been around for 60 years. It was one of the first tomatoes I grew when I first started gardening in 1950. Sometimes I pick six tomatoes and only one is perfact to sell! So do not let your heart be troubled with these tomatoes. You can cut out the scars and enjoy the flavor. Be sure to grow the kinds of tomatoes you like, but add a Heirloom to expand your knowledge of tomatoes. Enjoy!