We always encourage people to grow their own produce and fruit. There are few things more enjoyable in life than eating out of your own garden and no matter where you live, there is probably enough dirt available to grow something even if it simply some herbs on a small deck. If you come to a farm tour, you’ll learn a lot about gardening in our local micro-climate.

Bring the whole family, the kids will love it and can pick some things themselves!

Speaking of winter, frisee is one of my favorite winter plants. Mairchiere Tres Fin Frisee is the only variety worth growing in my view. I have grown this variety of endive for five years and am always impressed by how well it does when other salad greens are struggling with the cold. Having tried any number of other frisees, I can honestly say that they will not hold a candle to Mairchiere Tres Fin. The only problem is that it is very hard to find. Try Seeds of Change, who may have it in small packets.

To blanch frisee, cover it for a week or two before harvest. A thick shade cloth works good for this or you can follow the practice with Belgian Endive and dig it up and move it into the dark.

When you buy a packet of American seeds, you are lucky to get 50 seeds for $3-4. When you buy Italian seeds from Franchi or Bavacchi, the big seed companies of Italy, you will often get 4-5,000! There are a few places to get these seeds including Seeds of Italy, and Italian Seed and Tool, but my favorite is Gourmet Seeds at http://www.gourmetseed.com .

For the home gardener, these seeds can be a lifesaver because they are reasonably priced and there are a lot of varieties to choose from that are not available elsewhere. I have found some varieties not what they are cracked up to be (for example, I got some fennel that was clearly not a bulbing type so it all bolted), but most are very good and grow true to form. I now have many favorites like the Purple Italian Cauliflower, which is very winter hardy, Canasta Lettuce, and Ho Chon snow peas.

This year, I will put about 2,000 cubic yards of compost into our soil. We are still years away from restoring what was a very depleted soil to its optimum health, but we have made a lot of progress in this direction. We use compost from Reichardt Duck Farm in Petaluma, which is made from rice hulls and duck manure that has been fully composted and is certified to be pathogen free. (This is very important to us. We do not use raw manures because they may contain Salmonella or other bacteria that infect humans easily.) Compost that has been properly heated repeatedly will not have these bacteria.

Each year, we can see the health of our crops improve and the soil tilth develop from addition of this compost. I highly recommend it to the home gardener because it adds considerable nitrogen as well as improving the texture of soil. If you only need a yard or two, come to the farm and we will sell it to you at our cost (about $10/yd.)

One of the things I always cover in our farm tours is seed starting. After many trials (and errors) I finally settled on making our own seed starting soil. While some bagged composts can serve well for this purpose, many are not worth the bag they are in. The best in my view is Foxfarm. which can be bought at many nurseries.

Since we use a large quantity of seed starting soil, we make our own by mixing compost (from Reichardt Duck Farm) with plaster sand. The compost has to sit around for a few months or else it is too hot in Nitrogen. Plaster sand works well because it is washed and has both fine and larger particles so it doesn’t pack too much. I also add some perlite to the mix so it is not too heavy from the sand. This makes a very porous mixture that won’t pack down when watered and won’t get waterlogged easily but we might have to water twice a day if is hot and sunny.

When we are starting seeds, we will cover the smaller ones with vermiculite, but the larger seeds like beans and peas can be covered with straight soil mix. It is important that they are at the right temperature (some like it hot, some like it cool) and the right moisture level. Over watering can cause some seeds to mildew, while others like celery like lots of water.