The Greenhouse is Coming Alive!

After just a few days, the empty metal and concrete structure of our Big House is filling up with tiny green  life! 

Tim Kirby transplants tomato seedlings while Kaisa and Stephanie plant hanging baskets in the background. Bay 2 is filling up! 

Tim Kirby transplants tomato seedlings while Kaisa and Stephanie plant hanging baskets in the background. Bay 2 is filling up! 

The five gallon patio tomatoes have a great start. By May they'll be over two feet high and loaded with plenty of blossoms, green fruit, and some ripe tomatoes. 

The five gallon patio tomatoes have a great start. By May they'll be over two feet high and loaded with plenty of blossoms, green fruit, and some ripe tomatoes.

 

A few of the hundreds of hanging baskets we grow, ready to be planted. 

A few of the hundreds of hanging baskets we grow, ready to be planted. 

  Tiny superbells are snug in their new homes. If you've ever visited our greenhouse in May, you know how spectacular they'll look in just a few months!

  Tiny superbells are snug in their new homes. If you've ever visited our greenhouse in May, you know how spectacular they'll look in just a few months!

upload.jpg

NEW Gift Shop Items, & Mother's Day Gift Ideas

springdisplay.jpg

May is here! Our doors are open and the market is ready for a new season. Everything is cleaned and polished, out on display, and waiting for you to visit! Just in time for an important holiday...

We have a bunch of new things in our gift shop this Spring, and so many perfect Mother's Day gifts.

These rustic bottle vases are a lot of fun, and we ordered a huge variety. Single double or triple, tall or short. They're perfect to add a little cheer to any corner of the house, with a single flower or a small bouquet.

garden2.jpg
garden1.jpg
garden3.jpg
tiarella.jpg

Or, if you'd like to take a break from the usual flower arrangement, just pick out a container (shiny, rustic, or wooden) and plunk a beautiful plant or two inside. Our greenhouse is full of pretty and interesting plants, with lots of color and texture to choose from.  You've made a little bit of instant beauty that Mom can  enjoy as a centerpiece, and then plant in her garden to enjoy all year.

We also have tools and gardening gloves for the avid gardener. If you really know your gardener Mom's taste in plants, there are some gorgeous perennials in bloom right now. Bleeding Heart, Garden Phlox, Tiarella, and Brunnera are a few colorful examples. Or you could go with green and pick out a hosta or fern from our collection.

_______________________________

Are there just too many choices? Gift Certificates from Kirby's are a very popular Mother's Day gift.

It's a lot of fun seeing them come back through the rest of the year, exchanged for plants, fruits and veggies, baked goods, jams, or a fun home accessory.

A few more gift ideas for Mother's Day: Dishes and bowls from local potter Rose Vantyne; battery powered candles; pretty mugs and bowls; or votive holders with a locally made soy candle from Sandy Creek!

display1.jpg
stove.jpg
pottery.jpg
leaf.jpg

May 1st Farm Update!

apricot.jpg

 

On a drive around the farm today, beautiful signs of Spring were everywhere. The apricot trees are the first to flower!

 

 

peas.jpg

Peas

We had a cold start to the season this year and there will be a slight delay because of it. Even for cool weather crops like peas, you have to wait for the soil to warm up enough before you can put seeds in the ground.

For the past two years, peas were planted in the first week of April, but for 2014 they weren't in the ground until the third week. Although this is closer to normal, it does mean that we'll have to wait a little longer for those delicious green pods to make an appearance.

strawberry.jpg

 

Strawberries

When the forsythia blooms, we know it's time to rake the insulating layer of straw off of the strawberry plants. The sooner their green leaves can bask in the warm Spring sunshine, the sooner we can bite into a sweet, red, strawberry.

 

 

 

broccolies.jpg

Broccoli

This is the earliest broccoli has ever been planted at Kirby's. Thousands and thousands of plants were seeded. Starting in June, broccoli will be harvested every week until cold temperatures kill the plants. We're in for another epic year of broccoli!

 

Peaches

Last year we all enjoyed a phenomenal peach crop - we just about had more peaches then we knew what to do with! Unfortunately, it looks like this year we'll be lucky to find a peck basket in the entire orchard. It’s sad news for us, and our customers. Luckily many of our other stone fruits weren’t hit as hard; it looks like the plums, prunes, and apricots will be bearing a normal crop!

 You might remember a few days this past winter, when the temperature dropped to -11F.  That was too cold for the tender young growth of the peach trees to survive. The trees themselves weathered the winter, but those young buds are the source of this season's peaches.

barn
barn

If you're wondering how we can predict the yield for a crop that won't fruit for months, there is a simple way to find out if your blossoms will turn into fruit.

Sometime in April when the buds on the trees are just beginning to break out, Tim Kirby cuts a handful of small branches. He sticks them in a bucket or jar and keeps them in a warm place. The buds will open enough to reveal the flower. With the help of a magnifying glass and a small knife, you can see whether the inside of the pistil is black or green. A black heart is a sure sign that the fruit doesn't have a chance.

​ Thanks for reading! We know our customers like to stay informed of how the weather is effecting the crops, and how the season is coming along. For the rest of the year, we 'll  post a Field Update on the first and third week of the month. See you soon!

-

April in the Greenhouse

bacopa
bacopa

So far, April is a welcome contrast to March! Those patches of snow will be gone soon enough, with weather like we had yesterday.

The greenhouses are warm and humid, especially when the sun shines. Yesterday, the skies were clear all day and it got down right HOT! The smaller houses were opened up to let out some of the hot air, keeping the perennials cool for a little longer.

But in the big house we're keeping things toasty warm, and the annuals are growing like crazy. Hanging baskets have already doubled in size, and we're starting to see some color here and there! When we open our doors on May 1st, the difference will be amazing. Less then a month away!

New Annuals for 2014 at Kirby's

Here are a few of the new annuals we'll have in the greenhouse this Spring. They're all Proven Winners, which you can count on for easy care and "vigorous, healthy, vibrant, and unique" plants. We're looking forward to trying out these gorgeous colors in hanging baskets, garden beds, and brand new combinations!

Superbells Spicy and Superbells Pomegranate Punch Callibrichoa

Superbells® Pomegranate Punch - Calibrachoa hybrid
Superbells® Spicy - Calibrachoa hybrid
superbells-spicy-mono.jpg

We added Spicy and Pomegranate Punch to our already long list of Superbell color choices. They look pretty spectacular! Those hot colors will pair wonderfully with purples, reds, and chocolate folliage.

Superbells Callibrichoa are a type of petunia with a finer foliage and many small blossoms. They are amazing in hanging baskets, container gardens and garden beds, and they can get very, very large!  One of our favorite things about superbells and supertunias is that, unlike traditional petunias, you don't have to remove the dead flowers. They'll bloom all season long with plenty of water and regular feeding.Growing Tips: If they get too big, they do respond well to being cut back. Because of the airy habit of the plant, it's best to protect them from high winds to achieve a better overall shape.For best bloom, don't let them dry out!

Supertunia® Flamingo - Petunia hybrid

Supertunia Flamingo, Petunia

A soft salmon color with delicate veining, Flamingo is a very robust Supertunia. It joins the ranks of some of our favorite annuals, including Royal Velver Supertunia, Priscilla SUpertunia, and Bordeaux Supertunia.

This beautiful plant has the potential to grow up to 18 inches high and two feet across! Like all Supertunias, Flamingo is beautiful in hanging baskets and container gardens. And you don't have to deadhead. It's always nice to avoid that sticky, unpleasant task!
Click here for more details.

Senetti® Magenta - Cineraria - Pericallis

SENETTI ELECTRIC MAGENTA, OSTEOSPERNUM

Osteospurnum, (or African Daisies) have been grown in our greenhouse every Spring for many years. This season we added Senetti, an African Daisy with smaller, prolific flowers. The color is intense! 

Growing Tips: Similar to the Symphony Orange and Yellow African Daisies we usually grow, these annuals will bloom heavily in cooler weather, but will retreat in the intense heat of summer. When July comes around, be sure to put them in part shade and water often to encourage bloom.

However, these beautiful flower are frost tolerant!

We're looking forward to seeing what they do in the Fall.

Click here for more details.

SUPERBENA VIOLET ICE, VERBENA

Superbena® Violet Ice - Verbena hybrid

Lavender purple flowers on dark green folliage. This plant will bloom all season until frost, with proper care. Excellent in hanging baskets, containers, and garden beds, Violet Ice will also blend well with other flowers in combination pots.

Growing Tips:  Superbena are heat and drought tolerant!

Superbena® Violet Ice mono

Expect impressive results with regular watering and fertilizing. Verbena is another plant that you must deadhead, traditionally, but they were developed to avoid all that itchiness. Violet Ice will bloom for the entire season whether you remove the dead flowers or not.

Click here for more details.

Coming Soon.... photos from the Perennial House, and new perennial varieties for 2014!

July Field Update

Early sour cherry variety.
Early sour cherry variety.

Hello from the farm! The persistent rain this Spring is a continuing challenge. It slowed things down and delayed the harvest on Spring crops like peas, lettuce, and beets. And then, it shortened the strawberry crop! I don't mind waiting for peas, but I am disappointed that strawberries are already done here.

We've said good bye to Spring crops of Rhubarb, Strawberries, and Spinach - it's time to embrace Summer!

To help you keep up with the changing seasons, here's a loose prediction of what the next month or so will look like.

Peas, Regular and Edible Pod

: Right now we're in our third planting with one more to go. We should have peas for two more weeks (mid-July)!

Lettuce: Our fresh lettuce will be available until mid-July.

Zucchini and Summer Squash are here now and will be until at least the end of July.

Sour Cherries showed up at the end of June. There isn't a lot of the first variety, so they won't be around too long. Later varieties will be here in mid July, and should last about 2 weeks.

Sweet Cherries arrived on June 28th, and they'll be around just into the beginning of August.

Broccoli

Fresh broccoli crowns, available by the pound.
Fresh broccoli crowns, available by the pound.

: our broccoli plantings are shaping up to be pretty epic this year, with a total of about 400,000 broccoli plants in the field.  We're in the first harvest right now! 

Recipes: 

Broccoli Soup, Broccoli Salad, and Roasted Broccoli

 

Coming Up:

Pickles

will start showing up in about two weeks.  We're doing a planting each week for the entire month of July, with the last one going in on August 1st. This means we should have a steady supply for all of August and well into September, if Mother Nature cooperates.

3,000 feet of Beets were planted two weeks ago. We're looking forward to having lots to pick in about six weeks!

In our next update, we'll have news on tomatoes, peppers, sweet corn, and peaches.

Strawberry Season!

If there's one thing a rainy Spring is good for, it's nice big strawberries. 

strwberries
strwberries

As of this Thursday, June 20th, you can come by the market to pick your own. Bring your own containers or buy a few baskets from us, and spend an hour or two in our strawberry patch picking berries. It's a great way to save a little money on this delicious fruit, and a great way to relax. Our berry patch is full of nice thick straw to kneel on and it's looking pretty weed free so far (good job Farmer Tim)! We recommend coming in the morning, just to avoid the heat of mid-day.

If you'd rather enjoy some delicious strawberries without having to work for it, you can buy them by the quart and flat in the market.

We also have homegrown beets, lettuce, zucchini, edible pod peas, swiss chard, and garlic scapes.

For an even sweeter treat, grab a fresh cookie, turnover or scone. They come in every Tuesday and Friday from Greg'ry's Bakery in Bergen.

Field Update, May 31st

So far the weather has set us up for a pretty average Spring as far as timing goes. Patches of hot weather got things started, alternating with those cold snaps that slowed everything right back down. The rain we had earlier this week was very much appreciated by the plants, fueling the burst of bloom in our strawberry and pea fields. Read on for more details!

spinach.jpg

Spinach! Now filling a basket on our produce table, it's freshly pulled from a field behind the market and rinsed in clean, cold water. We only have one planting so it will be here for just a short time... but it WILL be back in the fall! Homegrown spinach is so tender and delicious. And full of nutrients of course!

 

 

peaplant.jpg

Next up: Peas! The very first blossom showed up one week ago today. We expect to pick about three weeks after the first bloom, so look for peas around June 14th.



Our strawberries began to bloom right before the coldest weather hit in May. Even with the added protection of a row cover (light-weight fabric that provides a layer of insulati0n) our very first strawberries were killed by the cold. We were sad to lose what is always the biggest berries of the season, but the hundreds of blossoms in our field right now makes us feel a lot better! The strawberries out there right now are already getting some pretty good size to them. We should be picking in about two weeks if Mother Nature continues to be kind.

lettuce.jpg

The quilt of lettuce growing in the greenhouse has been planted in neat rows in the field. When you drive by, you might notice two rows of white plastic next to rows and rows of black plastic. That's the lettuce! White plastic will prevent the tender leaves from burning. Black plastic absorbs heat, which can be great to get plants going in the Spring, but it's just too hot for lettuce. Lettuce will be ready for sale around June 14th as well.

broccolibaby.jpg

Broccoli is the undertaking of the year! Every week for eighteen weeks, our Captain of Seeding, Ron, is planting 15,000 broccoli plants. This photo shows you just a small percentage of what is soon to be acres of glorious broccoli. We'll start picking around July 1st.

March on the Farm

grasses
grasses

Even though the ground is still frozen (and no doubt snow will be flying before March is done) we're already seeing the first signs of Spring. With the mild winter we've had this year, green things are popping up pretty early. Have you noticed the daffodils poking through the ground? Maybe a patch of snowdrops or helleborus blooming? At Kirby's, it always gets green long before the rest of WNY thaws out completely. In our greenhouse, the first batch of hanging baskets has been planted. Happy little annuals are growing vigorously on the benches, gaining some size before we hang them up.

onionn.jpg

14 trays of onions were seeded this morning. Onions are a first for us! Farmer Tim was inspired  by our CSA program to add a few new crops. He's excited about the idea of giving our CSA members as much variety as we can throughout the season. There will be more plantings of lettuce and spinach too. Our regular customers will benefit as well, when that amazing homegrown lettuce stays around for a few weeks longer then usual, and homegrown green onions and beans show up on our market tables.

Soon there will be trays of tomato, cauliflower, broccoli, and pepper seedlings growing in the greenhouse. And before you know it, we'll be out in the fields harvesting delicious produce for your table!

2colorbskt
2colorbskt
fleur
fleur
chenile
chenile

Rhubarb, a Last Taste of Spring

Definitely one of the lesser known vegetables, rhubarb is tart, tart, tart. Just about any rhubarb recipe you encounter will also have a good amount of sugar in the ingredients list. Next time you pick some up, try a bite of it raw and you'll know why. Although rhubarb is most often found in pies and crisps, sometimes in breads, and occasionally as a sauce (my favorite), I've also heard of plenty of people eating it raw dipped in sugar. For those that favor this method, there's usually a story about hiding in grandmother's garden among the tall rhubarb leaves, with the sugar bowl.

History and Nutrition:

Wikipedia tells us that rhubarb has been enjoyed for thousands of years in China and Russia. As an import, it's value topped expensive spices like cinnamon in medieval Europe, but it didn't appear in the states until the early eighteen hundreds. Rhubarb's biggest nutritional contribution is Vitamin K (45% of your daily allowance) and Vitamin C (16%). It also tallies up a notable amount of Calcium (10%), Potassium(10%), andManganese (12%), among other nutrients. The leaves are, in fact, poisonous. That's why you will never see them for sale, we always chop them off first.

Recipe: Rhubarb Sauce

bowl.jpg

New to the flavors of rhubarb? I definitely recommend trying this recipe for Rhubarb Sauce. It's incredibly simple, you get to put it on vanilla ice cream, and it would be impossible to feature the flavor of this unique vegetable to a higher degree.

  • 1 Cup Sugar
  • 1/2 Cup Water
  • 2 lbs Kirbygrown Rhubarb, trimmed, washed, and cut into small chunks.

Preparation: In a saucepan simmer sugar and water until sugar is dissolved. Add rhubarb and simmer for 15 minutes,  stirring occasionally. Adjust sugar to taste.

Set aside to cool for about twenty minutes, then serve warm over vanilla (or strawberry!) ice cream, or simply in a cup by itself. It's also a great breakfast chilled, with vanilla yogurt.

sauce
sauce

Variations: Stir in 1tsp vanilla extract before serving to balance out the rhubarb with some mellow sweetness. For another delicious variation, add 1 cup of fresh, chopped Kirbygrown strawberries or whole raspberries right after you take the sauce off the stove.

If you've tried all of the the usual rhubarb options and you're looking for something new, check out some of the ideas at epicurious. The sweet/sour/savory chutney paired with a pork tenderloin is definitely on my to-do list! Have any favorite uses for rhubarb, or stories of grandma's garden? Let us know, we'd love to hear about it!