Organic Gardening Info from Peaceful Valley

I am interested in growing flax for fiber. I am trying to locate seed and any information on growing (in coastal southern california), harvesting and processing. This is intended to be a gardening project (and more) for a 3rd grade class. Thanks for your help!

It happens every year, the weather warms up and the impulse to plant becomes irresistible. “It’s spring! Let’s go” you say.

And lately, it seems to happen every year: a sneak attack frost in late April zaps your early garden.

The point is, every region has its traditional frost dates… and it’s always later than you expect. Ask around and confirm. Around Nevada City, people say it is around Mother’s Day (do I really have to wait that long?)… take your time, plan things right.

I can heartily recommend a little Agribon frost protection for your garden. We sell it by the roll or as “frost blankets”. It’s good to know when you get growing that you can tuck your plants in at night. Our Freshman Farmers use it as a rule, invest in it and give yourself some peace of mind. We also carry portable greenhouse type devices, like the fantastic Wall O’ Water and Solar Bells. They are essential for protecting from frost when you hear of a plunge in temperature later than you were expecting.

Now is a good time to plant cold season crops in our region, Grass Valley, CA. In our nursery you can find a good variety of things that are good to grow now: chard, mesclun mix, lettuce, mustard, things like that. Pak choy. Good stuff. You can browse our Winter Catalog by clicking here, we featured a good selection of our cold season seeds.. Or you can use our brand new organic seed browser here, at PeacefulValleyOrganicSeeds.com.

While you’re at it, you might want to check out our huge selection of organic vegetable starts, available online.We will have a huge selection of certified-organic, locally-grown, vibrant and unique seedling varieties on April 15th… we’re shipping them out starting April 15th and they go fast, so pre-order now! If you live near us, come on by!

UC Davis supplies California with invaluable information regarding last frost dates, planting schedules and so much more. A great place to start is their home page.

They offer a good overarching guide to California Frost Dates, and they also provide a great spring planting schedule, plus a seed starting schedule.

I’m a 6th generation California organic grower. My Great Great Great Grandfather Addison J. Bump, planted one of the very first orange groves in Calif. in the mid 1800s.

Here’s something I learned from his great granddaughter my great grama Maggie. Don’t throw out the vines that still have tomatoes. Instead hang them on the rafters of the barn (garage) in a place that they won’t freeze and they will keep ripening. They can be eaten, dried, or canned as you have enough for a batch.

I learned about ten years ago that you can also store them in bins or buckets off the vine. Clip the stem leaving the stepal (the little green star at the attachment on the tomato) but not any stem (it will poke holes as the tomatoes ripen) and put them all together in the bucket. Black plastic tree pots work great because of the holes in the bottom that allows some circulation.

Be sure to go through them often and see how they are doing. Pick out and keep the ripening ones toward the top so they don’t get squished. These aren’t good for fresh eating but make great sauce or pickle relish which I will talk about next week.

Grama Maggie had a method to her madness as well as a great green tomato relish recipe. To be continued next week …

I’m very impressed with this University Of California resource page listing upcoming gardening events all through California.