This week we harvested a lot of the radishes that we had growing on the farm. They are reaching the end of their growing season and will bolt soon if we do not get them out of the ground. You want to avoid having your root crops and greens go to flower unless you are trying to harvest seeds from them. This is because the flavor will change and turn bitter as the plant redirects it's energy and resources to flowering. Thankfully most of the radishes had not gone to flower yet. Unfortunately, as Michael and I were harvesting we noticed that we had an aphid infestation on the watermelon and daikon radishes. The radishes were still a good size despite the fairly heavy pest load you can see in the picture to the right. We did want to get the aphids off the leaves before we processed them for market though. To clean the aphids off we used water and a small amount of soap, they came off pretty easily. The infestation was a lot heavier on the watermelon radishes than on the daikon. After washing the radishes we bundled them together to sell at the farmer's market on Saturday. I was curious why we leave the leaves on some root crops, but not others. It has to do with the shelf life of the vegetable. When we harvest the radish, the leaves are there to be used up by the plant to allow the root crop to keep longer. Along with the market this weekend, we had an order from a local restaurant owner for 8 pounds of daikon radish and 5 pounds of mustard greens. It was really cool to know that some of the produce we grew at the Howdy Farm is going to be used in a restaurant in Bryan/College Station. On Saturday morning I got the chance to help work the Howdy Farm booth at the farmer's market in downtown Bryan. The weather was pretty awful, it was super cold and windy with a nice drizzle of rain to top it off. Despite the weather, there was a fair amount of people who ventured out to support their local farmers. I had a great time telling people about the different radishes and greens that we had. The customers had a lot of recommendations about how they prepare and cook the vegetables. I got some great recipes and even tried some of the radish in a soup and it was delicious! It was nice to interact with community and learn new ways to prepare vegetables I had never really been creative with.
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AuthorHi! My name is Gabrielle Melchor and I am a senior undergraduate student in the horticulture science department. After graduation, I hope to pursue a career in nursery management and production or urban green space development. If you have any questions about my internship or would just like to talk plants, you can find me at the Howdy Farm. Gig 'em! Archives
April 2019
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The Howdy Farm at Texas A&M University | Gabrielle's Blog |