Guest: John Mills, Eagle Creek Farm
Big Idea:
From the Farm to the Home garden: Ideas Shared
John Mills is well known for his organic potatoes in Canada and he sells them across the country including Prince Edward Island! Listen in to Episode 18, season 1 to hear all about John’s potatoes.
Today John talks about the other vegetable crops like Brassicas (Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage and Kolrabi) and how he rotates vegetables to build his soil. He also talks about pests and tips home gardeners can use to build soil and success in home gardens.
John prefers hay mulch to plastic mulch and this is one of John’s secrets but he has to be careful to harvest his hay early when weed seeds are minimal. John says: “… you’ll find people say don’t use hay. And that’s [because when] farmers generally harvest their hay [it is later in the season and ] generally would have weed seeds. We have to be extra careful to harvest it at a point that doesn’t have weed seeds.”
John’s favourite Sprouting broccoli: Calabrese (https://www.westcoastseeds.com/products/calabrese-organic-2)
John’s favourite self-wrapping cauliflower: Adona (https://www.damseeds.com/products/adona-hybrid-organic)
Bt: The organically approved biological control for Cabbage butterflies. Available at garden centres under trade names like Dipel. (see more info about Dipel here: https://fingal.ca/wp-content/uploads/userfiles/QuickSheets/Dipel.pdf)
Row Covers: Use ProtekNet or other protective netting for a barrier against egg-laying butterflies on the brassica family. Also, Agribon-19 protects Brassicas from Cabbage butterflies.
For more info:
Website: https://www.seedpotatoes.ca/
Email: [email protected]
