Winter at the Wood Street Urban Farm

There’s still much to do during the winter at the Wood St. Urban Farm! We just started our first seeds of the new year last week … spinach, chard, parsley, and arugula. And in only a week the first lettuce, carrot, and radish plantings will go in. Just to give you an idea, this past week’s arugula planting will be 53 days from seeding to the first cutting near the end of March. Compare this to just 18 days from seeding to harvest during the summer … the sun surely dictates our planting schedules!

Hoophouses at the Wood Street Urban Farm allow Growing Home to grow throughout the winter.

The overwintering spinach transplanted into the hoophouses last October is biding it’s time under row covers until the sun returns enough in February to begin growing again. The mizuna/mustard greens are appreciating the unusually mild winter we’ve had so far.

Winter crops are covered to prevent freezing.

Cold weather promotes sweetness in overwintered spinach and other greens.

Winter is a time to prepare for the new season ahead. For the urban farm staff the biggest change approaching is our first season at our new urban farm site. This extension of our Wood St. Urban Farm, the Honore St. Farm, will provide space this season for an additional hoophouse and more outdoor field space. We’re excited to have the ability to grow more produce for our customers, but also for the additional work opportunities this site will provide for participants in Growing Home’s transitional jobs program.

Ground posts for the new hoophouse are already installed, and the structure will be completed by early spring.

The first plantings of the season this past week were a reminder of just how soon the farm will again be overflowing with produce and bustling with activity!

-Tim Murakami
Urban Farms Manager