Warfleigh Cottage Garden

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United States
Indianapolis, IN
Warfleigh Cottage Garden

My name is farmer Ben, and this is my journey growing veggies for market in three backyard plots.
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10/17/2024

First frost and freeze of the season! The backyard weather station bottomed out at 30.0°. I did cover some things just to be safe, but not everything. This uncovered lettuce thawed out just fine. Surprisingly, even the pepper plants still look pretty good!

09/30/2024

Harvesting fall carrots! As summer markets come to a close, here is my farmers market schedule for the rest of 2024:

Binford Farmers Market
Northview Church parking lot at 65th and Binford
Saturdays, 9 am - noon
10/5 - 11/2
Note: while the Binford Farmers Market is officially over for the season, they kindly allow vendors to continue selling on Saturdays beyond September. A few other vendors will be there as well!

Sobro Winter Farmers Market
Half Liter BBQ (outside and then eventually inside)
Wednesdays 4:30 pm - 7:00 pm
10/2 - 12/18 (no market 11/27).

As always, thank you for your support!

08/23/2024

Just keep planting… these late summer days have me dreaming of some winter relaxation 😅. It’s that time of year where working pretty much every day, pretty much well over 8 hours a day, starts to catch up with you. But, I’m grateful to be able do what I love doing, have customers that support and value locally grown veggies, and for this fall-like weather we are all enjoying (which looks to be coming to an end- hopefully for just a week tho).

Here are some photos of fall crops coming along, and a few things I’m still planting. Succession planting is the name of the game with small scale farming in order to be profitable. In many cases, a bed is replanted the day, or within a few days, that I finish harvesting a crop.

07/30/2024

Hope everyone is enjoying tomato season as much as I am! BLTs, salsa, pasta sauce mmmmm 😋. I eat something with tomatoes almost every day this time of year!

(The third picture of the plants is from about a month ago.. it’s much more of a jungle now 😅).

06/23/2024

Winter squash is always something I’ve wanted to do, but never really had the space to grow something that requires so much space. So, I partnered with Amy from to grow some winter squash on her land, and we will split the harvest. Today was transplanting day! I’m relatively inexperienced when it comes to winter squash, so I’m hoping for some beginners luck 😅. If all goes well, we will have winter squash available this fall and winter! We planted acorn squash, butternut squash, kabocha squash, and delicata squash.

06/21/2024

Shade cloth season is in full force! While not everything is covered in shade cloth, priority goes to lettuce and other greens, as well as newly planted crops. There always seems to be more demand for lettuce during the peak of summer- when it’s more difficult to grow, but the goal is to have lettuce available each week!

And I’ve never put shade cloth over tomatoes and peppers, but this summer seems to be the summer to do so (heat waves are expected to get worse in July). For the tomatoes and peppers, I am trying a shade cover every other row approach, but may switch to covering them all- the goal is to avoid sun burns on the fruit, as well avoiding flowers aborting due to plant stress. I primarily use a 30% shade cloth, but I have some 50% that I put over carrots while germinating.

06/02/2024

Just a few photos from the garden over the past couple of weeks! I know I haven’t posted in a while- things have just been crazy. I’ve been going nonstop, and it’s been hard to keep up with it all! If nothing else, I’ve honed in my prioritizing skills 😅. But the crops are growing well (including the weeds 😝), and markets have been going well, so I am thankful for that! Even with the craziness that comes with the season, I wouldn’t trade it for anything! Thank you to all the farmers market and CSA customers who believe in the value of eating fresh, local veggies and supporting local businesses. You make this all possible!

05/11/2024

We are ready for you !

04/24/2024

My little greenhouses are packed with plant starts for your garden! Fortunately, the first is only a week away. If you would like to see what plant varieties I will have available, follow the website link in my bio!

And if you live in the Broadripple area, you can even place an order via email, and I will deliver them to you! I hope you can still come see us at market, but plants also take up a huge amount of transportation space, so it also helps me out to have some preorder deliveries to transport on a different day (early May, TBD). As always, thanks for the support, and I’m excited to see everyone at market soon!

04/20/2024

I’ve been a little quiet on here lately, but I’ve just been so busy with planting and getting things ready markets that start up in May! So I’m just going to drop some photos here to show you how things are coming along!

04/11/2024

Just a few short weeks until summer markets start!! 😳 But I’m excited for it! You can expect an increasing variety of veggies as we get deeper into the season, but I will have an assessment of plant starts available for your own garden during May! (You can find the varieties I will have available on my website).

This year you can find me at these farmers markets:

Sobro Farmers Market
Wednesdays 4:30-7:30p
May 1 through September 25
Vacant lot at 49th and College

Binford Farmers Market
Saturdays 8-noon
May 4 through September 28
Northview Church parking lot, Binford and 65th

More information on my website, link in bio.

Can’t make it to these markets but you live in the Broad Ripple area? I still have a few CSA delivery shares available too!

03/30/2024

Lots of planting today! Yesterday I spread 6 yards of compost 🥵for a fresh compost mulch layer to help keep weeds at bay🤞. Today, onions, shallots, spinach, beets, and lettuce were transplanted here. There’s more planting to get done tomorrow before rain comes (scallions, radishes, turnips, arugula). And some things were planted last week, but not pictured here (peas, brassicas, and carrots). It’s go time for spring plantings of frost tolerant crops. 😍

03/04/2024

Lots and lots of seed starting going on! This is probably my favorite time of year 🙂. I just posted the spring 2024 plant sale information on my website. Link in bio! There you can find information on the varieties that will be available this year, and how to pre-order, and even get free local delivery! Please note that my plant sale is on a pretty small scale, so I do not sell on my website, but you can preorder via email.

01/21/2024

A new option to get your fresh, locally grown veggies in 2024! I’m excited to start offering a few CSA delivery shares for the summer growing season. While I still plan to sell at several farmers markets, I want to diversify and offer another option. This option is great for those who love all kinds of veggies and want the ultimate convenience of home delivery (generally in a four mile radius of Broad Ripple). Please find the link in my profile for all the details. It is a lot of information, but please read carefully if you’d like to sign up!

For the first season, only five large shares and ten medium shares are available, so please look into signing up soon if you’re interested!

01/04/2024

I can’t wait for scenes like this again! As I reflect on 2023, I get so excited for the 2024 growing season. I want to sincerely thank everyone who supported me throughout 2023. ❤️ As some of you may already know, 2023 was my first year devoting myself to this full time (and very much so😅). While it’s been tough at times, it’s also been incredibly rewarding doing what I love- growing veggies. And it’s even more rewarding to be able to grow produce for the local community. Thank you! Stay tuned for what 2024 will bring!

12/22/2023

Some pictures from the garden over the last month or so! There’s only a little more lettuce and carrots left to harvest, and then it’ll be primarily spinach and kale for the rest of the winter. Of course there’s always microgreens, but those are grown indoors (I’ll get some pictures of those soon!).

11/28/2023

I have to admit, I’m not good at making time for reading, but cold days (like today) do help me find the time! Here are a couple great NEW market garden books I’m reading through right now. The Lean Micro Farm by Ben Hartman of and The Winter Market Gardener by and Catherine Sylvestre. Both are full of information, and I highly recommend them (and others) if you’re a small scale farmer/grower or interested in doing so. Both authors do have other great books too, so be sure to check them out! These are their most recent releases.

I am also excited to have a few photos of my own micro farm featured in The Lean Micro Farm! Ben does a nice job laying out how small scale farming can work, how to do it efficiently, and he even provides a detailed plan for a part-time set up on just 5,000 square feet.

Address

Indianapolis, IN
46220

Website

https://warfleighcottagegarden.square.site/

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Videos

Instagram made this reel for me! And I thought, why not share this one to remind everyone I’ll have veggies at Binford Farmers Market tomorrow morning (Saturday, 10/14, 8-noon) along with @bowatersfarm ! Bowaters Farm specializes in pasture-raised pork, chicken, and eggs.

Just me chatting about spinach. Most of the spinach for late fall and winter harvest was transplanted today! While I won’t have any spinach at market this week, I will have plenty of other yummy veggies! I’ll post a veggie list on my stories soon!