March madness is upon us. No, I’m not talking basketball hoops. I’m talking about the buzzing activity here at the greenhouses. Oh I love the tournament as many of you do. But we are in our own competition of sorts to meet all the goals we want to accomplish this spring. We are at the height of production this time of year. Tons of soil is being poured into pony packs, 4’’ pots, gallon pots, and hanging baskets. There have been so many changes to our little business over that last 28 years that I couldn’t begin to list all of them. But one of the greatest innovations that have happened here is how we go about our production. It used to be we did more annuals such as pansies, petunias and vegetable starts by seed. These scrawny little seedlings, all hand transplanted, were quite tedious to get into the ground. On top of that the germination rate, though good, was not nearly as predictable as it is today. Fast-forward to the 21st century. Plugs! Much of what we receive especially bedding plants come in the form of pre-germinated plugs. Trays of 500 of these rooted baby plants are run through our transplanting machine. The success rate is phenomenal. From the day the plugs arrive to the day they are made available to you is about 4 weeks. That’s it. Every week, especially March and April, is a race against time to get everything transplanted. Several batches of petunias, marigolds, peppers, and tomatoes are produced each week to keep inventory fresh. Speaking of inventory, we’ve got so much to look at and more coming on every day. All of our available plants are hardened off and ready to be planted for gardening success.
We feature our Open House at the end of this month on Saturday, March 30 from 9:00am-5:00pm. We like to show off what’s new and upcoming for spring. Two tours are available, one at 10:00am and then again at 12:00pm. Refreshments and snacks are provided. Our classes taught by owner Kelly Brainard are sprinkled throughout the coming weeks. Take advantage of her expertise. Our first one comes up Thursday, March 14th and covers cool season annuals and perennials. Visit our website to see details on all events for the season. We invite you to come down and see what all this madness is about.
