The last week of March is when massive amounts of bare root trees and shrubs are received from a variety of sources such as Oregon, Lake County, Ohio and Michigan. The plants are bare root in order that they may be shipped at low cost and then are potted into our potting mix. The process while quite simple is quite labor intensive as the material must be sorted and counted, root pruned, some top pruning and finally tagged before potting. Another danger is that if the roots dry out for too long in the process, the fine hair roots which take up water for the plant will die, thus the whole process must be expedited and the plants kept in the barn under a giant plastic cover with frequent sprays of water.
Other stock which we have in storage and have just received must be watered diligently and especially those that are evergreen. Evergreens will transpire water much more than deciduous stock and the old growth will not show water needs until it is too late. A handy pocket knife to slit burlapped plants to check for moisture works wonders to tell for sure whether or not a good watering is required.
The greenhouse is starting to color up with new shipments of pansies, air plants, succulents and cold crops such as broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, kale and more.
Our new well is working out great as now 3 staff members can water at once with the increased capacity of the new well compared to the original well and the vast array of underground pipes have the capacity to carry the extra water.
We hope to get the outside sales yard set up by April 15th but the big “if” is weather!
Tom