Now that most of the end of the year tax work is finished, the work of reviewing all purchase orders for errors still goes on. The purchase orders are necessary so that we may track what has been ordered and the available dates for the products we grow, which are many.
They also are used to construct our online catalog. Which, when near completion, must be proofed for accurate photos, pricing errors, misspellings and incorrect descriptions.
New water lines have been run in the annual flower house to make watering faster and easier as well as the fact that a long run of hose has been eliminated lessening the chance that customers might trip over the hose. The flats of flowers need at least 3-4 waterings per day when dry and sometimes the self-watering benches are not good enough to provide enough water to the large tropical plants as they transpire so much water on a warm sunny day.
We’ve been potting and potting over the last few weeks as orders are starting to roll in for spring. Thousands of geraniums and other smaller potted annuals are making their way into their respective containers with many plants in rooting trays waiting for their turn. Plus, as always, they are being grown safely and without chemicals. We are trying out a new product called Rollertrap by Koppert Biological Systems to trap white flies, aphids and thrips in areas in the greenhouse where a high pest pressure is expected. Pests are attracted to the yellow color and get caught in the glue.
As always, brand new annual flowers will be introduced such as the new Beacon Impatiens that are highly resistant to downy mildew that wiped out many of these flowers about five years ago and has reared it’s ugly head again just last year.
We hope that the customers will notice all the new plants and improvements we’ve made over the winter.
Tom