A trend or a lifestyle?

It is quite difficult to have a day pass in our lives without bumping into something organic. The “green culture” surrounds us on a daily basis from food consumables to recyclables to social habits and practices. Although the hula-hoop was in and out of our lives years back, this direction towards organic lifestyles is here to stay.

A few weeks ago, we surveyed our home garden newsletter subscribers to find out what types of products they might be interested in going forward. Much to my surprise was the fact that over 60% of the 2500 responses are organic gardeners. I would never have guessed that.

The general public is much more aware and better educated about the quality of the food that they put on the family table. The public is also keenly aware of lifestyle logistics that make the earth a better place to live. That’s a good thing…saving Mother Earth!

Gifts from the Garden!

Within days I will be harvesting home grown radishes from my garden, and salad greens will follow thereafter. Everything has been planted, and my transplanted sweet corn is also doing well. My garden peas are half grown and before long they will be on my dinner table too.

In my ornamental beds I had a few surprises. I planted some cutting snapdragons in a full sun bed out behind my home and to my surprise, they all over-wintered. They are now about two feet tall and are loaded with blooms. I had some dwarf snapdragons in front of my house last year, and they also over-wintered and are in full bloom already, and have been since June 1^st.

Dusty Miller is another plant that is commonly sold as an annual, but mine made it through the winter and the plants have bushed out nicely so early in the season.

One of my favorite flowers for cutting is the peony. It ranks right up there with gladiolus. The booms are very striking and quite fragrant. Too bad they don’t last longer.

As late spring progresses and summer about to begin, we all shall have many gifts from the garden to make our lives just splendid.

If you are ever in Rochester…

After two long years of searching for a new office and warehouse in Rochester, we decided to buy the building that we are currently in. We closed on it just last month, and all of us here are extremely happy we do not have to move and deal with nasty business interruptions.

We have expanded our flower trial areas with 8 new raised beds, and we are dedicating two of these beds to sustainable and organic production techniques. We are making every effort to make our grounds a showpiece for landscaping considerations.

It is necessary to put up fencing, as the deer will feed on our vegetables and flowers routinely. A great deal of time and effort goes into the testing of new varieties, and we hate to see it all destroyed by those critters that roam the landscape at night. We will be testing some deer repellants as well to ensure they will work.

If there are any of our customers that would like to have a tour of our facility when they are in town, give us a call ahead of time and we would be happy to accommodate you. We are an official All American Selections Trial Site, and this is where we get a first look at any new entries for flowers and vegetables.

We have lots of planting yet to do outside in our garden beds, but when summer rolls around, it will be all worth it.