And so it begins....

Spring has sprung at the farm!  These beauties are the first of the Heirloom tomatoes! They are set to be transplanted next week already! (Their home will be Greenhouse #1, directly into the soil come April!) It's so nice to have the greenhouses fired and seedlings emerging! It was a very, very busy winter on the farm so there really was no break or holiday for us once again. However, when my customers ask if I have some time off I always assure them that considering I love what I do, each day is an adventure, something new and exciting happening - holiday's aren't important to us right now.  I look forward to the end of cooking season and the beginning of seeding season each year.  When the sun hits the glass - it's summer out there! Success has a lot to do with the weather and so far it is a bit chilly, but the thaw is coming. We have to start onions seedling early, therefore we have to apply some heat to the greenhouse - it's not cheap! To help cut costs we are doing some custom growing for Farm Start farmers and also a huge project for Evergreen.  We will be handling an order of all sorts for them this year including many many herbs and vegetables plants for your urban gardens!  Thousands of onion seeds have hit the dirt and have nicely germinated and should show by next week.......

 

 We get asked often where we get our organic greenhouse soil from.  Well, it's actually one of our most substantial expenses right now.  We tried sourcing large amounts from Jolly Farmer out East, but it was still too costly once you factor in the shipping.  We buy in 28 litre bags from our seed supplier.  He is able to give us a tad of a discount because of some volume, but it's still very costly.  It's Premier ProMix's Ultimate Organic Mix and it works well for us each year.  It is essential to feed fish fertilizer as the seedling mature and grow.  I am still sourcing a bulk amount of this stuff out. Fish is excellent with all vegetables and herbs.

 

Most retail garden centers should carry this soil now.  If not, I would ask for it.  Most conventional potting soil has all sorts of crap in it, like wetting agents and synthetic fertilizers. The organic soil has the odd twig and stone and sometimes a sea shell, but all in all a very good product.  Parsley and other herbs have also hit the dirt.  Parsley tends to be slow to germinate therefore I always seed late February along with the onions and leeks.  Stay tuned....I'll be dragging the laptop out to the greenhouse soon to keep my orders in check and will make the time to blog more frequently and share lots of 'green' photos!