By the end of February, spring is in full swing for me. Starter plants arrive from the end of the month and into mid-March. They all need transplanted along with the earliest batches of seedlings. I continue to start seeds, going from pansies and early perennials to early annuals and then heat loving herbs and flowers. As more is planted, more needs to be watered, tagged, etc. In preparing for spring, the work builds gradually, and then there's always one day where it really hits and then it's crazy busy for about three months.
It also means my least favorite greenhouse activity - moving plants around. Obviously, it needs to be done. Crops must be rotated as new ones size up and as things sell. I don't really mind moving things between the two greenhouses, especially on nice days. But shifting stuff around inside the greenhouse seems a waste of time. Early in the season, it's moving around to make more space, which is necessary. But then I think I should be planting instead of moving things. When I worked at garden centers, there was lots of moving around, some probably unnecessary, so maybe that's where it started.
Right now, the shop is open Thurs - Sat, 9-5. The spring newsletter should be out in mid-March. If you didn't receive one, let us know when you visit the farm. We did lose some mailing list info from a computer meltdown a little while ago. We think we recreated the list accurately, but please let us know if we've missed you. Also, if you'd prefer an e-mail newsletter, give us your email address and we'll switch you over.
Other things coming up - the greenhouse reopens April 3 this year and our spring open house will be Friday and Saturday April 27 and 28 from 9 to 5. It will be here before you know it.
My outside rosemarys are still surviving - it may be a good year for wintering them over. Someone asked me if the hardier varieties were guaranteed to winter over. Simply said, no. I think the deciding factor is the severity of the winter weather.

Marching Toward Spring!

The "March" toward spring continues. I can feel the change-over in the work I have to do. Most of the inside paperwork and preparation and organizing is done. Now it's turning to growing. I start seeds each week. The earliest varieties were started in January. Then a big batch of perennials and I'm finishing them up along with a few slow starting annuals and some biennials. I've been working in the greenhouse filling pots. Boy, is it nice in there on a sunny day. It's like being in Florida for a few hours - perks me right up. Haven't planted any plugs yet, but that will start soon and then it will be planting straight through until the greenhouse opens, which is APRIL 3, this year.

We did get our new plant list finished up and are posting it here. Just click on each page to open, then print and peruse at your leisure!


One morning on Lucy's walk, we saw a squirrel fight. I think a couple pairs live in the treeline at the back of our property where it touches the alpaca farm. With the leaves off the trees, I can see nests way up in the trees. I don't know if the fight was territorial or a love triangle, but two chased one all over the place. They are so agile. It always amazes me when they jump onto a thin, little branch. The whole branch bends and swings, but they just hold on and then leap to the next one. They finally chased him far enough away to be satisfied.

Our basement has been pretty well refurbished. It got flooded last fall when the tropical storm roared through. We repainted and had flooring put down. John talked me into half linoleum and half carpet, which I wasn't too enthused about. But now I really like it.. And I can work on the lino side with my drieds and it will be easy to clean up.

John got the stock plants out of the garden. That's always a big, spring prep job. I keep stock plants of perennials that I can divide into small plants and just grow them to size up. We put them in trenches in the garden for the winter, insulating the roots. Dig them up, put them in the greenhouse, and soon for some, longer for others, they break dormancy and begin to grow. I'm watching them closely for signs of new growth. It's as good as the seedlings popping up - a sign that spring is coming!

Sloooow Time and then Fast, fast, fast!

I always enjoy the relatively slow time after the holidays. John and I always call January "the slow time." There's always work to do of course, but it's inside work and much of it is paperwork and planning or preparation. I usually consider work you can do sitting down as easier work. It also allows us to work on different projects. This year it was basement repairs from last fall's flooding. We repainted the walls and ceiling and now will pick out flooring. We don't have to install it - just pay for it! Then we'll finish up with the molding and put everything back together.

Now spring preparations begin in earnest. Each week I'll start a batch of seeds. Our order of soil, pots and supplies arrives. That means I can begin filling pots so they're ready to go when planting time arrives. By the end of the month, starter plants arrive and planting begins. I'm glad things pick up gradually. It gives me time to move from the slower winter pace to the busy springtime mode. There always comes a day when the spring rush hits - BOOM - and we're in full swing. Meanwhile, I'll organize the greenhouse and get things ready for spring.

As far as I know, there are still three toads hibernating in the greenhouse. Haven't seen them lately, but as the weather warms up, they usually poke themselves out of the dirt and burrow down again at night. With the protection of the greenhouse, hopefully they will all survive the winter.

I've been using the arnica rub that Tina and Maryanne make on my wrist to deal with a bout of tendonitis. All my aches and pains I blame on playing with Lucy. She loves to play and although she's not rough, she is strong. Of course the fact that I'm getting older doesn't factor in at all... Anyway, I've found the arnica rub very helpful. Arnica has been used for a long time to relieve pain, swelling and bruising. I figure it beats taking pain relievers constantly.

Don't forget! The shop is open three days a week (Thursday through Saturday) 9 am to 5 pm during February and March.

Mild Winter, so far!

I'm pretty happy with our winter weather so far. It seems odd that so far, our biggest snowfall was in October. Snow is not good on the greenhouse, of course. Turning the heat on melts the snow off and it accumulates on the sides. We have to shovel that snow away, since the buildup of snow could eventually cause the sides to collapse. So less snow means less shoveling, which suits us. Since having the greenhouses, I have noticed that the majority of snowfalls occur overnight.

I also enjoyed the snow fog after the recent snowfall. Everything is quiet, white and kind of mysterious. I remember snow fog growing up in Mt. Gretna - perhaps because of the trees. Our back corner of the yard is still very wet. Will it ever dry out? When it gets cold, the standing water freezes and I can see all types of interesting things trapped in the ice. All sorts of leaves and twigs and frosted blades of grass frozen there in a kind of life-sized snow globe effect.

The relatively mild weather really has me thinking of spring and I'm seeing signs throughout the yard. Our witch hazel has bloomed with its tiny yellow and red flowers in January, several weeks earlier than its typical February bloom. Both the star magnolia and pussy willow have big, fat buds. I'm surprised at how much is green in the gardens. Pretty little salad burnet has not died off and there's still green parsley, cutting celery and chamomile. There's new green shoots of chives and new growth on bronze fennel, poppies, snapdragons, and reseeded cornflowers which never died off. All the outdoor rosemarys have survived up to this point. I always tell people to let cilantro reseed when it flowers to get a second crop as the weather cools off. With all the rain, I had a bumper crop in the fall. With the mild weather, it produced through December, and even now has some good green growth. All of this is soothing when I get antsy for spring.

"Winter Break" at Cloverleaf

I'm back after a nice holiday break. Hope you all enjoyed your holidays. We had two very good holiday meals - one rather long and hectic and the second more subdued and relaxed. Very good food both times.

Thanks to all who came out for our Open House and throughout the holiday season. It was a good season for the business and overall a successful year. With the weather and the economy both on the poor side, I consider that quite an accomplishment.

And, believe it or not, I've started work for the spring season. Planted pansy seeds right after Christmas and after New Year's stared a batch of early perennials like cornflower, blue flax and "Lady" lavender. This is the only variety of lavender I start from seed. It is just amazing to me that the tiny seedlings in the little pack have as much aroma as a full-sized lavender plant! What a treat on a cold winter's day to enjoy the fragrance of fresh lavender.

John and I always laugh that January is our slow time. Not much work yet here at the farm and his busy time at work doesn't start for about a month. Once February comes, supplies arrive, there are seeds to start every week and we begin to gear up the greenhouse for spring.

Lots of the work now is cozy, indoor stuff - end of year routine, preparing orders for spring, etc. which leaves time for other things - like making bread. I love to make bread. First of all I love to eat it. Also, there's something very elemental about making bread plus I absolutely love the smell of yeast. I don't know why, but that smell ranks right up there for me along with my favorite herbal and floral scents. I make all kinds of bread. This week was honey wheat toasting bread. Most breads that are good for toasting have wheat germ in them. Also make a pesto bread, cinnamon (yummy with coffee), seeded bread with seeds and dried minced onions on top, and also found a new recipe that incorporates mashed butternut squash in the dough.

The other thing we accomplished was painting our basement. This was the first step in the refurbishment due to last fall's flooding. Next we'll have new flooring installed. We don't have to do that work - just pay for it!

Holiday Open House! Dec 2 & 3

We hope to see many of you at our holiday open house on Friday and Saturday December 2 & 3 from 9 am to 5 pm. We'll have a selection of potted culinary herbs along with live topiaries in the greenhouse, shop specials on handmade soaps and some of our other popular items in the shop, herbal refreshments including hot mulled cider, and prize drawings. I'm hoping the weather will cooperate, although this year it might be asking a lot. We have a very nice selection of tree decorations this year, plus holiday and non-holiday arrangements, great gardening and herbal books, essential and fragrance oils, supplies to make your own body care gifts, lots of fragrant body care products and unique and garden themed gift ideas.

Also new for us this year, we'll be participating in a drop-in open house at our neighbors - Carissa Ressler at 1987 Cloverleaf Rd., just up the road from our place. The date is Saturday, December 10 from 2 - 7 pm. In addition to products from our shop, the open house will feature soy candles, hand designed jewelry, Pampered Chef goods, and fair trade scarves and other items. I'm looking forward to participating and hopefully meeting some new folks.

Lucy will be celebrating her birthday soon - her fifth! We've had her four years, since we adopted her when she was a year old. Here's my annual plea if you're considering adopting a pet. Please, pleas consider a shelter or rescue animal. There are so many animals - all ages and sizes and breeds looking, waiting, and I'm sure hoping for a good, loving home. I've had dogs my whole life and Lucy is one of the best. On some level, she seems to understand that things were bad, and then we came and they got lots better. So many adopted dogs are eager to please, in gratitude for their adoption. I also have to laugh when I see in the paper people selling or trying to sell mixed breed dogs for hundreds of dollars. I don't care what cute name you make up for them, they're still mutts. So if you're going to get a mixed breed, consider a dog or cat that really needs a home.

Fall in the Garden

Originally written in late Oct:

I noticed a bumper crop of cilantro this fall.  Cilantro is a cool weather annual like lettuce.  It does well early in the season, but like lettuce, bolts when the weather gets hot.  You can sometimes delay this in the garden by providing part shade, but you can't postpone it forever - it's just the nature of the plant.  It then forms its white flower heads, which eventually become seeds.  Let some seeds fall and you'll usually get a second crop when the weather begins to cool off again at the end of the season.  It took awhile for the seed to germinate this year, but with all the moisture, it's a bumper crop.  Harvest the foliage before frost and freeze for winter use.

Outside work is winding down although there's still weeding and cutting back to do.  But now, I'm working mostly in the shop, trying to get things arranged and stocked for the holidays.  It's nice to switch back and forth.  One thing I've noticed about my work habits is that I don't like to do the same thing over and over.  I worked in an office once and it was the same thing each week - same thing on Tuesdays, same thing Thursdays - I didn't care for that.  This job is great.  Very different tasks from spring through fall and winter.  Also I like the process of growing, planting, harvesting and using the things I grow. 

Our holiday open house will be December 2 and 3 from 9 -5.  We've added some interesting gift items and some new soap scents from the "sisters."  You can read about them in the newsletter coming out in November.  It also lists other great, unique gift ideas and don't forget we have lots of supplies and containers for those who make their own products and gifts.  We've had a few D.I.Y customers already.  I'm always so impressed when people start early.

It's supposed to be a bad year for pumpkins, due to all the wet weather.  Butternut squash seems to be plentiful though.  I like it a lot, and if you roast it in the oven it gets delicious.  Thyme is a perfect herb to pair with winter squash.