Snowy, icy days made for time spent selling sleds and ice melt at hardware store, planning out my flower growing calendar for all of 2016, and watching the Panthers secure their spot in the Super Bowl!
I neglected my low tunnels for a few too many hours and Friday’s ice and snow collapsed the plastic tubing – whoops!! We are going to replace the broken plastic with metal electrical conduit for more strength. I will forever be more attentive to my tunnel structures in our infrequent snows – as with most things in farming, you live and learn. Thank goodness the flower plants were not crushed!
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Ruth and I spent our week at the hardware store with sleds and ice melt, and I did a bit of seed-sowing on the side. We closed up early both days and I enjoyed spending time with my sister Martha before she moves back to college in Europe this week.
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Our farm broccoli and flower seedlings are growing steadily. See them here reaching for the sun. They spend the night inside the store (since moving them back and forth is cheaper than heating the greenhouse!) and were stretching like this in the morning when it was time to move them back out. This is a sign for not having enough light. If you grow seedlings in your house this spring and see them stretch like this – they need stronger light. For those interested in starting tomatoes, peppers, squash, and more from seed this spring who have never tried it before, or are looking to improve their current methods – please come to our first 2016 gardening class in February, it will be informative and fun.
Our 2016 Family Food Garden Class schedule is now on our farm website here. We hope you will come out to learn with us this growing season! The first class topic is “From the Windowsill to the Garden: Starting Plants from Seed” with two separate sessions on February 16th & 17th.
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Due to the snow, our greenhouse wasn’t filled with early spring plants last week like planned. They will instead arrive on either Wednesday or Thursday this week – just in time for a sunny and 65-degree weekend! I will update the Renfrow Hardware website when they and the potatoes arrive. Or call us at the store at 704-847-4088 anytime.
Take care,
~Pressly Williams
& the Renfrow crew
& the Renfrow crew
Renfrow Farms Market
is closed for the winter
is closed for the winter
