About Us

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Chad has been making these very sweet planters filled with annuals, a small perennial and a foliage plant. Once they outgrow this pot, all the plants can be replanted and repurposed for other uses. It is like a mini-nursery of your very own. A perfe…

Chad has been making these very sweet planters filled with annuals, a small perennial and a foliage plant. Once they outgrow this pot, all the plants can be replanted and repurposed for other uses. It is like a mini-nursery of your very own. A perfect gift, and the perfect way to welcome spring.

I am finding so much relief in the garden these days. I hope you are taking time to notice all the small emerging plants, the subtle changes day to day, and finding solace in how the plants are behaving 100% normally. As we re-arrange our lives around a virus’ logic, the plant world marches on beautifully. Lily was mentioning how nice the flowering bulbs are this year, with steady cool temperatures and no serious downpours, the blooms are holding up so well and lasting a very long time. Daffodils are not face down in the mud, and the spring color show will linger for a while.

Here are some ideas and jobs for the weekend:

Prepare the garden beds We are all eager to plant and to get out in the garden, and while there are many frost tolerant veggies and herbs that can go out now, I would encourage you all to think ahead to warmer days and make sure that your garden dreams and reality line up. If you are looking to start a new garden or expand an existing one, now is a great time to do it. Clifford’s Lumber in Hinesburg sells rough sawn hemlock boards for raised beds, and you can get deliveries of topsoil and compost from a number of local businesses (we do not do that ourselves). Shoot us an email if you have any questions about preparing the garden. We want you to be ready when it is time to plant tomatoes! Because we are only doing curbside pick up and home deliveries, we REALLY miss talking to you all about your garden plans. Chad, Hope, Lily and I are all available to return calls and emails and talk shop with you. So don’t hesitate to get in touch. 802.482.4060 or info@redwagonplants.com (or just hit reply to this).

Watch this beautiful movie about Piet Oudolf and his work. The English museum Hauser + Wirth is allowing free streaming of the film, Five Seasons: the Gardens of Piet Oudolf, until midnight on Sunday. Here is the link. This will be such a treat, and I am going to watch it for the second time. Inspiration is at hand.

Order fruit trees. Our good friends at Champlain Orchards have started a fruit tree nursery. You can place an order now for pick up on May 2. Because of our curbside and home delivery system, we are not able to sell trees at this point, so we encourage you to support Andrea, Bill, Rupert and Rosa in their budding family nursery operation. It is a great selection with varieties that are often difficult to find. Here is the link.

Think ahead to gift giving for Mother’s Day May 10th. We ask that you place orders by Wednesday, May 7th to ensure pick up or delivery before May 10th. Some suggestions:

And finally, we would like to let you know about our Grow it Forward program. Every year we donate thousands of plants to area non-profits and schools for garden education and food security projects. This year, the need is greater than ever, and we are growing extra plants specifically to donate. If you would like to contribute to this effort, please consider a small contribution. And if you or someone you know would like to grow food this year, but cannot afford the seeds or plants, please reach out. We are here to help, no questions asked, and will do what we can to ensure that anyone who wants to grow a vegetable garden can do so.

Wishing you all health and happiness in the garden,

Julie




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New Normal

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We are having fun teaching gardening workshops as webinars, and creating beautiful workspaces in each greenhouse. But we miss you!

We are having fun teaching gardening workshops as webinars, and creating beautiful workspaces in each greenhouse. But we miss you!

Hi gardening friends,

Under normal circumstances, yesterday would have been our opening day. And instead of throwing a big annual opening day party with Caledonia Spirits cocktails and Farmers and Foragers’ food truck and Vadeboncoeur pastries, the red wagon crew cracked open a couple of bottles of wine at lunch, sat 10 to 20 feet apart. We cheered each other on. It was the closest we have come to a group lunch, usually the highlight of our days, in over a month. Our crew is just incredible and we have been working safely and extra hard to get plants to you this year. The online store is a big success and the curbside pick ups and home deliveries have been smooth for the most part. Please give Jayson a giant thumbs up as he helps get plants to your car when you come to pick up. He is new this year and has jumped in 100% to make sure our curbside pick up and delivery systems are clear to customers. If you call with a question, it is likely Jayson you are speaking with and he is answering questions like a true veteran even though it is only his second week.

As I have promised many of you, we will use the newsletter to give you updates about what is available. I update the online store every few days, so if you don’t see what you are looking for, just check back.

New this week in the online store:

We are so grateful for all of your support and for your increased enthusiasm in gardening.

In parting, I would like to recognize the hard work that Lily Belisle, our retail manager, has done this past month to shift our focus from a physical retail greenhouse to an online store. She has learned all kinds of new skills, taught them to all of us, and done it with a smile on her face the whole time. Here she is yesterday, picking orders in the imminent snow storm, happy as a clam. Thanks, Lily.

Thank you, Lily! And all of Team Red Wagon.

Thank you, Lily! And all of Team Red Wagon.


I will do another Facebook Live Stream today at 10 am.

Hope to see you then! We miss you all very much, and it is nice to connect over social media. Let us know how you are doing with your garden, tag us in garden photos, and most importantly, enjoy watching your garden unfold and grow.

Sending good thoughts,

Julie



Report from the Greenhouses - 5 days into E-commerce Edition.

Pansies can live through an ice storm!

Pansies can live through an ice storm!

  • We are open for online sales with home delivery and curbside pick up options. You can order here.

  • Garden tip: Harden off your plants before you transplant them. See how below.

    Have fun in the garden. It is the best place to be right now.

Thank you all so much for the incredible support you have shown us. We have been working hard to learn new tricks and I am happy to report that the on line store, pick up and delivery service we have put in place is working pretty well. There are lots of kinks to work out, and we thank you so much for all of your patience as we make it smoother. But overall, we have been moved to tears over and over again, by your kind words, your encouragement, and you plant orders. Gardening is what we all need right now.

Here are a few updates - -

  • You can now order individual types of plants, such as pansies by variety and color or onions and broccoli by the 4-pack. We will still have our collections for people who are happy to receive what we choose for them based on weather and timing.

  • We are doing away with our delivery fee in hopes that more of you stay home. We ask for a $50 minimum order, however. If for some reason that does not work for you, just let us know. We will try to be as flexible as possible.

And some gardening tips about cold season gardening…..

Newly transplanted lettuce, kale and radicchio in our mini-greenhouse cold frame.

Newly transplanted lettuce, kale and radicchio in our mini-greenhouse cold frame.

It is still quite early in the season, and your plants will benefit from hardening off a little more before you transplant them. They will get used to the elements and fare much better through the transition into your garden. We normally do this before you buy plants from us, but this year, the early spring and every one’s eagerness to get in the garden has meant that plants have left our greenhouses without this important step in certain cases.

It is a good practice, as a gardener, to make sure that plants are tough and stocky and well rooted before you plant them. This is a fun way to get to know your plants a little more. You can easily keep them well watered while they are still in their pots, and you can closely watch how they respond to night time temperatures and then recover as the day warms up. Homeschooling plant physiology lessons abound for any of you parents trying to turn daily life into a learning opportunity!

Direct sunlight, wind, and cold are all stressors on plants just coming out of a heated greenhouse environment. Most of the plants we are currently selling on the website have been either in a cold frame or in an unheated greenhouse at this point, so they have begun the hardening off process by leaving the heated greenhouses. However, they have had covered protection at night. For best results, we recommend you keep your plants outside for 4-5 nights before transplanting them. If you start to see a little change in color, that is normal. As a response to cold temperatures, plants slow down their uptake of phosphorous and that creates the foliage to turn a little purple. They will outgrow this as spring warms up.

Once the plants are in the ground, keep an eye on the weather. All the plants we are selling now are frost hardy, but to varying degrees. The onions and pansy can live through an ice storm and multiple frosts while on the other end of the spectrum, lettuce and chard can only tolerate light frosts (30F or so) without a little protection. If you don’t have floating row cover on hand (or Reemay as it is commonly known), you can always just throw an old sheet over your plants during nights that dip down into the 20’s. They will bounce right back when the sun comes out the next day. Just like us after tough times.

Wishing you all happy gardenin,

Julie






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Stay Home - We are Coming to You!

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While you won’t be able to stroll through the greenhouses this spring, we will do our best to bring the show to the comfort of your home and yard.

While you won’t be able to stroll through the greenhouses this spring, we will do our best to bring the show to the comfort of your home and yard.

Here is the good news:

  • We're transitioning to online and phone ordering + pickup and home delivery - stay tuned for updates soon.

  • We'll miss you in our greenhouses this spring (they are closed to the public) but we'll see you online (follow us on Instagram and Facebook).

  • Join us for our first greenhouse tour - this Saturday at 10  AM on Facebook. We will post it to our Instagram stories too.

Please stay home. Shelter. Refuge. Nest. It is the right thing to do for our hospitals, medical professionals, essential workers, and the health of our community. While we are sad every single day for the state of the world, and for the fact that we won’t be able to see all of you enjoying the spring ritual of visiting our greenhouses, we feel confident that we can spread lots of joy with our new home delivery and curbside pick up service. Keep your eyes peeled for the online (and over the phone) ordering system we are creating .

Lily, April, Hope, Susan, Nora, Jayson, Chad, Kate and I will still be helping you with your plant selections and sharing garden advice and plant stories. We will be just a phone call or email away, and the online store (soon to come) will be full of photos and plant descriptions to help you with your plant lists. Our glove wearing and hand washing staff will pick your order, and have it ready on an assigned day and time, OR we will bring it right to your house. We will do all of this without any physical contact, but with the same warmth and abundance you have always enjoyed when visiting Red Wagon.

In the meantime, you can purchase seeds, houseplants and potting soil on our current website.

And mark your calendars for a virtual greenhouse tour this Saturday at 10 am. This will be in lieu of our annual Open House. I will personally take you on a tour of the greenhouses, and you can sit in your pajamas and cheer me on. I have never done this before. We are all doing things we have never done before, right?

Sending you good thoughts, garden dreams and love from our home to yours,

Julie

We are Here for You

We are working at separate work stations these days, so hard to get a picture with all the smiling faces in it, but the gang is here, planting away. Together but apart.

We are working at separate work stations these days, so hard to get a picture with all the smiling faces in it, but the gang is here, planting away. Together but apart.

Hi friends. We are here for you. Many, many of you have reached out over the past few days to ask about plants for your gardens. Please know that we are doing all we can to get plants to you by the time gardening season starts in a couple of weeks. Our warm and sunny March and being in refuge at home have fueled our gardening fires. The demand is high, the stakes are high, and we are calmly figuring out the best way to safely provide you with the plants you crave.

Here is what we have been up to:

- We are following strict sanitation and social distancing protocols at work and in our lives outside of work.


- We are filling up the greenhouses with healthy, beautiful plants and have increased our production of food plants. We have reduced the amount of ornamental plants we are growing so that we can focus on food crops for all of your back yards and community victory gardens.

- We are staying calm and positive so that we can be of service to our community. Our crew is made up of super smart and talented people. We are rotating through work shifts so not all of us are at work at once. People who can, are working from home. And those who are temporarily furloughed to allow for fewer people at each work station, are home on paid leave. We are taking social distancing very seriously and paying people to stay home to guarantee a minimal contact work space.

- We are setting up online ordering for seeds, soil, and plants. You can visit our online store but please keep in mind that it is a work in progress. We are not a seed company, we are not online merchants, and we don't have a 'Creative' department. It is just a couple of us, teaching ourselves how to do it as we go. You can help us by checking out the on-line store on our website and placing an order, so that we can practice these new systems before things get very busy. Your feedback is welcome, but please know that we are working on a new system that we hope to roll out next week. The current system is just a shell that will allow us to practice some curb side and home delivery sales.

- We are setting up contact-free methods to get plants into your hands. Curb side pick up at the greenhouses and home delivery are the two options. We will not be open for regular retail hours; instead we ask that you follow the steps outlined on our website for pick up or delivery.

-We are working with our incredible wholesale partners to deliver plants to their stores. As of now, we will still be delivering plants to our regular customers, and you can find a complete list on our website page called 'where to find out plants.'

-We are setting aside a portion of our production to supply plants to people in need. Please consider a contribution to this effort by purchasing plants for people who would like to garden, but cannot afford to at this time. We will have a way to do that on our website, details coming soon.

Thanks for your understanding and patience as we work out these systems. We are excited to be a part of the solution, and to give more people the opportunity to learn about growing their own food. This has been the core of my business for 23 years, and our entire team is rooting for your gardening success.

Sending you all love and good thoughts,


PS - THANK YOU! You have always been the best customers (who become friends) and we cannot do any of this without you. We are so grateful for our community.

Plants are still growing.

willow in living room.jpg

The willows stopped me in my tracks as I was leaving the greenhouses on Friday. I was on my way home, and looked up just in time to see them just bursting with life, reminding me to pause and catch my breath. I had forgotten about spring. I snipped a few stems to bring home. There is a lot more there, and I welcome you to stop by and clip a stem or two for your own house. It feels good to share. Always having clippers in the car is a handy thing.

There are so many unknowns right now about what a small business like ours is supposed to do. I am a list maker, I love a well organized drawer, I own stacks of graph paper notebooks and I love logic. These are my coping mechanisms so our house has never been so clean, nor our weeks so organized as lately, but of course that does nothing for the looming unknowns.

Here are a few things we are doing at Red Wagon right now:

  • We are growing plants as if all the same gardens will grow that grew in years past. The plant world is not adjusting or stopping. I have heard from a few of you that you would like to know if you can plan your garden as usual, and yes, you can. That is one thing I feel secure about.

  • We are adjusting our calendar of events on a week by week, day by day basis. If you are signed up for a class or seminar, you will receive an email with updates. Video conferencing, very small in person groups with lots of distance, one on one consults on the phone, cancellations and full refunds are the options we are considering.

  • We plan to open on April 17th with normal retail hours. But of course, this might change as we get closer. That evening’s cocktail party will likely be postponed. Again, we will keep you updated.

  • We will offer home delivery of plants once the weather warms up. More details coming soon.

  • We will also offer pre-picked plant orders that can be paid for online or over the phone and picked up in the parking lot. .

  • We will continue to deliver plants to our wholesale partners as long as they are open.

  • As of now, we still hope to hold our April 4th Open House. Since this is a small group, dispersed amongst 4 greenhouses and the outdoors, it seems possible to provide some much needed activity in an airy and clean space full of growing plants. Again, we will adjust as needed as we get closer.

Our amazing crew is taking all of the precautions possible to work safely - more distance, more gloves, tons of hand washing. Because we are in large open spaces, this feels doable, and frankly there is no other place any of us would rather be outside of home. We are offering paid leave should anyone need it, and because of this, I am sending out this little plea: please continue to support small businesses in any way you can. We must rely on each other.

In the meantime, please send us your gardening questions and stories, share photos of your garden, engage with us on social media, and help your neighbors as best you can. In my more fantastical, utopian moments, I dream of us as a current day, virtual land army, with plants, flowers and home grown food helping us get through anything together.

With love,

Julie

P.S. At the top of the driveway, please check out all of Family Cow Farmstand’s offerings. Their store is well stocked with gorgeous local foods in addition to their stellar raw milk. The store is self-serve and open every day. And they will be raising chickens again - shares available for sale now. These are the most delicious chickens I have ever eaten, raised in the nicest way possible by two very smart and wonderful people.

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Rainy Weather Gardening

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The weather lately is really putting a damper on my gardening aspirations. I am gong to make the best of it, and focus on what can actually be done in the cool and wet spring we are having, rather than on what cannot be done.

Paths are newly mulched with cardboard and bark mulch. The row cover tunnel just yielded our first harvest of mache and arugula and was just replanted with chard and broccoli raab. The row cover with hoops is one of the best ways to keep bunnies out…

Paths are newly mulched with cardboard and bark mulch. The row cover tunnel just yielded our first harvest of mache and arugula and was just replanted with chard and broccoli raab. The row cover with hoops is one of the best ways to keep bunnies out without a fence. This is the year of the bunny. We even have a bunny statue to beg off the bunnies and ask them to spare us, but it is not really working. Chamomile and stone edging is looking cute and a new patch of self seeding Marble Arch Mix Salvia will provide us with edible flowers, cut flowers, and dried flowers for a few years.

Here is what I am doing in the garden this week:

Clean up and mulch the path ways.

The weeds come out easily when the ground is wet. It is ok to walk on the pathways to clean them up and mulch them, but I avoid walking on the growing beds or doing much to the soil in the growing beds when the ground is really wet. Doing so would compact the soil and adversely affect the tilth. So, the paths are getting a little extra attention this year and I am mulching with a thick layer of cardboard and some rough bark mulch from Clifford’s lumber. This is not the regular bark mulch from a garden center - it is a byproduct of a local, family owned sawmill just down the road. I would not use it in all applications where mulch is needed, but it is perfect for paths and under trees and shrubs. It is a little too coarse for perennial beds (but that is a whole other topic, because really I don’t think bark mulch belongs in most perennial beds). Once the paths are clearly defined and mulched, the rest of the season will be so much less labor intensive in the garden. Some other mulch ideas for paths are burlap coffee bags (which you can find this Saturday at our New North End Plant Sale at Bibens Ace Hardware on North Ave in Burlington). straw (I recommend the organic straw from Aurora Farms in Charlotte), or a combination of newspapper and leaves. These are all pretty heavy duty recommendations for paths. I would not use a heavy mulch like this right under smaller growing plants because the decomposing organic matter uses up the nitrogen in the soil and starves the plants of the food they need for healthy growth. Mulching paths is satisfying and really pays off in the long run. Plus, you can do it in the rain.

Plant more salad greens and try out some new varieties of cool hardy vegetables, flowers and herbs

I just added two kinds of kohlrabi to the garden, green Swiss chard, some Italian bulb fennel, broccoli raab, dandelion greens and frisée. This weather is perfect for transplanting a few plants here and there into corners of the garden. Again, you want to avoid working your soil when it is wet, but it is entirely all right to loosen up small corners of beds and tuck in a few plants here and there. I just harvested my first planting or arugula and of mache and re-planted right into those spaces. I did not disturb the wet soil too much, and I think they will all be fine.

Make containers

Picking out colorful annuals and cool foliage plants is the perfect antidote to the grey and the wet days we seem to be stuck in lately. I am covering my mom’s balcony with pots of geraniums, agastache, salvia, herbs, petunias, argyranthemum, canna, millet, banana, and heuchera. Heurchera, or coral bells, is an under-used plant in containers, and adds broad texture, interesting contrasting color (so many to choose from), and looks good all season long. We have a dwarf red banana we are growing this year that has a beautiful glossy red tinged leaf and looks really striking with the wispy orange of the Kudos mandarin Agastache and the red veined caramel heuchera. Tuck in a red oak lettuce here and there, and you will have a gorgeous container with edibles, perennial and season long interest that holds up well in rain, cold, heat, and dry. I love helping people make containers and have two more Make and Take classes coming up in June for shade loving containers. There is still room to sign up in both.

Wistfully choose heat loving crops

This weekend, I plan to select the tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, melons, cucumbers I want to grow, but I am just hardening them off for now. I am not planting them in the ground. This means that they will come inside at night if it is below 45F and they will go back out in the day time to feel the sun (wishful thinking?), wind, and rain and get used to real life outside. What I am not doing is planting them in the cold ground. That would just stress them out. They need soil that is 50F or warmer in order to grow well, and stressing them at a young age will weaken them when they are older and diseases start to settle in. Planting heat loving crops in cool weather is just asking for trouble down the road.

Move perennials

They love this weather. If you have an area that once was sun but now is shade, it is a great time of year to move those sun loving plants to a brighter spot, away from the encroaching shadow of shrub and tree. I took advantage of the dry and warm day on Wednesday to clean up a perennial bed and replant with shade loving plants under the shrubs that now cast shade. I used tiarella, pulmonaria, variegated Solomon’s Seal, Jacob’s ladder, and hostas. I love that sun to shade switch that inevitably takes place in a garden, the moving art of it all.

Hopefully, this gives you a good amount to do and scratches the gardening itch just enough. Happy gardening!




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2018 Plant List Preview: Cut Flowers

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Last year was the year of the cut flower program at Red Wagon. Not only did we grow and sell more cut flower varieties than ever before, but we also hosted a 3 part floral design workshop series with flower farmer / florist Nina Foster and had a chance to meet flower growers from Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The fun and beauty continue into 2018 with an expanded offering of varieties that work well for cutting and arranging and crafting. Here is the list. If you are a home gardener, you can make a wish list now for summer dreaming and planning. If you are a commercial grower, feel free to contact us about purchase plants in larger quantities for your commercial operation. The photos below represent only about 1/3 of the plants we grow that are suitable for cut flower use. Most of our perennials and many more annuals and some herbs are also suitable for floral use. And please note that vegetables and berries can make unique and eye catching additions to those sprawling, romantic bouquets that are so in style right now. If you need any suggestions or want to make a special request,  please don't hesitate to let us know. 

Photo gratefully used with permission from Ball Horticultural and Johnny's Selected Seeds. 

 

 

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Peek into the Plants, Week of April 10th, 2017

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We have lots of lovely plants to show off this week! Here is a little show and tell.

Ramblings and a shout out to our neighbors....Late June, Early July 2016

As we transition into summer, the pace changes at the greenhouses and in the garden. The focus is on plant maintenance, fertility, pruning, culling and weeding. We are also busy transplanting at the herb farm and harvesting and selling herbs to local grocery stores and food hubs. We added the herb farm to Red Wagon Plants 3 years ago as a way to keep a few key people hired year round and to bring in revenue and activity during the months when people generally don't do any plant shopping. 

Sam weeding rosemary

Sam weeding rosemary

In the home garden, I have been busy looking for gaps in the perennials and filling in with some colorful annuals wherever I get the chance. I have learned ornamental gardening entirely by trial and error,  approaching it all as a vegetable grower, and some things work and some things don't! But one thing I have really appreciated is that garden mistakes easily turn into opportunities. As one plant gets pulled out for various reasons - not the right amount of light, planted too close to its neighbor, or any other number of oopsies- a gap is created for a new plant. For me this is often an annual flower - something that will give color all season long, will give me time to figure out what perennial to put in, and will be a good friend to its neighbors. Right now, a combination I am loving is Nicotiana langsdorfii with Gomphrena 'Strawberry Fields' and Ratbida columnifera. The Ratbida is a perennial (we have it in 4" pots so it is possible to plant en masse without breaking the bank) and the other two are annuals. I just love how the rust and green and yellow play off of each other and catch the light. 

In the vegetable garden, we are harvesting snap peas, lettuces, escarole, frisée, beets, cucumbers (out of the greenhouse), swiss chard, and lots of herbs. The early plantings of mache, napa cabbage, boc choi, and lettuce have come and gone leaving spaces to fill. In go more beets, spinach, lettuce, and green beans.

In the kitchen, I keep making the same salad dressing over and over again - a crushed clove of garlic in a one pint mason jar, 1/2 cup of red wine vinegar, a hefty teaspoon of dijon mustard, 1/4 tsp salt, a good 2-3 grinds of the pepper mill, and 1/2 cup of sunflower oil. Close tightly, shake like mad. It is perfect for everything. If you like it more or less acidic, just adjust the proportions of oil to vinegar. Olive oil is good here too, but sometimes a more neutral oil like sunflower highlights the flavor of the greens a little more.  See my rave below about the sunflower oil at Family Cow Farmstand, our neighbors on the farm. 

Garden Chores this week:

  • fertilize with Pro-Gro all of the annual flowers to give them a little boost during the heat. Sprinkle a bit around shrubs and perennials that are finished blooming too. 
  • water everything religiously in the mornings
  • weed the vegetable garden and replant as needed
  • throw a handful of Compost Plus in the flowering hanging baskets and other potted plants
  • bring (finally) all the poor and neglected house plants outside for a good shower and leave them on the screened in porch.
  • fertilize the garlic with Pro-Gro (should have been done a few weeks ago, whoops). 
  • hill the potatoes 
  • plant a row of beans
  • transplant beets, spinach, and more lettuce

Public Service Announcement! 

And finally,  I have been meaning to let you all know about our new neighbors! Family Cow Farmstand was purchased in April by Scott Hoffman and Aubrey Schatz. You may have noticed the cows sweetly grazing next to the greenhouses this spring. Please go visit Scott and Aubrey's farm stand! They are selling the cows' delicious raw milk (they do sell out, so consider signing up for a weekly membership), pork from previous Family Cow owners Lindsay and Evan (best pork chops and chorizo ever), veggies and strawberries from Shaky Ground Farm, their own eggs (the hens are pastured out with the cows), sheep's cheese from their friends in Marathon, NY, and their own pastured, organic chicken. And lots of other goodies like sunflower oil, yarn, maple syrup, caramels, etc. Some of you know me personally, and you will know that I can be a little particular about how food is produced and how it tastes (okay, not a little .... a lot). So please hear me clearly when I say that you should absolutely try everything at the Farmstand! The chicken is the best I have EVER had. Yes, EVER. It is huge, with plump, juicy meat and that iconic chicken flavor that is often masked by  poor feed or improper processing. Scott and Aubrey move the birds onto fresh grass every day and use the birds and cows together as a way to manage the grass. The sunflower oil is velvety and perfect for any dressing. The sheep's cheese is some of the best cheese I have had in the this country (the French person in me is being extra emphatic here, my hands are waving around, and I am really begging you to listen)...a blue cheese like a mild Roquefort and a sheep's Tomme that is perfectly aged and has that nutty, sparkly taste and texture unique to the best alpine cheeses. The chickens are available fresh every other Friday or in the freezer anytime. To get a fresh chicken, you have to sign up - just email Aubrey and Scott (familycows@gmail.com) or stop in and talk to them....they are often around and do their evening milking between 5:30 and 7:30.

Pardon the horrible picture, but I just wanted you to see how plump and huge these chickens are from Family Cow Farmstand. Before putting it in the oven, I took out the backbone (just slice down either side of the spine with a sharp knife) and …

Pardon the horrible picture, but I just wanted you to see how plump and huge these chickens are from Family Cow Farmstand. Before putting it in the oven, I took out the backbone (just slice down either side of the spine with a sharp knife) and split the chicken open so that it would cook faster (about 1 hour and 15 minutes) and so that the skin would be super puffed and crispy (it was, yum). I also slathered it in softened butter mixed with finely chopped fresh oregano, salt, pepper, and a little lemon zest. The whole thing got laid on a bed of sweet potatoes and sweet onions.  I roasted it in a super hot oven (450F) for 15 minutes then turned it down to 375F.  Prep time - 10 minutes. While it cooked, I ran some errands, weeded a raised bed and planted a whole tray of annuals. How easy is that? 

One more bit of business: We are starting our summer hours this week.

We will be open every Tuesday through Saturday 8 am to 6 pm. Closed Sundays and Mondays.

It has been a great season, and I hope you have enjoyed your spring and early summer with us. We certainly have loved seeing all of you. We are staying open through August this year with lots of fantastic perennials, veggie and herb plants to replenish the garden, annuals for pops of color, and houseplants and succulents for gift giving and adding to your personal collection. Come visit! 

Focus on Allison!

Allison scouting the greenhouses for pests

Allison scouting the greenhouses for pests

During our 10th anniversary season, we'll feature profiles of members of our amazing Red Wagon team. This week we interviewed Allison Lea, who manages our Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program. 

You’re one of the longest term Red Wagon employees. How did you end up here? What keeps you here?

I started working for Julie when she was farming in Starksboro, and when she started Red Wagon I came along. I love working for Julie. She’s basically family at this point. I watched her daughter get on the  bus to kindergarten, and now she’s in her second year of college!

What keeps me at Red Wagon is that I love plants and I love what I do. I taught myself about integrated pest management (IPM) and have continued to develop that role. It’s an interesting job; I’m very much behind the scenes. It’s looking for very small pests and/or the small signs that the creatures are there, and that they might be getting out of balance. I’m tuning into a different sort of sight. I spend a lot of time by myself, looking through the plants and walking around examining things.

It’s a bit surprising because I’m an English major, not a science person. Well, I say that I’m not a science person, but when I started learning about IPM, I got interested. It’s fun to geek out on pests and their life cycles and their predators and their life cycles. The learning process is never-ending. That surprised me because I’m the kind of person who’d rather lie on the couch and read a novel than study science.

Tell us more about IPM. What is it, and why is it important?

Greenhouses are ideal habitat for pests: you don’t change location from year to year, you’re providing the ideal climate and growing all these succulent little plants. All of Red Wagon’s greenhouses are certified organic, which means that we don’t spray chemicals to keep pests in check. There are OMRI-approved sprays [meaning they are acceptable for certified organic production], but not using sprays is better for plants and everybody, even the organic sprays. 

Instead, every week I scout the greenhouses for pests, mainly aphids and thrips. These pests suck the plants’ sap, so I’m looking out for plants with puckered or shriveled leaves, or that look yellowed and droopy – really, any plants that just don’t look happy. It’s kind of a second sight.

I want to make sure that things aren’t getting out of a control. My goal is to strike a balance, so I’ll order beneficial insects like parasites that lay eggs inside of an aphid or predators that will eat an aphid entirely.

Is IPM applicable to home gardens or more relevant to commercial growers?

I’m not out to eradicate pests; I think you need balance. When you garden outside, there is just more natural balance. A greenhouse is an environment that creates potential imbalances. Outdoors, aphids kind of take care of themselves. In my own garden, I know that there are certain plants every year that are going to get aphids – I just notice it, I don’t necessarily manage it. My yarrow, my heliopsis inevitably get covered with aphids. I wipe them off and move on. 

What are your favorite Red Wagon plants?

I love our herbs! I love how aromatic they are. And I love the vegetables – for example, brassicas are hearty, perky, and they always look good, especially this time of year when the more sensitive plants aren’t quite as happy. The brassicas are strong, almost utilitarian. I like them for their strength.

What's your home garden like?

I like growing herbs. Things like sage, thyme and oregano smell and look good. I really like lavender and rosemary, which I bring inside in the winter. I also like growing herbs that attract bees. I have motherwort in my yard, which a lot of people might not like because it spreads, but the bees like it. I also grow medicinal herbs: elecampane, calendula, angelica. I have a lot of fruit trees, thanks to my partner. I’m not that meticulous. I’m not a Martha Stewart gardener by any means!

 Interview has been edited and condensed.  

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Cold Season Gardening

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As soon as the ground thaws, and dries out, I will be ready to plant. After chomping at the bit through this long, never ending winter, I long to get my hands in cool dirt and ceremoniously plant the first seedlings. A cold frame helps to rush the job along, and I can't wait to open ours up, fluff up the tired soil, add some compost and amendments, and dig in. My cold season garden is pretty predictable each year. I crave certain things, stick to those, eat only that the entire period of time it is ready, and then usually it is out of mind the rest of the year. Asparagus for example. It is pretty much a part of every meal during asparagus season, and then I never think about it the other 47 weeks of the year.  And it is ready before many other things, so why not give it the star treatment it deserves?  It takes up a good chunk of my garden for a reason....homegrown asparagus absolutely cannot compare to what you buy in the store.  There are so many delicate flavors in asparagus that are lost after any period of refrigeration, and I greedily await that first harvest each year.

And then there is bok choi. For some reason, I don't think about this vegetable too much 11 months out of the year,  but it is so cold hardy and so quick to grow, that earliest spring is the only logical time to insert it into the garden and into our kitchen. We grow 4 kinds of boc choi to give our gardens a real array of size, color, and harvest time. Violetta is quick to grow to baby size, and has shiny, dark purple leaves with pale purple and white stems. It is gorgeous and delicate and ready in just 3 weeks from the time I stick it in the ground.  Shanghai Baby Bok Choi is another quick and tiny one, but the palest green, with the most tender flesh. Red Choi is a medium sized boc choi with a more mustard like flavor, and the regular boc choi we grow, Joi Choi, grows up to be huge, heavy, and gorgeous (see below). These are all delicious chopped up and stir fried with ginger, hot pepper flakes, and garlic;  or thinly slivered and eaten raw as a salad or slaw or dropped into a warm bowl of broth.

Scallions are another cold hardy, quick to grow vegetable that makes it into all my early gardens. They can be planted in little clumps in tight spaces and harvested over a long period of time. I harvest them three or four at a time and leave the rest to grow for a later picking or two.

Next up are the salad greens, bitter greens and mustards. All of these can take multiple frosts and are happy to go into the garden long before the others.

In this picture from last year, we have Tokyo Bekana mustard in the bottom left corner. It is a light green, tender mustard delicious steamed or eaten raw. I especially like it in soups and broths with soba noodles and tofu. In the center is my favorite bitter green, Frisée ('Tres Fine Maraîchère") which I love to eat with a mustardy, garlicky vinaigrette. Behind that is some arugula which really should be planted multiple times throughout the season (just rip out the old plants and sow new seeds or seedlings). In the top right corner is a little bit of bulb fennel Zefa Fino poking into the frame. This is another great option for for those of us needing cold hardy and interesting garden plants. In the kitchen, I simply slice up the bulbs into long, thick wedges and roast in a 400F oven with olive oil, herbs and seas salt. And the bottom right corner is the soldier of the spring garden: Natacha escarole. This chicory relative is huge, easy to grow, and equally perfect cooked in a braise or sautéed or eaten raw in a salad, again with that garlicky Dijon vinaigrette. Escarole withstands multiple hard frosts, grows quickly to a 3 pound head, and is frankly one of the better values in the garden. A small to medium escarole in the grocery store can cost close to $4. And from one 4 pack, you can easily have twelve times the yield for about the same amount of money.

Here we have Lily sampling a bit of Lacinato kale. also known as dinosaur kale, Tuscan kale, or cavolo negro. We love it for its nutty flavor and the fact that a few plants stuck in the ground in April will produce until December. Again, a pretty good value! In front of the kale is more boc choi, Red Choi. And in front of that is ruby red chard. Chard is the least cold tolerant of all these greens, but it can take a few light frosts. The others can survive a few dips even into the 20's and come out fine.

From seed, I like to start radishes and spinach and peas, because really, who can resist this sight:

Get ready, set, go. Spring is coming, and we want to help you get ready. And soon, we will be looking at this:

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Herb Thoughts

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Herb garden planning is not a lot of work, but here are some thoughts I have put together on the topic. Herbs are easy to grow for the most part, but they are a big category of plants (we grow 100 varieties of herbs) and it helps to break them down and organize them into categories. This will help any gardener plant the right plant in the right place and give it the preferred amount of water, sunlight, food, and water.

Why grow herbs? For flavor, fragrance, and beauty - it is the easiest way to improve the flavor of what you cook. It is also one of the easiest ways to have a container garden on your porch or deck.  Herb gardening is intimate - you get close to the plants, smell them, taste them, see them respond to regular clippings. They are a perfect way to better understand plant physiology and the best short cut to great food made with little effort.

Propagation: Plants vs. Seeds

All herbs can be planted from plants, and some can be planted directly into the ground as seeds. The herbs that you can seed directly in the ground and expect great results are: cilantro, dill,  and chamomile. Everything else will do much better if you start the seeds in containers in a sheltered environment. You can start your own herb transplants easily if you have grow lights and a heat mat. Many herbs take a long time to germinate and many herbs are propagated only from cuttings. Making your own rooted cuttings is possible too, but that takes a little more of a sophisticated set up with misters, rooting hormone of some sort, and humidity domes. For those herbs, it is generally easier to purchase the plants.

Herbs from Seed:

  • Parsley
  • Chives
  • Cilantro
  • Dill
  • Chamomile
  • Savory (winter and summer)
  • Marjoram
  • Basil (all kinds)
  • Common Mint
  • Sage
  • Catnip
  • Chervil
  • Oregano (basic varieties)
  • Thyme (basic varieties)
  • Shiso
  • Sorrel
  • Lovage
  • Lemon Balm
  • Fennel
  • Salad Burnet

Herbs from Cuttings:

  • Rosemary
  • Lavender
  • Mints that are true to type (spearmint, peppermint, pineapple mint, etc)
  • Tarragon
  • Specialty Thymes (lemon, variegated, silver, etc)
  • Specialty Oregano (golden, ‘Hot and Spicy’, variegated, etc)
  • Specialty Sage (purple, tricolor, golden, etc)

Containers vs. in the Ground

Some plants love to be planted in the ground and others would prefer to be in pots.  Generally speaking, the herbs that like it dry and warm will prefer to be in a clay pot that breathes like Italian terra cotta. Plants that like it wet and cool might prefer to be in the ground, but they can also be grown in pots if the right conditions are given (more watering, a glazed or plastic pot, heavier potting soil, a little shade).

Herbs that like to grow easily in the ground in Vermont:

Cilantro, Dill, Parsley, Rosemary, Savory, and Chervil

Herbs that prefer to be in containers in Vermont: EVERYTHING ELSE!

This does not mean that you cannot grow herbs in the ground, it just means that in containers, it can be a little easier.

Some herbs do really well as tiny shoots for micro-greens: chervil, dill, cilantro, basil, fennel are our favorites.  And they are easy to grow indoors year round – just pat down some moist potting soil in a shallow container (only need 2” or so of soil) with holes in the bottom, press in the seeds, cover very lightly with a thin layer of soil, and keep moist. When the first set of true leaves begin to emerge, they are ready to eat. You can also grow pea shoots and sunflower sprouts this way. A south facing, sunny window is sufficient.

You can bring in potted herbs in the fall and keep them in a sunny window for use during the winter. The herbs that do best with this treatment: sage, parsley, rosemary, thyme, and savory. Basil can be brought in as well, but it won’t be terribly happy unless you have grow lights for it.  If you had some of these herbs planted in the ground, you can dig them up and slowly acclimate them to being in a pot and being indoors.

Herbs can be dried or frozen or infused in vinegar or simple syrup for year round use. Pesto or herb pastes made with oil or water can be frozen in small containers.  Drying is very simple or very elaborate – you choose! A dehydrator can be used, and the leaves can be stripped off of the stems once dried and stored in jars in a dark place. Or you can go the simple route and just harvest whole branches of the woody herbs such as thyme, oregano, rosemary, sage, and winter savory. Place the branches in woven baskets and keep in a dark, well-ventilated space. They will dry just fine on their own, and you can keep them covered with paper bags or kitchen linens and use as needed.

Related Upcoming Events

Cooking with Herbs with Molly Stevens and Julie Rubaud – a class and dinner.

South End Kitchen, Burlington, Vermont

March 19th.,  6pm

Red Wagon Plants pre-season Open House

April 4th 10 am to 3 pm. Tour the greenhouses and see behind the scenes.

Herbal Cocktail Party with Caledonia Spirits

April 17th, Red Wagon Plants 6 pm to 9 pm

Help us kick off our season with a bang!

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Heat of Summer Garden Watering Tips

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2014 has been a fabulous garden season, don't you think? Once we got over that initial cold period - a.k.a. November through April - it seems like we have had abundant sunshine and weekly rains. Moving towards August, we are seeing some drier weather in the Champlain Valley and needing to take a few precautions to make sure that plants stay healthy.  Whenever customers ask me a question about watering, I always have to stop myself from giving them a 45 minute lecture! Watering is something I do for hours a day, every day. I think about watering probably more than any other single task in our greenhouse business. It is a meditative and lovely way to spend part of each morning, and it is the best way I know to commune with plants, to get to know them, to check on them and see what else they might need in order to thrive. I will spare you the 45 minute lecture, and instead give you a few tips that will make your plants healthy and will save you time every time you water.

1. Mulch - whenever you can, lay down some old hay, straw, burlap bags, wet cardboard, newspapers or bark mulch around your plants. This will not only help keep weeds down, but it will also help keep moisture near the root zone.

2. When you water, aim the stream of water under the plant's foliage. Getting leaves wet is not the goal of watering...getting the roots drenched is what you are going for. I know this seems obvious, but so many people just water the top part of the plants and don't actually get the soil wet. It takes a lot of water right at the base of the plants to actually soak the soil. If you waste all the water on the leafy part of the plant, it sheds off, with the leaves acting like an umbrella and keeping the root zone dry. Not exactly efficient. Get the hose nozzle or tip of the watering can under all that foliage and you will be giving the plants what they want and where they want it.

3. Use a good nozzle on the end of your hose. We recommend this style:

They are made by Dramm and can be found locally at garden centers and on-line here. These nozzles are great for pots, window boxes, raised beds and small gardens. They are gentle enough so that soil doesn't wash away, but allow enough volume of water to flow out so that you don't have to wait too long for the ground to be saturated.  If you have a larger garden, consider investing in soaker hoses or even an over head sprinkler to save time. Overhead sprinklers do get the leaves wet, but they are cheap, can be moved easily, and can water a large area in a relatively small amount of time. If you have long rows and a garden that is organized in straight lines, you can invest in drip irrigation, like what professional growers use. You will need a pressure regulator and a filter with it, but most supplier are happy to help you put together a simple system. We recommend Drip Works - they do a great job at explaining drip irrigation systems and are committed to helping gardeners save water and time.

4. Ideally, keep the foliage dry and water in the mornings. This will allow the foliage to dry out before evening falls. Wet foliage on warm nights is an invitation to fungal diseases. Powdery mildew and other assorted pathogens love those conditions. It is an old wives tale that watering mid-day will burn the plants. In 20 years of farming and owning a greenhouse business, I have never seen a plant burned by water. I am not sure what that would even look like! I have seen all kinds of diseases sprout up literally over night from damp leaves in warm, dark, humid conditions.

5. If you water with a watering can, take that rosette off! The stream of water, uninterrupted by all those little holes, will make watering the base of the plant much easier. The only time you need that rosette is when you are germinating seeds and don't want a stream of water to wash away all those seeds.

6. If you have plants in containers, water them every single day in hot, dry weather. If they dry out too much, it is very hard to re-hydrate them. Also, keep them deadheaded and fertilized and they will cope much more easily with the heat. If you are going away for a few days, place each container in a pan or dish and add an inch or two of water so that they do not dry out (but only for a couple of days - they will drown if watered like that every day).  And please don't be stingy with the water - the averaage 10" to 12" hanging basket needs about 1/2 to 1 gallon of water per day during these hot dry days. That is a lot of water!

Overall, I love this time in the gardening season. The hot weather crops like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and corn are ready but we still have some nice spring crops like peas, scallions, and lettuces.  Watering can be relaxing, and it can provide you with some nice bonding time with your plants. Let us know if you have any questions.

A Note on the Art of Making Signs

I have made hundreds of signs. Signs for plants, called benchcards, that tell you how to care for the plants and the myriad special characteristics they have. Attributes signs, directional signs, open and closed signs, A-frame signs, hand-painted and computer generated. Together they make up a jumble of information, but individually they are meaningful, making each species or cultivar stand out from its neighbors. Each benchcard is like a glimpse into the world of that variety...you walk up, peer in, and for a moment your imagination builds a picture of how that plant will look or smell or taste in your own world. The signs turn a greenhouse full of plants into a sort of museum, where each variety is given its own little spotlight in which to shine. Whenever I make signs I think of my Grandfather. He was a skilled painter, mainly watercolors; an interpreter of landscapes and streetscapes from vibrant African villages to the curve of a beach in the Bahamas. He could convey the essence of a place with such minimalism, a tiny brush mark here, a bit of white left showing somewhere else. When he died we held an art show in lieu of a memorial, which entailed going through all of his work and deciding what to display. To our amazement, we found that many pieces had a painting on both sides of the paper! So little was his regard for his own work that he could not be bothered with finding a fresh sheet. And, not surprisingly, he never sold many of his paintings. On the other hand, he was commissioned for many pieces - illustrations for children's books, advertisements, and - you guessed it - signs. It is easy to take commercial artwork for granted, but I don't think his ever was, such was the level of cleverness, creativity, and precision apparent in each of his pieces. While his signs had the clear mark of a trained and talented artist, mine have only a shadow of that mark. But they are made with love, with his memory cherished in my mind, and I hope they bring you closer to the plants in the same way they keep me close to him.

~ Sophia

 

 

Coming Home

Earlier this week, I went away for a total of 48 hours. This is astounding for a couple of reasons. Not only because it is May, and who do I think I am going away for a whole two days while trying to manage a greenhouse business. No, it's astounding because of the way that I came home.  I landed. I arrived. No stress, no jumping into a chaos of activity, no guilt at being gone, no extra work piled up. I came home to a busy crew doing everything well and calmly. I came home to happy customers loading up on plants while wearing big smiles. I came home to a feeling that all is right in my little world.  Two days off in May is hard to pull off in this line of work, but what helped me so much was that everyone who works here knew what to do, they made smart decisions and I am sure they handled problems with grace.  So, thank you, crew.

I also came home to a garden. I love my garden. The moments in the garden are rare and precious for me in May, but the first thing I did when I got out of the car, was go up to the large garden above the barn and finished planting a bed of strawberries. I harvested an armful of asparagus, collected the 4 eggs the hens had laid, picked a handful of chervil and flat full of mache, and I got to work making  dinner. I looked at my haul, as the sun was setting and felt embraced by the bounty.

We ate late. We ate well.

Egg Salad in Spring

Makes enough for dinner for 3 and leftovers for everyone's lunches. 

  • Hard boil 8 to 10 eggs.  (My method is to put cold eggs and cold water in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil, covered with a lid. Let it boil one minute. Turn off the heat, but leave the pan on the burner. Set the timer for 8 minutes. Drain and run under cold water for 5 minutes.)
  • Finely chop a handful of herbs - I used chervil and chives.
  • Finely chop a rib or two of celery - I would have used lovage had it been big enough.
  • Finely chop half a shallot or 3 scallions
  • Peel the eggs and place in a shallow bowl. Cut them up with a couple of knives or a pastry cutter.
  • Add all the other ingredients.
  • Add enough home made mayo to moisten the whole thing.
  • Stir gently.
  • Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Homemade Mayonnaise

Add to the blender:

  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • a dash of cayenne
  • 1/4 tsp of salt
  • 1 tsp of Dijon mustard or 1/2 tsp dry English mustard
  • Blend for a few seconds and then very slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup of olive oil, grape seed oil, or a blend of the two.  Drizzle it in a very thin stream while the blender is whirring around though the top of the blender cover. Or you can use a food processor and drizzle it in through the feeder tube. Or you can do it by hand in a bowl, with a whisk. If you do that, try to anchor the bowl by wrapping a damp towel around the base. Or get someone to help you with another set of hands to hold the bowl, or beat the eggs, or do the drizzling. Beat or blend or process until it starts to thicken up.
  • Taste for salt and add a little pepper. If it is too thin, you can add more oil, still adding it in very slowly while blending.
  • You can add fresh herbs to the mayo, a little crushed raw garlic, a little chopped poached or roasted garlic (mellower flavor), anchovies, spices, roasted peppers etc. (for cleanest flavors add just one of these other ingredients, not a combination.)

We ate this lovely egg salad with toasted Pain de Mie (or Pullman Bread) from Scratch Baking Company in South Portland, ME and the asparagus was steamed and cooled, served on the side, splashed with some lemon juice.

Mache Salad

Mache is also know as corn lettuce. It is a cold hardy green that germinates only in cool temperatures. We grow it in flats in the greenhouse in the winter and gorge on it from late March to late May. It is a sturdy green with a nutty flavor, and it is eaten as a whole plant, washed well under running water, and dressed lightly with hazelnut or walnut oil and a good sea salt - fleur de sel, Maldon, or sel gris. The small plants have a really interesting texture and a rich flavor that is perfect this time of year when one craves green and fresh.

To the garden, the hens, and the amazing crew at Red Wagon Plants, thanks. You make life pretty, tasty, and lovely.

-Julie

 

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This Week in Photos: Open House 2013

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We are so grateful to everyone who came out last weekend to enjoy the flowers, sunshine and fresh air inside our greenhouses. It was one of those glorious days that gave us confidence in the return of spring and reminded us how much everyone (not just us) is looking forward to it! In case you missed it, here are a few glimpses from our moment in the sun...

There's more to come! Opening day (April 19th) is right around the corner....

~ Sophia

January Dreaming Photo Contest

It's time to think spring and what better way than to share pictures of our gardens? We think all garden photos deserve to win, so this is not a contest in the traditional sense since we will select the winner randomly on Monday, January 31. The prize? A $20 gift certificate to be redeemed at our Hinesburg greenhouses. Send your pics to us via email (julieATredwagonplants.com) or post to our facebook page. We will publish all the photos on our website and create an album on Facebook. What could be more inspiring than thinking about what is under the snow, patiently waiting to push through. Keep warm and dream on!