3965 Waverly Rd                                                        Owego, NY 13827                                687-2874

WHAT'S NEW FOR 2009?

Raised Bed Culture

Pictured is our new bed shaper. This will create beds about 3 feet wide and 4 to 6’’ deep. This makes for a growing environment of looser soil, and since the soil is raised, the soil warms up earlier in the spring. The extra heat that accumulates in the soil plus the looser soil will allow the plants to grow faster and better.

We will be using this technique on the following crops: early sweet corn, field tomatoes and peppers, sweet onions, and day neutral strawberries. Black plastic to control weeds and drip lines for irrigation will be put down as the beds are being made. Biodegradable black plastic will be used for sweet onions, tomatoes, and peppers. A non-degradable black plastic will be used on the day neutral strawberries. We will also be making raised beds to plant our late carrots and beets. We intend to have enough for storage.

The picture below shows how our day neutral strawberries will look at fruiting.

Asparagus

Starting in late May we will have fresh asparagus for sale at the house and perhaps u-pick.

Strawberries

This year we will have fresh strawberries from early June to early November. The day neutral strawberries should start producing the early part of July.

High tunnel Raspberries

This year we will be planting fall producing raspberries in a 30’x88’ foot high tunnel right by the fruit stand. This will allow us to have beautiful red and black raspberries to sell at our stand and perhaps u-pick from August right through to November.

Colorful potatoes

This year along with our regular potatoes, we will have potatoes that have purple skin and flesh and red skin and flesh. These are not only colorful, but have a much higher level of antioxidants. They look and taste real good in a stew or in a salad.

We will be increasing our acreage of legume hay. Legumes produces nitrogen as it grows and then leaves it in the soil. The following crops then can utilize the nitrogen. This is a cost saving and provides a natural form of nitrogen for succeeding crops to use.

Spring lambing has started. We have 36 ewes to lamb, they look in good shape, we expect a lot of twins and triplets.