Friday, June 1, 2012

Hutchinson Farm News Vol. 16, No. 5

A Study in Scarlet - Berry Update #1

As I write this, we're enjoying a rainy day (the fields have been so dry we'll enjoy any rain, even though it's on a market day). This gives us a chance to catch up on my long list of rainy day jobs (including this newsletter), and gives the strawberries a much needed drink!

The strawberries are coming along nicely, and we will probably have a few for sale this weekend (June 2-3), lots more by next weekend. Pick-your-own is a "maybe" for next weekend, I'll send out another quick email when we know for certain.

Flower Update
You may look at our greenhouses and say, 'wow, they're mostly empty, you've sold a lot!' I look at the greenhouses and say, 'they're too full!' Either way, there is still  a good selection of most, but not all flowers. They are a good size now -perfect for an instant garden!


Scarlet Red
Once upon a time, this was the classic red geranium colour. We probably sold more red geraniums than all our other flowers put together. Not this year! Any red with a touch of orange is now the slowest selling colour, and not just in geraniums: scarlet red verbena, Red Sunpatiens, impatiens, scarlet calibracoa (aka Million Bells) -all selling slowly. 

First Berry
The photo is from a few days ago, I'm not going out into the patch until it dries!


Three Cool Herbs
We've got a great selection of herbs including:

Chervil: (top pic) One of the French 'Fines Herbs', we've never actually cooked with it, has anyone tried it?

Aristotle Basil: (right) This dwarf fine leaved strain is tres superbe! Same great flavour as the regular stuff, and it's tight compact shape is beautiful in the garden or containers.

Purple Sage: (lower left) The purple colour looks great in the garden, plus it is more compact than the regular green sage that can be a bit leggy.

Rhubarb Our rhubarb is finally ready. It came up early, but it just sat there at the "too-small-to-pick" stage, waiting for a drink. This means we will have lots of rhubarb for the strawberry season. Some years, rhubarb is practically over by the time strawberries start!

If it stops raining, we'll do our best to have a few berries this weekend to go along with our great selection of flowers, planters, and hanging baskets.  One last reminder: Milton Farmers Market is cancelled Sat June 2nd thanks to the Downtown Business Improvement Association.

Bye for now,    

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