Bloom Where You're Planted Farm

Yesterday was a milestone for us -- the first planting of the year!  We started a new garden spot out near our chicken house, and planted two types of tomatoes and sweet red peppers.  We also planted a couple rows of the broom corn seed that I bought last year but couldn't find a spot to plant.  I'm excited about the broom corn and think it will be a nice addition to the fall decorations we sell at the pumpkin patch.

In the same garden we planted a row of Big Moon (giant) pumpkins and a row of my favorite Jack-O-Lantern-sized variety.  The Big Moon need 120 days to grow, so need to be planted early in order to be ready by pumpkin patch time.  We haven't had the best of luck with these the past couple of years.  Hopefully with a new garden spot where we can watch more carefully for bugs and other problems we'll get some this season.  The Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins only need 95 days but we're planting early in hopes of having some ready to enter at the Cass County Fair in August.

In the raised bed in our gourd garden area we planted strawberries.  We've been planning to do this for the past couple of years and haven't succeeded until now.  This long, warm Spring really has been helpful, giving us extra time to get things done before the rollercoaster of pumpkin planting and tending (AKA weeding) begins.

As Terry said last night, after we came in with the season's first dirt-filled socks and shoes and pant knees needing "Shout" to remove the dirt stains,  "And it begins...".  But, these are the times we wait for all year long and we always look forward with hope for a good crop we can share with all our wonderful customers this fall!