Plants on Sale - Farm location only

Perennial plants 20% off for .......not sure how long, at least a week. We never close them out for 50% off. We are a plant farm so we just re-plant them at the end of the season, instead of having to throw them out, what a waste! We got 1.5" of rain during the storm last night. I guess it was raining in Mankato this morning, but not here yet. We will be open today, gotta load the truck!

Pea pods, sugar snaps, lettuce, spinach,broccoli all are at the farm waiting to be on your dinner plate!

Now blooming, coreopsis 'Cutting Gold.' Blooms all summer 30-36".

Tradescantia 'Concord Grape' now in bloom. Small purple flowers on grassy plant 18".

Echinacea Bravado, just starting it's bloom time. Butterfly magnets!

Rhubarb Cake Recipe

Hey friends,
So many of you at the Farm Tour last week loved my mom's rhubarb cake, so she wanted me to post the secret recipe. =)
You can use rhubarb all season, it does not get 'poisionous' after the 4th of July. Or maybe you never heard that 'old man's tale!'

Rhubarb Cake
Mix well together:
1 & 1/2 C. brown sugar
1/2 room temp. butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

then add 1 C. buttermilk or soured milk
(the acid in the sour/butter milk activates the soda, so must use.
you can 'sour' milk by placing 1 T. vinegar or lemon juice in a one cup measure,
then fill with milk to make 1 cup, let set a minute.)

Stir together, then add to the sugar mix:
2 C. flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Mix until well blended, about 2 min.
then fold in with spoon or spatula, 3 Cups chopped rhubarb
pour into greased 13x9 cake pan.
mix and sprinkle on top: 1/3 C. sugar & 1-2 t. cinnamon
then bake 35-40 min. at 350.
Awesome w/whipped cream or ice cream, thanks mom!

Joan's Pots & Stepping Stones

My sister Joan has a wide array of painted pots and stepping stones for the garden for sale at the field. She takes great pride in her work and is so excited when someone purchases one of the items she makes. They are even signed!

Took this photo last week of our hoophouse tomatoes. They are doing wonderfully. Getting loaded with tomatoes, definately picking before late August (last year). Remember, to lessen your chance of blights: water at ground level, not the foliage. Also, water no more than twice a week once established, seldom and deeply, not daily! Plants need water more often the first week or two, after that they should be established. One to two inches of water per week including rain is perfect. Towards the 2" side when flowering and fruiting.
Extra watering can cause fruit to split, fruit to taste watered down, more disease issues.

YES, botanically speaking tomatoes are the 'fruit' of the plant, so are cucumbers, squashes, pumpkins, peppers etc. Now, from a culinary standpoint they are catagorized differently.

Joy, Rapture...it's the SUN I see

Finally! Open today from 10-6, stop and shop our great perennial selection. As long as you can 'work' the soil, anytime is the right time for planting perennials. So that puts the time frame safely into October. You should stop dividing plants by Aug., but can move entire plants (w/o dividing) into Sept., if you can keep the entire rootball in tact. A few of our daylily beauties below that are potted and ready to go home w/you.
Vanilla Puff, huge number of big blooms on this gem.
Spellbinder, very stunning gold color.

South Seas, very corally.

Open today at 10

Is it too early to predict we can open today at 10? I mean, will it pouring rain by then? WCCO says storms likely this afternoon. I can't believe it! We try to our best to be open in the rain as much as possible. But when it becomes too wet and muddy, it's just not safe to be walking around....it's not like walking in a yard after the rain...it's not as firm.

Closed for today

Went out to the field, and the parking lot is nearly under water. You would need a pair of stilts to shop our plants today. We got another 4/10's so far since last night. STOP!!!

Turn off the rain faceut!

So much rain! Again, and again! Not sure if we will open today, we will see what it is doing at 10 am., looks like a large system of rain cruisin over us. So with all the moisture brings garden issues:

The iris are likely to get leaf spot. Just what it is...spots on the leaves. Brought on by wet conditions like we have had with no drying time or sun shine. Does not kill the plant, but can look unslighty. After the sun shines again, access the damage and you can trim some of the leaves off, but no more than 50%.

Early Blight on Tomato: Wet conditions are prime for early/late blight which is an umbrella term that covers many viruses and diseases. This is when proper spacing for air flow is essential to try to keep plants dry. Many issues are air borne/water borne and move more easily with moist air.

Sunday Open 11-4

One of our 'handful bouquets' for sale today at the farm site, Cty rd 21., St. Peter

Stop by and shop our hardy perennials. Many Asiatic Lilies bursting at the seams. The ground is a little soft from the rain, but not too bad!