A Familiar Face Helps at My Bedford, New York Farm
During this time of year, the outdoor gardens at my Bedford, New York farm are pretty bare, but there’s lots of work happening in the greenhouses to prepare for the growing season ahead. And, over the next several weeks, we have an extra set of hands helping out.
Wendy Norling is one of my gardeners at Skylands, my beloved home in Maine. Wendy tends the gardens and all the many container plants during the warmer months. This winter, she thought it would be fun to spend some time in New York and to help with our indoor gardening chores - we're all so delighted to have her here.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Here I am with some of my Skylands team – Rick, Mike, and Wendy. This photo was taken a couple years ago during Memorial Day Weekend when I traditionally go up to Skylands to plant all the large stone containers on my terrace.
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- Wendy works at Skylands during the spring and summer months. Here she is planting sunflowers in my garden.
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- And here she is helping to gather flowers for an arrangement before one of my large entertaining events.
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- This winter, Wendy is spending several weeks in Bedford transplanting hundreds of growing flower seedlings. It’s a great way to learn about my farm and how its growing season differs from the one up in Maine.
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- These seedlings were planted from seed over the last few weeks. As they germinate and begin to mature, it’s important to check their development, so they continue to thrive. Regardless of how perfect seeds may appear, germination is never guaranteed, so multiple seeds are always planted in each seed starting tray cell. This provides a better chance at least one in each cell will take root.
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- Most of the seedlings start off in our commercial-size Urban Cultivator. The automated system provides a self-contained growing environment with everything the plants need to thrive.
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- The seed trays sit over reservoirs and are automatically watered from the back of the unit. The Urban Cultivator Commercial model uses only about 32-gallons of water a week to refill and clean the reservoir.
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- Inside the Urban Cultivator, each of the trays receives about 18-hours of light a day. The machine has pre-set growing conditions, but users can also custom program the cultivator to fit specific needs.
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- Here is a tray of heliotrope. Heliotrope, or Heliotropium arborescens, is a sweetly scented flower loaded with little purple blossoms that grows as an annual or perennial, depending upon location.
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- Wendy is working on a tray of rosemary. When the seedlings are a couple inches tall and have reached their “true leaf” stage, which is when each seedling has sprouted a second set of leaves, it’s time for a process called selective thinning. Selective thinning prevents overcrowding, so seedlings don’t have competition for soil nutrients or room to grow.
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- When thinning, Wendy carefully inspects the seedlings and determines the strongest ones. She looks for fleshy leaves, upright stems, and center positioning in the space. The smaller, weaker, more spindly looking seedlings are removed, leaving only the stronger ones to mature. These stronger specimens will be transplanted into larger cells.
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- These tools are great for transplanting seedlings. The tool on the right is a pair of tweezers. The one on the left is from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. It’s called a widger. It has a convex stainless steel blade that delicately separates the tiny plants.
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- A good quality organic mix designed for seedlings will be fast draining and light. These mixes are formulated to encourage strong, healthy growth in new plants.
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- Wendy fills a larger celled tray with the appropriate potting mix for the growing seedlings.
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- Wendy then carefully loosens the soil around the seedling with the widger and lifts the seedling. The widger also helps to avoid damage to the plant’s leaves or roots.
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- Wendy places the seedling in the cell and gently firms up the surrounding soil. She avoids handling the seedling by its tender stems, which can bruise easily. The stronger plants now have more room to grow before getting transplanted into larger pots or into the ground.
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- Wendy does the same for all the rosemary seedlings in this tray.
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- The purpose of transplanting is to provide enough room – overcrowding can stress the sprouts.
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- Once the seedlings are transplanted, the marker is moved to the larger tray so developing plants are always well-identified.
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- And then Wendy moves them to the smaller house next door where they can be closely monitored.
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- Finally, Wendy gives the tray a good drink of water.
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- Wendy has already transplanted these foxgloves. Foxglove, Digitalis, is an attractive plant that grows throughout the United States. It grows in the wild and is cultivated in private gardens for its beauty. Its bell-shaped flowers are usually bright purple but can sometimes be white, cream yellow, pink, or rose and generally bloom in the spring.
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- Wendy has also transplanted sage, delphiniums, carnations, and snapdragons. Next on her list – repotting the multiple Chinese money plants, Pilea peperomioides. It’s a busy time, but Wendy is enjoying every minute. Thanks for all the help, Wendy. What indoor gardening tasks are you up to this weekend? Share them in the comments section below.
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