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Community Corner

Poor Man's Fertilizer Leads to Late but Bountiful Spring

Winter may be over, but late spring means area farms see a slight delay in the growing season.

No matter what the groundhog said, spring will be a late bloomer this year.

Though winter finally released its harsh grip, area farmers and greenhouse operators expect it to take another couple of weeks until they can really get outside and begin work. That means Community Sponsored Agriculture programs (CSAs), home gardens, and farmers' markets might be slightly delayed. But when everything does bloom they do expect it to be a bountiful season.

“At this point I’m noticing that it’s going to be a late spring. As a grower, I would prefer to see a late spring, because an early spring tends to kill things,” said Randy Brown of Uncle Buck’s in New Canaan.

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According to the Connecticut Agriculture Department this was one of the fiercest winters to affect the Northeast in years. Snow piled up faster than plows could remove it; ice damaged many trees, bushes and farm buildings. And cold snaps interspersed with a few warmer than average days disturbed sap flows.

“It was a harsh winter and it did a lot of damage to greenhouses and other structures,” said Patti Popp of Easton’s Sport Hill Farm. “Thankfully we had no damage. For me, the only thing is I am behind in getting things outside.”

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Popp said she’s so far only been able to turn over the soil in a few raised beds. For the most part she’s been nurturing plantings inside the farm’s greenhouse. But considering that a month ago she questioned whether the snow would ever melt, that’s not so bad.

“Thankfully it’s drying out. And we’re riding the wave until we can get outside,” Popp said, adding that CSAs and others might be delayed a bit.

Anyone eager to get summer vegetables in the ground ought to wait as well, she said.

“The Mother’s Day rule doesn’t apply anymore. We had frost around May 17 last year,” Popp said. There's an adage that people shouldn't plant anything new until Mother's Day, the second Monday in May. But Popp said fickle weather means that rule doesn't hold much bearing.

Yet like Brown, Popp said the snow really did act as winter’s blanket.

“Snow is a poor man’s fertilizer,” Popp said. “My spinach, leeks, and carrots that I grow for my own consumption over wintered. And people who planted garlic should have no problem.”

Aside from the weight of the snow and ice the general affect on plants is not bad, said Brown, a flower and vegetable grower. If anything, that much snow tends to insulate things in the ground, such as bulbs and root vegetables. So much so that tender perennials might come back.

“My perennial flowers, my rudbeckia wintered over and even one or two snap dragons might come back,” Brown said.

But its still wet outside from all the snow and rain that followed. And so a little patience is required until impatiens and other flowers can go in the ground.

“I can’t really get outside and get any work done yet. It was very wet for a while because it was so mucky,” Brown said. “But it’s always good to start that way. You can’t ask for much more than that, everything should be replenished.”

Aside from the snow and ice, the cycle of rain is still causing minor problems. Still, at Wilton’s Ambler Farm, the ground does seem to be drying out, said Kevin Meehan, who supervises its educational programs.

Meehan said the farm has a lot of compost in the educational garden which helps drain the water. But he cautioned people to carefully watch 10-day weather forecasts.

“This is a tricky spring. Homeowners should be careful about buying and putting things in the ground early,” Meehan said. “We just had a 26 degree night. If we get a real cold snap like that, they’ll be gone.”

Ben Saunders, who tends to the harvests that Ambler sells at their farm stand and at the Wilton Farmers' Market, was unavailable for comment. He was busy working on the farm’s greenhouse and getting the soil ready.

Uncle Buck’s Brown agreed. He said he’s still unsure how the temperature fluctuations affected his fruit trees. He plans to cut into them quite soon. That so-called “winter kill” happens when a cold snap follows a warm cycle as happened in February.

Brown said it’s easy to fix any shrubs, and other plantings, such as hydrangeas, left bent over from the heavy snows. He advises homeowners to simply tie and reshape the plantings as soon as possible. The plants will regain their memory. As for plants with broken branches, such as rose bushes, simply prune them below broken branches.

For those eager to begin shopping at farmers' markets, most won’t start until mid-May at the earliest.

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