Author: Wayne

You know how it is when spring comes around, as the saying goes: “Busier than a one-armed paperhanger!” The greenhouse has been open for a week or so. We just haven’t had time to crow about it. We will make this one short and sweet: Come see us and get your tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, okra plants, and other garden starts. We are looking forward to seeing you.

And just in time for the Fourth of July. We have sweet corn and tomatoes. We don’t pick corn until you show up. so give us a call to get yours today.

We also have plenty of zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, but okra is still slow to come around.Give us a call to make sure we have what you are looking for.

We are starting to get yellow squash and zucchini almost daily, so give us a call if you would like some of that deliciousness. We are also getting cucumbers, both pickling and salad/slicking. We use them interchangeably.

Okra – what everybody is waiting for – is just beginning. If we get a little rain, or set the sprinkler on it we will start to have saleable amounts by June 15.

We also want to make you aware of a few lesser vegetables that are now available that most don’t even think of: bulb onions, Elephant garlic, chives, and dill sprigs. We don’t usually have them on display, so ask if you would like some. We would also be happy to pinch you a bit of spearmint or chocolate mint if that enters into your menu planning.

Tomatoes and Peppers are still a couple of weeks off, but it looks to be a good crop this year. After last years total crop failure, the arrival of tomato season will be a much anticipated event. Stay tuned.

This looks to be the best growing season in some years, if we get a little timely rain, and the locusts don’t descend. As always, please give us a call or text before coming out. We like to be prepared when you get here. Some items available yesterday will be sold out today, and back available tomorrow. We cannot emphasize this enough you need to call or text.

Columbine is one of our favorite perennial flowers in the landscape. They are blooming their hearts out right now. The blossom looks as if it could come from another world, and the foliage is equally distinct from every other plant in the landscape. Every spring we set some out under light shade. Every winter we scan the seed catalogs looking for new and different varieties and species of Aquilegia. Something new is what interests us; a different color, shape, or size. Not all Columbine do equally well in our climate in northeastern Oklahoma, so we are continually on the search for those varieties and species that do best here.

Even the best of the genus Aqueligia are not long-lived perennials. After all the technical definition of a perennial plant is any plant that lives more than two years. Some Perennials seem to last forever, while others make it only a hand full of years before they wear themselves out and have to be replanted. Annuals complete their life cycle in one growing season, casting seeds everywhere and dying when the first frost cuts them all down in late October. The seeds, given ideal conditions will repeat the cycle the next spring. Biennials bring a little twist to the plant kingdom by growing vegetatively one season, and producing seeds the next season and then dying at the end of the second season.

The big garden centers in town grow many of their perennials for over a year so they can sell a blooming plant at the beginning of the plant’s second season. At High-Fence Farm we do not offer second-year perennials. They take a lot of work to keep over winter into their second year. That makes them way more expensive to you the customer. Our perennials are started from seed or cuttings in late winter and made available to you, usually for about the same price we would sell a petunia or periwinkle. You save money, and if you are willing to wait a season you get a well established plant that will bloom every one of its blooms in your presence next spring. Come out this week and pick up a few of our promising young Columbine plants. We have four or five new varieties that we know you will just love (next year).

Hello! We are into another season! It is Chestnut season 2019 on the farm.

You may want to take a quick look back at previous years for more information we have posted on this produce if you like.

This year American Chestnuts sell for $4.00 per pound. We do pick them up daily to refrigerate them. If you would like to have really fresh nuts give us a call to make arrangements for quantity you would like that day. The season is just beginning so we anticipate growing availability.

Here are some photos of a cake made with this season’s Chestnuts

Just a quick note to let you know we are still here and still selling produce this summer. To say the least, it has been a challenging growing season so far.