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.

Even though it is getting on this spring of 2019, we still have some pretty nice plants in the greenhouse. First, we have some nice Peppers, sweet and hot. It’s not too late to replant if yours got washed down the Arkansas river. We are out of tomatoes, so we cannot help you there.

We also still have some pretty nice okra plants, although they are getting a bit tall to still be in pots. We also still have eggplant, chives, and parsley. In the floral department we have some nice Wave petunias (pink, red, and purple) as well as pure red periwinkles.

To move them on out so we can concentrate on the garden and orchard we are offering these remaining plants, in 3″ deep pots at half price. That’s one dollar each, folks, or two for one, if you like. Call us today and come out to get yours.

Mother’s Day is this Sunday, and we have beautiful Purple, Pink, and Red Wave Petunias in 2″ pots that just say “I love you Mom” and are ready to be set out in your special Mom’s patio planter, flower bed, or hanging basket. The Wave series of petunias are the toughest petunia we know of, and they spread along the ground, or spill out over a hanging basket or patio planter like no other petunia we have grown.

We also have Pacifica Red Vinca and Purple Mexican Petunia that are busting out with color and ready for Mother’s Day. We don’t have a zillion different kinds of flowers like the big nurseries; we only grow what does well in these hot humid Oklahoma summers.

We do also have a small selection of perennial flowers: Purple Foxglove and Blue Star Columbine. These are first-year seedlings and therefore will not bloom until next spring. Our perennials have the advantage of not costing four times what a second-year perennial might cost in your mega-nursery. You just have to wait a little longer to see the blooms.

Come see us before Sunday and surprise Mom.

ps: We still have a nice selection of tomato, pepper, and okra plants. It’s not too late to set these out in your spring garden.