I am sitting in the comfort of my sunroom having a coffee. It is 10:10 a.m. I have four articles half written placed in front of me. I am just back from the greenhouse’s potting table room and this morning’s work, filling seedling trays. Which article to finish... before the deadline.
I enjoy digging my hands into the seedling mix. It’s nice and light. There’s no “dirt” in it. It is clean and sterile. Once the trays are filled, I lightly water them in for later use. The tops of the trays should be dry before seeding. I had the new radio station playing in the background and outside the birds were beginning to chirp. While the colours are drab and the fog rolls around the hillsides in the mornings this time of year, it is still a pretty wonderful place to live!
Earlier in the week, I had cleaned all the leftover plant debris from my half-acre asparagus patch. Besides getting out in the sun for some fresh air and exercise, this removes any overwintering pests and disease from the garden area. Just as I bleach the floors and tables in the greenhouses, some farmers even spray bleach through their orchards in the off-season. In the old days of greenhouse production, a 10 per cent bleach dip was given to geranium cuttings before they were placed in trays to grow roots.
Actually, in any modern production greenhouse or wholesale nursery you are required to disinfect your feet before entry to the facility. When you drive into a Clean Plants certified nursery you will be required to stop at the office and sign in. The wheels on your truck will be sprayed with disinfectant too, and they will want to know what other farms you have been to recently. This kind of certification helps these companies to sell and even export their nursery stock with confidence they aren’t spreading around any soil-borne diseases. It is part of your guarantee that they take their business very seriously and offer a quality product.
While it would be impossible to do this in a retail nursery with all the customers coming and going, if you want to grow and sell wholesale this is the way to go — fencing, signage, closed circuit TV and disinfectant. I digress, but the point is to start your greenhouse or garden off on the right foot for fewer nasty surprises later. Hopefully none at all!
Evan Davies owns Beltane Nursery at 2915 Highway 3 in Erickson.