Getting Ready

​The North Country Master Gardener Plant Sale will be on May 19.  This is the culmination of many weeks of volunteer effort starting with seed acquisition in the middle of the winter. 
 
Peppers are started ahead of the tomatoes because of a typically little longer germination period and a little slower rate of growth. The tomatoes were started on April 10 as part of a learning opportunity for the new class of Master Gardener Volunteers.  With the seedlings up and wanting actual sunlight, they are relocated into the Spooner Ag Research Greenhouse. There were earlier starts for native plants.  The greenhouse tends to overflowing so some plants were transferred to friendly volunteer homes and greenhouses.  Volunteers visited the greenhouse each day to maintain a watering schedule for the six weeks between planting and the sale.  As the weather warms and the plants put on growth, the daily watering expands to twice a day.
 
As the seedlings grow they eventually need to be transplanted into larger pots. Finally, the temperatures are warming, the sun is out, and the seedlings are on their way.