Well they say you shouldn't count your chickens before they are hatched and I suppose then it could also be said that you can't count your tomatoes and peppers before they are grown :-)
That being said, we are off to a very good start in our second year with Greenhouse #2.
Not sure if I told you the story, but the short version is that I got a phone call from our propogation house. This is a bit startling, because Paul Keller, of Keller Farms is not what one might call a 'chatty cathy. Prior to this particular call we had spoken 6 times over the previous 3 years. One for me to place an order and another for him to tell me it was ready.
Now I had mentioned I had a new greenhouse and was all excited about it but he didn't really make much comment at the time. So to see his name come up on my phone made my heart jump, wondering that something might be wrong with my plant order.
The call, went something like this:
"Hello Mike."
"Hey Paul! Everything ok?"
"yup"
"ok great"
(uncomfortable pause...then he began)
"Mike, don't take this the wrong way....but I have been thinking about your greenhouse and ...well.... I just don't think you know what you are doing".
(laughing) "no Paul...you are correct...this is all new to me"
"Yup. Well, what you have got there Mike, is basically a brand new F1 race car and you think you are going to be able to drive it around town like normal. But you can't. Not built for that. Things will go 5x faster in the greenhouse if it is set up right and if you aren't ready you will lose your crop. Don't want to see that happen to you".
"Thank you for being concerned Paul."
"Yup. Anyway....when you come down, I want you to come through my greenhouses and I'll show you a few things".
Paul is a man of his word and he gave me a great tour and continues to answer questions as I have them. Last year really didn't go very well, but he liked that I stuck with it and followed the crop until the end of the season. This year, we have re-tooled with new plant pots, new soil and new irrigation. It takes at lease 8 hours a day in there just to keep up. It is very interesting and truly so different than what is going on in the field.
The adventure continues :-)
