February 18, 2022

As we enter mid-February, we are noticing that the days are getting longer.

The sun is rising a little earlier and setting a bit later each day, reminding us all that spring days are just around the corner. While there are likely plenty of cold and snowy days ahead of us, the extra daylight makes the wintery weather a bit more bearable.
We’ve spent the last few weeks preparing for the upcoming planting season. Like just about every other industry, we are facing extremely difficult supply chain issues. Soil and plastics, such as pots and flats, were extremely difficult to attain last season. While we were fortunate to receive the majority of the soil mixtures we need to fill our flower pots and flats, many in our industry were cut short. The pots and flats we use for flowers and vegetable transplants were also difficult to get this season. If we didn’t place our orders early last fall, we were told not to expect anything until 2023! These are conditions we truly have not experienced in our 50 years of operation.
Winter greenhouses

As many of you saw on our social media pages recently, we spent the fall and winter building a new greenhouse complex, giving us additional growing space for flowers and vegetable transplants. We are in the final stages of this project and hope to have it wrapped up by the end of next week.

This endeavor was challenging to say the least! Outdoor construction projects are always a challenge during a Minnesota winter, but on top of that, we faced significant delays due to supply chain issues. At the end of the day, we hoped to be able to use the new structures for the 2022 season, and it looks like that will be possible.
In preparation for a new season, our crews have been fixing heaters and preparing our greenhouses so that we are able to begin transplanting flowers and seeding vegetables this week. Yes, we start seeding vegetables as early as this week! We begin with shallots, leeks and onions, and will advance to cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, melons and more. We will be busy seeding vegetables weekly now through the end of June. Flower transplants begin arriving this week as well. Soon, the smell of soil and plants will permeate through the greenhouses, giving us a glimpse of spring.
Untiedt family summer 2021
The majority of our seeds have been ordered for the 2022 season and they have begun to arrive. Over the next few weeks, Jerry and Paul will finish planning all of the planting schedules for the season. Even though the temperatures don’t seem conducive for farming, the 2022 season has begun! Before we know it, our retail greenhouses will be set up and we get to welcome you all back for another fantastic season.