The greenhouses are warm and filling up with plants! Tomato plants that will yield juicy slicing tomatoes this summer are in the ground. Cilantro is ready for harvest. The seeding marathon has begun so that we will have plenty of plants for your gardens.

It all starts with hundreds of thousands of seeds, sown by hand into rich potting soil. That’s right folks - everything we grow is started from seed here at Cate Farm! A seedling is any young plant that is started from seed, also called plant starts or bedding plants.

We choose not to purchase plants for resale from outside sources. This minimizes the carbon footprint of the plants we sell and helps to reduce pest and disease issues. While this model ensures accountability of plant health, it has its limitations. Some plants are best propagated from cuttings; lemon verbena, some specialty flowers, and others. Without heating a greenhouse year round we are unable to offer these. That said, we do love a challenge and are always dreaming and scheming ways to improve and expand our operation.

Due to a relatively short growing season here in the northeast, we focus on garden plants that require more days to mature than our climate offers. We give them a jump start in the greenhouse so their root systems are established when you take them to transplant in your garden.

We will have plants available at Hunger Mountain Coop starting at the end of April and we look forward to seeing you in May at our on farm plant sales!

Warmly,
Flint and the Cate Farm Crew