Greenhouse

Saffron in October

October 19, 2017 by Horsford Team

For those of you who joined us in growing saffron this year, you should be seeing some movement in your corms above ground, and in some cases flowers beginning to bloom! This is a very exciting time considering all of our landscape has started to transition into winter.

Saffron can handle frost, and will persist even as snow begins to cover the ground. As the flowers begin to bloom, you should start to harvest them. Pluck the saffron stigmas, and if you’re interested, the stamens as well, and leave them out in an area to dry for 48 hours. This should be a place with little breeze as these stigmas are easily blown around. Once the stigmas are dry, store your saffron in an air tight container and begin using in in your future saffron recipes. The stamens can be used as dye, and have traditionally been the source of the color yellow in Nepalese cultures.

To harvest your flowers, pick the flower below its purple petals every two days, and place in a container to bring to an area where you can process the flower. Pulling back the petals to reveal the stigmas and stamens, use whatever tool you find comfortable to separate with. You should see 3-5 flowers per corm planted, so if you only pick one, don’t worry there’s more to come.

After the flower has been harvested the corm will remain vegetative and continue to develop daughter corms well into winter. Eventually the corm’s filaments will die back and the corm will go dormant until the following fall.

Our corms are 100% above ground here at Horsford’s and have begun to show flower development! Have fun and please share your saffron gardens and dishes with us, as we close out the harvest season!

-Saffron Production Team aka Steve

Why You Should Grow Saffron

August 15, 2017 by Horsford Team

First off, who doesn’t love a fall-flowering plant? Saffron’s beauty and landscape opportunity should sell itself, but there are far more reasons why saffron should end up in your garden and on your dinner plate.

Health Benefits

Its real health benefits lie in the saffron stigmas (Pictured above). These sticky orange-red stigmas are the part of the plant used globally for culinary cuisines. The saffron stigmas contain carotenoids which are powerful antioxidants that help regulate stress, cancer, infections, and that help boost immune function. Considering 80% of your immune health comes from your gut, we could all use a little more saffron in our diet. Nutritionally, saffron is very high in iron, manganese, copper, potassium, calcium, selenium, zinc, and magnesium. It also contains high mineral sources, such as vitamin A, folic acid, riboflavin, niacin, and vitamin-C.

Saffon in Your Garden

Saffron can grow in a variety of conditions, but would do best in a garden bed. This crocus variety is a corm and should be grown like any other bulb such as tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths. They are a hot and dry loving plant and growing saffron can be an easy addition for any gardener, and offers not only landscape beauty but a healthy investment with a delicious return.

Saffron Available at Horsford’s

This fall we will be offering saffron corms at:

10 corms – $15
25 corms – $30
50 corms – $50

There will be a limit of 50 corms per customer. Supplies are limited, so if you plan to plant some saffron in your landscape, please contact us and pre-order today! Call the nursery at (802) 425-2811, or email info@horsfordnursery.com.

We will also be joining you and planting some saffron here at Horsford’s, in an effort to develop a sustainable, nutrient rich, growing medium for Vermont saffron growers! Stay tuned, as the projects begin this fall.

-Saffron Production Team aka Steve

Bug Eat Bug World in Horsford’s Greenhouses

April 27, 2017 by Horsford Team

The mighty lady beetle in full force in Horsford’s greenhouses

Today’s garden pests are beefed up, hungry to consume, and resistant to most traditional methods of control in your garden and on house plants. There seems to be continuous production of state-of-the-art chemicals that only serve as the next temporary band aid on pest management. If you observe our native landscapes you don’t usually see large populations of pests, or even any single species populations. Pests are diverse, spread out, and quick to move, as there are the same number of natural predators lurking between the leaves and consuming these pests as fast as they can produce.

At the nursery, we embrace a garden’s natural cycles and incorporate beneficial insects to help control our pests as we encounter them during the growing season in our greenhouses. We aren’t able to completely eradicate all pests but we can manage their populations and remove them from our plants more effectively. Eliminating pesticide use in our greenhouse is the most important aspect of our entire program. Now our greenhouse gravel floors and surrounding gardens are nurturing generations of natural predators to help not only our greenhouse annuals, but all the plants we grow at the nursery.

Horsford greenhouse-vegetables — Horsford’s annuals, herbs and vegetables are pesticide-free

The mites, wasps, and army of bugs in this bug eat bug world

The most destructive pest we encounter is not usually one people think of, or even can see. Its tiny golden weevil body is about the size of a few grains of salt. It quickly finds fresh pollen, lush green growth, and flower petals and sucks life from a plant. The Western Flower Thrip has become increasingly resistant to pesticides, and quickly develops a home in greenhouse production. They have been known to bite growers depending on populations!

With a simple application of multiple species, predatory mites can completely control a thrip population. These mites will breed in the soil, disperse themselves throughout the application area, and seek and destroy the thrips. Predatory mites are now considered by the greenhouse industry to be the most effective way to control thrips.

Green Peach Aphids consistently meet and greet every season in our greenhouse. We use two different predators for control. Parasitic wasps are a longer, slower control but have proven to be very effective against aphid populations. These wasps lay their eggs into the aphid, and as the larvae develop they consume and hatch out of the aphid’s body (gross). Here are some from our greenhouse.

These beneficial bugs are part of the #horsfordteam! Thanks @ullrrise , our Greenhouse Manager, for catching them on camera! ・・・ Instead of covering our greenhouse plants in chemicals we enlist the biological forces to control our problems. Don’t be fooled by box store annuals, we got the real deal @horsfordnursery. More bees, more bugs, more life. #saynotopesticides #greenhouses #parasiticwasps #aphiddestroyer

A post shared by Horsford Gardens & Nursery (@horsfordnursery) on Apr 22, 2017 at 11:24am PDT

To help keep our wasp populations thriving we also grow Bird Cherry Oat aphids that specifically only eat oat grass. These aphids don’t bother our plants in the greenhouse, and serve as a banquet for our wasps. Look for these “banker plants” in baskets hanging at the end of each greenhouse. These keep the wasps roaming for the aphids that do harm to our plants. Once a population of Green Peach Aphids appears, the wasps are attracted to them and help manage the pest.

Ladybeetles in Horsford greenhouse — Lady beetles in Horsford’s greenhouses

Our second predator is the mighty lady beetle, who although have a long development phase from egg to beetle, have proven to be useful and effective in controlling aphid population outbreaks.

Next time you’re at the nursery be sure to stop in our greenhouses and take a closer look at our plants. You’ll be amazed at the ecosystems within the beautiful flowers, aromatic cooking herbs, and lush vegetable starts.