MEMBER PROFILE 



and rotary sprinklers. Deer haven't 

 been a problem since he put up 

 an unobtrusive high-voltage electri- 

 cal fence (from the Gallagher Com- 

 pany in New Zealand) to which he 

 attaches strips of aluminum foil 

 smeared with peanut butter to at- 

 tract the animals to the shock. He 

 recognizes he can't grow everything 

 and buys in to give customers a 

 well-rounded choice. 



He emphasizes Merrymeeting's 

 diversity: there are piles of AllGro 

 compost and pine and spruce bark 

 mulch for sale; the garage, from 

 which Smitty ran his entire busi- 

 ness, holds pallets of growing me- 

 dia and fertilizers, along with a se- 

 lection of planters and baskets and 

 Adirondack chairs. 



Crafts in the shop include bird- 

 houses and a genuine best-seller — 

 a hand-crafted free-standing "air- 

 craft-steel" holder for hanging bas- 

 kets made by Little Farm in 

 Chichester. But most crafts move 

 slowly and "will only be here until 

 1 find something better." 



Parallel to Depot Road and ex- 

 tending the length of the property 

 is a strip of pick-your-own cut flow- 

 ers — which he sells by weight — four 

 dollars a pound. ("It's simpler than 

 counting stems "| He's trying differ- 

 ent types: some didn't do as well 

 as others (a tall ageratum wasn't as 

 tall as the catalog said; no one 

 liked a tricolor salvia; "Tall Chief 

 celosia didn't begin to bloom until 

 late August — "we're learning"!, but 

 the rudbeckia (both Indian 

 Summer, a "Perennial of the Year" 

 and Goldilocks') edging the road 

 is spectacular 



NOTHING HAD BEEN DONE with 

 the blueberries since Smitty left. 

 Again after asking advice — this 

 time from Bill Lord, UNH Coopera- 

 tive Extension fruit specialist, Les 

 began bringing the patch back into 

 production. He rented a rotary cut- 

 ter to clear out brush, then went in 

 and began cutting out the heavy 

 wood in the plants themselves. He 

 spread sulphate to increase acidity. 



fed the plants 15-10-10, and put 

 down mulch. ( "Weeds are a prob- 

 lem — if we took all the weed seed 

 out of our soil here, 1 swear the 

 whole place would settle three 

 inches...") 



The mix of early, middle, and 

 late producers has given a two- 

 month picking season — and "this 

 year's crop was amazing — Smitty 

 knew what he was doing." Custom- 

 ers have three ways of buying: they 

 can buy berries already picked, 

 pick their own at 75 cents per 

 pound, or pick, giving Les half and 

 paying nothing People were still 

 picking the first week in Septem- 

 ber. 



This fall, he's taking another Th- 

 ompson School course — this one in 

 weed control ("we spend more 

 money on controlling weeds than 

 any other aspect"). And he contin- 

 ues to work out new ideas with a 

 growing network of knowledgeable 

 people: "people — those in the in- 

 dustry in particular — have been 

 wonderful, willing to share informa- 



Pleasant View Gardens 



wrowers of Quality Liners 

 ^ & Finished Material 



7316 PLEASANT STREET LOUDON NEW HAMPSHIRE 03301 



603-435-8361 OR 1-800-343-4784 



FAX 603-435-6849 



October & November 1995 



