Having a broad variety is important- 

 people don't want to have to make a second stop somewhere else. 



actually a bench moved from house to 

 house. They're busy into the summer. 



Impatiens is a big best-seller 

 because "so many homes here have 

 mature landscape plantings that create 

 a lot of shade" and multiflora petunias 

 are popular, but the selection is 

 varied — ^vegetables include 13 types 

 of tomatoes; they grow scaevola, 

 helichrysum, larkspur, heliotrope. 

 They put up 500 eight-inch and 1000 

 ten-inch hangers. 



One house holds 4000 4 1/2" pots 

 of standard geraniums as well as 1500 

 seed geraniums (started from seed). 

 Pink and salmon are New London 

 best-sellers. 



The 4000 perennials that arrive 

 bare-root in mid-March are in another 

 house. Sue says she "stays away from 

 exotics because of so many recent 

 bare winters." She suggests the 

 traditional — hostas, astilbe, day lilies. 



Whenever possible, spraying is 

 done — both in the fields and green- 

 houses — by John on Sundays when the 

 crew's not around. 'Total release 

 canisters" and Safer Soap seem to take 

 care of most problems. When people 

 ask — ^whether something's grown 

 organically or not is important here — 

 the Cloughs describe their system as 

 "limited 1PM." 



In all houses, straight standard feed 

 is mixed in a 50-gallon barrel. A ver- 

 tical pipe is connected to a submersible 

 pump inside each barrel; the feeding 

 hose connects to the pipe. The idea 

 comes from elsewhere, but John saw it 

 as low-cost and workable. 



There's no heavy investment in 

 complicated production devices, but 

 if s a trade-off— -the investment is in 

 time spent in plain potting, feeding, 

 hoeing, picking, hauling.... 



The houses are empty by August. 

 Potted perennials, covered with plastic 

 and a layer of straw, will overwinter 

 outside. 



Field-Grown Crops. 



'The second year we began growing 

 our own vegetables for the stand — 

 com, tomatoes, lots of lettuce.... 



The soil is basically clay. If s better 

 • now — the fields have slowly improved 

 with the help of a lot of tile drainage 

 (1,800 feet in one field; 2,500 in 

 ' another) and yearly additions of 

 manure and compost Crops are 

 ■ rotated; a side-dressing of nitrogen is 

 1 usually given once to each crop; there's 

 \ an overhead sprinkler irrigation 

 system. 



By the end of April, peas and three 

 acres of early com are in the ground. 

 The com is covered on cold nights 

 with strips of plastic — a lot of work, but 

 "we gain a week and harvest com 

 around July 20. Lettuce — five types — 

 is planted once a week from the first of 

 May until tiie first of August. There 

 are two plantings of carrots (baby and 

 regular), cucumbers, beets, broccoli, 

 zucchini.. .we grow five or six kinds of 

 com. We have raspberries, 3/4 of an 

 acre of pick-your-own strawberries — 

 diversity is key. 



"We grow tiie basics and rely on 

 two local growers for gourmet items. 

 "We also grow a limited number of 

 herbs — basil, dill, parsley — and have a 

 small — and very popular — cutting 

 garden. We rely on tiie Boston Market 

 for the rest of what we sell." 



Cut flowers are important — there 

 are two plantings, as well as pick-your- 

 own (snapdragons, cosmos, statice, 

 zinnias....) and display garden. 



John has one full-time employee 

 and hires eight or nine college 

 students for the summer. The crew 

 members start around 7:30 and work 

 until noon. They pick, clean, and 

 bunch in one operation and bring the 

 produce ready-to-sell to the stand. 

 ("Sweet corn's there by nine.") The 

 work isn't complicated, but there's a lot 

 of it 



The Farm Stand. 



Sue runs tiie stand with an emphasis 

 on presentation. Color is important— 

 "we try to keep it like a picture." 



The stand crew consists of "three 

 wonderful, almost full-time gals who 

 have worked here a long time, enjoy 

 what they do, and know what they're 



talking abouL..most people know 

 pretty much what they want, but when 

 they don't— when a man, for example, 

 buys a hanging plant for his wife — 

 good advice is important" Five college 

 students work during the busy months 

 of summer. 



The Cloughs harvest through 

 September. They grow as much as 

 they can, but what they don't grow, 

 tiiey buy in. They buy from other local 

 producers; a Boston supplier delivers 

 three times a week from late June 

 through October. They also buy-in 

 house plants and bulbs, locally-made 

 maple syrup, jams and jellies. "Having 

 a broad variety is important — people 

 don't want to have to make a second 

 stop somewhere else." 



Whaf s locally grown is marked as 

 such; this fact is important to a lot of 

 customers who associate it with 

 freshness and quality. "Locally grovra" 

 sells best But whatever doesn't sell 

 after two days is fed to their sheep and 

 four beef cattle. ("Kids love to visit the 

 bam.") 



"We sell mums in tiie fall — ^we pot 

 up 1500 in July. We could do more — a 

 lot more. Last year we bought in an 

 additional 1200. Asters haven't caught 

 on up here, probably because of 

 mildew problems near the lakes." 



"In fall, we stock just the traditional 

 late-fall produce — ^pumpkins, squash, 

 lots of apples — as well as our own 

 lettuce and cold crops." November is 

 quiet — the crew remaining makes and 

 sells dried flower arrangements. 



"Quality and variety do our advertis- 

 ing for us," but Sue does use The 

 Kearsarge Shopper, a local paper that s 

 "really nothing but ads, but is some- 

 rJiing everyone reads." She might 

 advertise specials, but "not a lot of 

 numbers. People can come to find 

 out the details." 



This carefully-detailed picture is 

 well worth a \dsit (B.R) * 



Spring Ledge Farm is on Main Street in 

 New London. John and Sue can be 

 reached at (603) 526-6253 or 

 526-4781. 



The Vlantsman 

 11 



