i Grower & Marketer |i||lL l|A Promoting The Eastern Vegetable, Fruit, Nursery, And Gardener Selects Program Gives New Meaning To ‘Colorful’ Gardening Kathy Engle-Debes of West York, a Master Gardener since 1991, and one of two evaluators of the extension plants grown in the Trial Garden, and Tom Becker, Agent/horticulture in York County. The two look over the Pink, Misty Lilac, and Purple Wave petunias that were hit by the drought, but after rain returned to radi ant bloom. Engle-Debes & Becker were pleased with the Petunias’ performance. Planned, Installed Correctly, High Tunnels Benefit Growers ANDY ANDREWS Lancaster Farming Staff RIDGWAY (Elk Co.) A couple of years of using high tunnels have proven fruitful, literally, for Elk County grower Greg Bums, multicounty exten sion agent. Saving as consultant for his two sons, who run the high tun nel operation, Bums installed the houses about two years ago. One larger house contains can taloupes and the other houses tomatoes. The houses ate similar to ones that Bums inspected last August at the Penn State Ag Progress Days in Rockspring. At the Penn State research site, houses measures 17 feet wide by 36 feet long and eight feet high. At the Ridgeway location, one house measures 32 feet long and the other about 40 feet long, and only 12 feet wide. The houses, like those at Rockspring, use a four-year clear 6- mil plastic. Bums uses black plastic mulch inside. Bums obtained construction information and material from a company in Moultonboro, New Hampshire. The houses, available in kits, cost $9OO and. $7OO, Bums said. Each took about a day to assemble. The beauty of using high tun nels is that, inexpensively, crops can be planted earlier and rushed to market ahead of crops planted conventionally. The key is to ensure proper drip irri gation and to roll up the sides regularly. And, if necessary, ensure a heating system, such as a portable propane furnace, is installed to protect from freezing temperatures. The past growing season Bums grew watermelons, muskmelons, and tomatoes. Because of the difficulty in harvesting the watermelons. (Turn to Pago 10) Elk County grower Greg Bums, multicounty extension agent, inspects high tunnels at the Penn State Ag Progress Days in Rockspring. The houses are similar to the ones that Bums uses at his farm. Bums’ houses are separately sized, one 32 feet long and the other about 40 feet long, and only 12 feet wide. Photo by Andy Andrews JINNY WILT Adams Co. Correspondent YORK (York Co.)-If you live in York County and are looking for a flower that will put a bloom in your garden, try the “new look” variety of a Celosia Argentata, or Coreopsis Rosea “American Dream.” Then there is the Petunia X hybrida “Misty Lilac Wave,” chosen the very best in York County in the Pennsylvania Gardener Selects Plants of the Year program. The project was undertaken this summer by the York County Master liliifc Calendar Saturday, January 22 Cornell Maple Production Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Veget- School, Bradford County able Growers Convention, extension office, Towanda, Hershey Lodge and Conven tion Center, Hershey, thru Producers’ Association Annual Meeting and Dinner, and Trade Show, Woodlands Bethany Methodist Church, Inn and Resort, Wilkes- Bethany, 10:15 a.m.-3:30 Batre, o.m Gardeners and the Penn State Extension Office in trial gardens at John Rudy County Park. At 28 other sites through out the commonwealth, gar deners planted “new” plant varieties in an effort to deter mine which would perform best in that particular locale. Tom Becker, York County extension agent/horticulture, said that York County has a thriving green industry. These businesses provide bedding plants, flowering annuals, perennials, and woody landscape plants to (Turn to Page I) Tuesday, January 25 (Turn to Page 2)
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