It’s cold and icy in East Vassalboro, and our minds are on what the coming summer will bring us.
2016 was dry. Very dry. We got our planting done in record time, and then experienced nearly an entire month without a drop of rain. As you can imagine, many of our varieties objected to this kind of treatment, and as a result some simply didn’t grow. We lost 35 varieties of mature bulbs to the drought.
However! We didn’t lose those varieties entirely. We had a great harvest from bulblets last year, despite the drought. We’ll be restocking some of those temporarily missing varieties in next year’s catalog. Those bulblets really saved our skins!
We’re really looking forward to 2017’s crop, since the
Returning to this year’s list is a Cates Family Glads favorite, True Love. This robust pink-salmon glad has stood the test of time (and drought) and remains healthy and gorgeous.
We’ll also be promoting something a little different in 2017 — our daughter Helen and her husband will be selling organic, Maine-grown table and seed garlic this summer. If you’re a foodie (or trying to stave off some vampires), keep an eye out on our website and Facebook page for garlic harvest season! We’ve also added a line to our order form so you can indicate whether you’re interested in receiving more information closer to the garlic harvest.
Whether it’s glads or garlic, we wish you a fantastic 2017 growing season. May it be wetter than the last!
