Ready To Grow For You!

Certifed Organic Tomato Plants
Spending Their Last Few Days in High Tunnel
(Note the apple trees in blossom outdoors)

Friday's the day! The Potter County Farmers' Market opens for the season and Metzger Heritage Farm will be there with our beautiful tomato and pepper plants - all certified organic.

Being Certifed Organic (through PCO) ensures that our practices meet the exacting standards to bear the USDA Certifed Organic label. Starting with the seeds, through the various seed starting and potting mixes to the OMRI certified peat pots, NOTHING in the process includes herbicides, pesticides and the other chemicals that most commercial growers use.

We've selected the varieties that are especially suited to our growing conditions with shorter seasons and other adaptations. In addition to the varieties listed in our flyer, we also have extras of the heirloom and other varieties we grow on the trellis system in our high tunnel. If you're interested in those varieties, please either call or email for information.

While the pepper plants are still a bit small,
they are adding new growth daily

To reserve your plants, please call us at 814-274-8004 or email metzgerfarm@gmail.com. Reserving ahead of time ensures we'll have the ones you need in time for planting.

See you at the Farmers' Market on Friday, May 27 from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Won't these look great in your garden spot?

Certified Organic Garden Plants For Sale

Certified Organic Tomato Plants

As advertised, Metzger Heritage Farm has USDA Certified Organic Tomato and Pepper Plants available for sale. Some varieties could be ready to go this week while others will benefit from another week or two in the protected greenhouse.

And, as of last evening (Tuesday, May 10), Verizon has repaired our telephone line. The answering machine is ready to take your calls if we're out in the greenhouse. Also, email is good at metzgerfarm@gmail.com

These tomatoes are about four inches high this morning

They have been grown in organic seed starting mix and organic compost potting soil in individual peat pots. These plants are raised in a heated greenhouse space with supplemental lighting. They are healthy and sturdy. We have taken care to selected varieties with a short growing season to help ensure success in your home garden. We are offering discount for the purchase of six or more plants.

We planted the first of our tomatoes in the high tunnel on Wednesday. They have great root systems and have already begun their ascent up the twine.

Certified Organic Plants

As luck would have it, our telephone is having its annual hiatus just after we placed a couple of advertisements to promote the beautiful certified organic tomato and pepper plants we've been lovingly nurturing for the past several weeks. Telephone troubles along our rural route are common and often take several days to resolve even when Verizon isn't on strike.

If you've landed here to find out more about our tomato and pepper varieties, you'll find detailed descriptions here and here.

Email us at metzgerfarm@gmail.com or try the cell phone (814) 335-6561 and leave a message there because it doesn't dependably work here at the farm. We'll do our best to get in touch to fill your order.

If you order 6 or more plants, we'll give you a 10% discount on your order.

Vicissitudes Of Farming

Our friend and fellow certified organic farmer Denny Reynolds of Quest Farm gently reminded me last week that farming is far from an exact science.
You might think you have put all the pieces together when one unexpected variable (like a cold snap, a dry spell, an invasion of insects or bad seed or --- you name it) can change the outcome.
So then, what explains the utter failure of my first crop of lettuce starts? I planned for more than 50 lettuce plants and what did I put in the ground? Only 7! I have no good way to explain why the seeds did not germinate. Did I allow the seeds to get too warm in the germination chamber? Did I water the soil too much? Did they get too cold?
No answers for my questions. The outcome is that I probably won't have much lettuce to sell when the Potter County Farmers' Market opens on May 27. The good news is that the second planting (ready to be transplanted today) grew beautifully so by the second or third week of the Market, I will have a continuing supply of the red and green leafy heads my customers appreciate.

An early planting of leaf lettuce
mix we've been enjoying since
late winter. Grown under the
lights in the greenhouse.