High Tunnel Growing: An Easy Way to Extend Your Season

As a grower, you’ve probably felt the anxiety of the growing season quickly coming to an end. You’ve probably also wished for a few more weeks, even another month, to get more out of your crops and a few more dollars in your wallet! As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end and the same is true of the growing season. However, there is good news for some growers who may not have the luxury of a greenhouse, but who want just a little more time at the beginning and end of their growing season.

Baby, It’s Cold Outside: Tips for Frost Prevention

While you may be able to handle the temperatures dipping down into the lower half of the thermometer lately, you may not be quite ready to give up on your plants and vegetables that can catch a chill and wither up for good once the cold weather arrives. Frost season is coming fast and despite the last few warm days of summer holding on, the nights across much of the country have begun to cool down significantly. This can be bad news for gardens and crops that you’d like to have around for just a bit longer. But with a little effort and the right protection, this is certainly possible.

Spotlight on Cherry Creek Farm and their key to season extension

Small business owners and growers are faced with risky ventures all the time that can make or break their success. As many growers have seen, the purchase of a high tunnel (or a few) can mean the difference between profitability and downfall of their business. Read on to discover how Susan Hall of Cherry Creek Farm was able to extend her growing seasons and maximize profits with the purchase of ClearSpan High Tunnels.

2013 Photo Contest Honorable Mentions

After receiving hundreds of submissions to our photo contest, we wanted to share with you some of our favorites. These photos may not have won a prize, but they still stood out and we felt that we needed to recognize them. We smiled, we laughed and we were awed by some of these great pictures and the stories we received with them. There are seven superlative categories and we selected a winner for each. These customers will each receive a dozen pair of our Growers Supply Dot Grip Gloves! We hope you enjoy these photos as much as we did!

And The Winners Are….Announcing Our 2013 Fall Photo Contest Winners!

It’s that time of year again! The photos came pouring in for our 2013 Fall Photo Contest and we’re here to announce the winners! As always, the quality and quantity of photos we received was large, but we were finally able to narrow it down to a top winner and runners-up. We loved seeing the submissions from our customers—from chickens and cows, to high tunnels and greenhouses, you all sent us some great photos and we love seeing our products in action. If you didn’t submit photos this time around, be sure to do so during our next photo contest. We’d love to see what you have to share! But for now, read on and see how our top finishers are using our products!

Photo Blog: Do We Have Tomatoes?!

One of our customers, John K., recently grew some tomatoes in his high tunnel that fruited like crazy! His abundance of this popular salad topper made him the man to see at his local farmer’s market. Here is his story.

Spotlight on Avon Old Farms School and Their High Tunnel Classroom

Avon Old Farms School, located in Avon, Connecticut, is a private high school for boys. The school offers a variety of courses in many different subjects, as well as extracurricular activities including sports, music, theater and a long list of clubs. Last year, the school started a faculty garden, but it soon became overgrown with weeds, producing very little. Avon Old Farms hired Kelly Bull as their garden consultant to help design and operate a more successful faculty garden, as well as a student garden.

Customer Spotlight: Pat Raunick’s Nurturing Greenhouse

The beauty of greenhouses is that they can be as big as any large commercial grower may need, or as small as any backyard hobby grower needs to grow fresh, healthy produce within the comfort of her own home and yard. The latter is the case for Pat Raunick, a Growers Supply customer who purchased a greenhouse in order raise her own produce and to create an activity she could enjoy with her grandchildren.

Photos are worth 1,000 words—or $500!

Do you love taking pictures as much as you love your Growers Supply products? Well, it’s time to get inspired and take some great photos of your favorite Growers Supply items in action because our 2013 Photo Contest starts June 18th! We love our loyal readers so much, we wanted to give you a couple days head start to find (or take) the perfect photo!

Get ready for your ten seconds of fame, because if you win, you’ll be featured on our website and this very blog. Anyone can enter and we’re looking for photos showcasing how you use our products, so get snapping.

The grand prize winner will receive a $500 Growers Supply gift certificate and five lucky runners-up will each receive a $200 FarmTek gift certificate. How’s that for motivation?

Spotlight on Mantua Gardens and their Ever-Expanding Hydroponic System

Mantua Gardens, located in northeastern Ohio, has been in business since 1995, and has provided the community with high-quality annuals, perennials, garden supplies and more. In 2012, owner Darin Kelley was approached with the idea to start growing hydroponic lettuce and other fresh greens year round, in addition to continuing with the established garden and greenhouse center. With the demand for locally grown produce, Darin decided to branch out into the realm of hydroponic growing and looked to Growers Supply to help him get started.