I picked the perfect day to hit the road, the weather was beautiful. All week I kept watching the weather and thought I would need to bring rain gear, so glad the weatherman changed the forecast. I am headed to Edgerton, Kansas where I have two vendors to visit who lucky for me, live on the same road. It is a perfect place for a day trip away from the city, within about two miles, there is a beautiful you pick farm, wonderful greenhouse and a winery.

Enright Gardens was my first stop, what a great way to start my day. The Enright family has been selling at the City Market for generations and has a wonderful selection of bedding and vegetable plants. The main greenhouse, which they use for selling flowers to the public was in full bloom and a sight to see. Everywhere I looked was a pop of color and a beautiful display. Enright Gardens consists of 18 greenhouses where they start the plants and then move them into the larger greenhouse to sell or move onto other wholesale destinations. One greenhouse is used strictly for growing tomatoes which they will sell at the City Market in a couple months. In addition to growing plants the Enright’s also operate a fantastic event space on their farm. They have a beautiful landscaped park, perfect for outside weddings and a great converted 5300 sq. foot barn for receptions or family gatherings. They did a great job renovating the space; it is really nice and elegant and even includes a dressing room for the bridal part.  www.enrightgardens.com  Enright Gardens are at the Market on Saturdays and some Sundays April through around mid-June in stalls 48-51.beautifully landscaped park and have the reception in our new Banquet Hall.   Our 5300 square foot banquet hall includes new rest rooms and a dressing room for the

 

Just down the road is Geiringer Farm which is made up of about 320 acres and has really grown since my last visit a couple years ago. The Geiringers grow mainly peaches, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, tomatoes, European cucumbers, cauliflower, orange peppers and row crops. I wish I had visited last week, Melanie told me all the 1000 peach trees were in bloom, I bet that was a sight to see. I am always amazed when I visit farms and find out there are things involved in growing fruits and vegetables you never think about. When peach trees are in bloom you need to go through each and every branch knocking off some of the blooms, if you don’t do this the peaches will be really small. Each bloom could form a peach; in fact inside each bloom a small peach has already started forming. I am always learning new things. The Geiringer’s grow their 3000 strawberry plants on mounds covered with plastic and replant every year. Customers can come out and pick strawberries at their patch hopefully by mid May if the weather continues to be good. For information on their u-pick operation visit their website at www.gieringersorchard.com. 

Just a short drive from Edgerton and I arrived at The Flower Farm operated by Keith Johnson and his family. Keith is also a long time vendor at the City Market and sets up in stalls 69-71 April through July. As always I found Keith busy at work watering plants. It was a little warm on Thursday and the plants were getting pretty big so would have to be watered twice that day. This is a never-ending task since Keith also has 18 greenhouses, although they are smaller than the Enright’s they are jammed packed with a wide assortment of plants including tropicals. The Flower Farm is my go to place when I want a house plant. Keith showed me a cactus he has had for twenty years that was in full bloom, which was rare, it was beautiful. I believe he said it was a star cactus. In addition to bedding plants, tropical’s, herbs, roses, ground cover and succulents Keith also has blooming trees and berry bushes such as gooseberry. Keith is one of the very few vendors that make his own organic potting soil with compose and then heats it to ensure there are no pests to harm the plants. I asked Keith if he sold the potting mix at his greenhouse but unfortunately he said it was quite the process just having enough for all the plants he sells, darn. I have bought potting mix in the past from stores only to have an infestation of gnats. For more information about The Flower Farm visit their web site at www.theflowerfarmgardner.com

My last stop for the day is in Blue Springs, MO to verify a new artist crafter vendor at the Market. I was excited to hear he did wood working since we currently do not have any vendor doing this. Thomas Padilla shares a workshop with his long time friend and has been learning the art of woodworking. They had just finished staining very nice mirrored shelves/coat rack, perfect for hanging in an entryway. Tomas had made at least 15 handled tool boxes perfect for holding three small plants, they were very cute. The workshop was stacked to the ceiling with various types of wood in all sizes and very nice equipment capable of doing any task. I was very impressed with the wooden boxes and picture frames made with various inlaid woods, they were quite beautiful. Thomas plans on coming to the Market next week if everything goes as planned. He will have an assortment of planters and pot hangers perfect for any backyard.

Next week I am planning to head to the Versailles and Rockville area so I am hoping for perfect traveling weather. I try to visit all the greenhouses in the next couple of weeks since their season at the market is fairly short. The Market should be loaded with flowers and vegetable plants next weekend and we are starting to see a little asparagus come in. Saturday the 25^th is also the City Markets “Get Your Green On” recycling event. For additional information visit our web site at www.thecitymarket.org under events.