My drive across 50 hwy was beautiful. I did have to make a little stop in Tipton, Mo to get a snack from the Dutch Bakery, what a neat store. With all the rain we’ve had everything was bright green and the corn was defiantly on its way to being knee high. Today I visited greenhouses with bedding and vegetable plants.  If you plan to purchase plants you better do so pretty soon, time is running out. Most of the vendors selling bedding plants usually wrap it up by mid or late June. The exception to this is The Flower Farm; Keith Johnson usually stays through July.

After my two and a half hour drive I arrived at The Busy Bee retail store located on hwy 52. The greenhouse at their home is where they grow and propagate the plants; most of the plants are started with plugs or seeds. Darrel, Diane and their children have been vendors at the Market since 2002. In 2013 they became contracted vendors and are located in the middle farmers pavilion on Saturdays. In addition to bedding plants and vegetable plants they also raise a little produce and mums to sell in the fall. 

Highway 52 Greenhouse is about 15 minutes from the Unruh’s retail location.  Chris has been assembling a new super sized greenhouse which once it is finished will cover ¾ of an acre and should house 6,000 tomato plants. If all goes as planned these plants should produce 1,200 pounds of tomatoes per week.  The greenhouse will be finished by the fall so Chris can get the plants in the ground for early March tomatoes in 2017. Chris currently has one large greenhouse where he has 500 tomato plants, one of which I picked while there, it was wonderful.  Mrs. Pifer, Chris’s mom, oversees all the flowers they grow and does a really nice job choosing a mixture of plants for their hanging baskets and planters.  Chris Pifer has been a Saturday and Sunday vendors for a few years and can be found in the third pavilion on Saturdays and the first pavilion on Sundays.

 

My last stop for the day was a couple hours away but on the west side of the state where I was met by this cute little pup. I will be getting back to Kansas City much later than I had planned, the upside is I will have missed rush hour traffic. Country Bloom Greenhouse is off of highway P in Rockville and has been a waiting list vendor for quite a few years. Waiting list vendors get a Saturday or Sunday stall if we have any available so the Klassen’s location will change every time they setup at the Market. Linferd and Judith have four greenhouses at their home all of which were filled with beautiful plants. Over the years they have added more and more succulents and are bringing beautiful moss baskets to the Market.  

Next week I am heading to Arkansas, Joplin and Fort Scott, Kansas, it should be a fun day. Don’t forget to stop by the Wednesday evening market and support the City Market vendors and tenants and grab a bite to eat.