While most area residents have been eagerly waiting for their first glimpse of green, workers at Cherry Greenhouse have been seeing the color for months. Owners Ron and Dianne Sikkila began preparing for this year’s growing season in mid-January. By April, Dianne said it makes them laugh each time they go to town and someone asks if they’ve started planting yet. “We’ve been at it for three months already,” she said.
The couple has thousands of plants started across several greenhouses. Tomatoes, herbs, flowers, foliage and hanging baskets cover just about every available table surface with thousands more being seeded each day.
By now workers are starting to transplant the young tomatoes and flowers into larger retail containers and hanging baskets.
The plan is to open the doors to customers April 25 this year, Dianne said.
The target is usually May 1, but there’s always people who want to come in early and see what’s going on, she said.
“We welcome them any time,” she said. “Particularly if Spring is late in coming. We get some people who just need to see something green.”
April 25 is also the planned date for the opening of the Chisholm location, which they will begin stocking in a week or two, she added.
The date gives the Sikkilas enough time yet this April to host students from area schools and residents from nursing homes who enjoy coming out to look at the plants.
The Sikkilas and their employees grow thousands and thousands of plants from seeds and cuttings each Spring. There’s lots of timing issues to consider when preparing a greenhouse, Dianne said.
The plants have to be started at the right time so they’re ready for customers when it’s time to plant.
They need to be sure not to start the seeds too soon because they could be caught with overgrown plants, Ron said.
Last year they weren’t ready when the customers showed up because of the early Spring. Customers came in wanting to buy tomato plants in early April, he said.
“We tried to wrestle them to the ground and tell them, ‘you can’t plant yet,’” he said. “Some people didn’t believe us the first time and came back and bought them the second time.”
Source: hibbingmn.com