Are you ready for the arrival of springtime weather and sunny days in the Hudson Valley? Better yet, is your garden ready? If a beautiful, bountiful summer garden is what you seek, Mark and Sue Adams Greenhouses at Adams Fairacre Farms will help you get started. With over 40 years of experience growing premium annual flowers and vegetable plants to be sold across five Adams locations, Adams Greenhouses is somewhat of an expert when it comes to gardening.
While Mark Adams began gardening around age seven, taught by his father and grandfather, Sue Adams found her own passion for plants after the two married. Now, Mark and Sue Adams Greenhouses consists of five acres of land located behind the Poughkeepsie Adams location. To help prep your garden for the upcoming growing season, here are some tips from Sue Adams.
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Be patient
If you’re looking for something to do to get your beds ready in March, here’s some advice: Don’t go stomping through them. You shouldn’t go into the garden until the ground is completely thawed and not muddy, Adams advises. If the soil clumps, it’s too wet to work.
If the ground isn’t ready to work, but you’re dying to do something garden-related, you can check your tools — the tiller should be oiled, so add fresh gas/oil — so they will be ready to go when the ground is workable. How about spiffing up flowerpots and boxes? Clay pots can be painted bright, cheery colors. And you can always start a few seeds indoors to get a head start in your garden. Fresh herbs, for example, are great plants to get started on your sunny windowsill to later move to the garden when the weather is warmer. Basil, peppermint, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme all thrive in sunny conditions with minimal maintenance.
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Getting your hands dirty
Most years, the garden can be started around March 15. “The first thing we plant is peas,” Adams shares. In early spring, you can also plant perennials and herbs like thyme and mint. Some examples of flower species that can tolerate the cold are pansies and violas. Tender annuals, like begonias and impatiens, and vegetables — tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant — should be planted in late May, while squash and pumpkin seeds need very warm soil, so plant in June. Adams Greenhouses knows a thing or two about tomatoes, having raised over 100,000 tomato plants yielding around one million tomatoes every season.
Early risers
As you get your garden ready, consider some early-blooming perennials for a happy burst of color. Adams’ favorites are Hellebore (absolute earliest), Candytuft (Iberis), Astilbe, Iceland Poppy, Lewisia, Trout Lily (erythronium, a native wildflower), and Aquilegia canadensis (native wildflower).
There are other perennials that will bring creamy white, yellow, or purple blossoms in the late winter and early spring, but plan ahead: You need to plant them the previous fall. They include grape hyacinth, snowdrops, crocus, and daffodils.
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If that’s still not enough gardening for you, mark your calendar for the 2025 Adams Renaissance Garden Show, which runs until March 9 at the Kingston and Middletown locations. Stroll through plant displays and browse Renaissance-inspired products to gather inspiration for your own garden.
Related: This Modern Woodstock Farmhouse Embraces Artful Pops of Color
