Fitchburg and Ashby Markets this weekend, and more nursery news!

By Lise Fracalossi

We got rained out last weekend for Leominster Farmers’ Market. Sad, but at least I got to trial my new vehicle packing solution! More details on that below, but the first order of business is…

Upcoming Markets

We will be at the Fitchburg and Ashby Farmers’ Market this weekend!

Fitchburg will be our first real farmers’ market (assuming it doesn’t get rained out!), and I’m trepidatious! Come visit and make me feel a little more at home ❤️

The availability list is up to date; it hasn’t changed much since last week, except that we will be bringing Penstemon digitalis and P. hirsutus with us to these markets. Note that we will not be bringing non-natives to any of these markets unless requested.

On that note, remember that you can email me and reserve plants (native or non-native!) to be picked up at the markets!

Reversing course on tax bookkeeping

After some additional consideration, I’m not going to charge tax on top of the sticker cost (like I wrote a couple of weeks ago). Instead I’ll continue to roll it into the cost you pay. Sorry for any confusion, but I realized that having to carry change to markets was going to be even more of a pain than the bookkeeping.

So hooray! The price you pay remains the same.

Vehicle packing solution!

This may not have occurred to you, but transporting plants is really hard. Especially when you also have to pack a popup tent and tables and other supplies!

Because of this, at my first market in April, I spilled two whole flats of plants on the ground and had to repot them at the market, and not all survived. I learned my lesson about how to pack my car, and I haven’t lost any more plants like that.

But: we’re still limited on space. We transport plants to markets in our SUV, a Toyota Highlander. By the time I get the tent and tables and other accoutrements in there, I only had room for between 4 and 6 10x20" flats of ~14 small pots or so. That’s not a lot of plants!

I say “had,” because my husband and I rigged up a solution last week. Using four 30’ tall wire storage racks, we built a system that could hold up to 10 flats!

The featured image of this post shows the view from the hatchback (uncropped image here), and below is the view from the side door:

Photo of our plant transportation system, as seen from the side door of the vehicle, showing two rows of wire shelving. The front two units have two shelves each; the back two have three shelves each.

The four units, as seen through the side door. The front two units have two shelves each and can accommodate larger plants; the back two units have three shelves each and can accommodate smaller plants.

Now, the only limitation on the number of plants we can bring is the size of our booth!