Ocean House Farm - Cape Elizabeth, ME

04/20/2026

Earlier I posted a happy story about a pack of seeds, but there's also a sad one. Or perhaps a cautionary tale. Don't buy these Valley Greene seeds like I did when I saw them at Mardens. I shouldn't a bought it when I found it, because about 4 seeds sprouted out of four packages of 150 seeds each. But they only cost 4 packs for $1.00. Turns out, that was many times what they were worth. Strange because marigold is among the easier plants to grow and start from seeds. I normally don't buy hardware store and big box store seeds, it's usually Johnny's, or Fedco. Pine tree if you only want a small amount of something special. But I look at the racks, to say, I got that one, or say, why would anyone want to plant that! A perennial that takes 6 weeks to sprout and you wouldn't get any flowers out of it for two years. If it worked at all, in this non-temperate zone. Today is rainy cold and miserable, but not unexpected. Greenhouses have to be kept at 60 degrees plus, even if it's snowing. 20,000 cubic feet of warm air separated from winter by two sheets of plastic. Piece of cake. Fortunately, we've invested in professional stuff, tonight a greenhouse heater will use the equivalent of 5 or 6 bbq size tankfulls of propane. And I have two of those. Plus several smaller heaters for the smaller buildings, that haven't started to be heated yet. But will be in a couple days so hope it warms up! I suppose I could stop trying to heat sprouting seeds and raise tiny one inch plants to seedling stage, and just have a truck show up May first with a bunch of proven winners and put those on the shelf. That's what all the other places do. But at what cost? Since it was rainy, I went to Broadway garden today driving back from Mardens where I saw the seeds that don't grow (lol) so I stopped to snoop around. They want $7.59 for one petunia in a "proven winners" labeled pot. As usual, there is also the small "retail ready" six-pack of many varieties for $4.99 and that has not changed since last year, despite or considering the inflation. I could get those, but I don't like them, they don't have enough growing medium and will get too dried out or worse, over watered, too easily. I'll spend the 49 cents more it takes to grow a healthy, durable product and still compete. Of course, you need to have the volume to get away with that. So if you like what you see here, tell someone. As long as they don't want Mexican Zinnias. Just kidding. I already got a bunch of those going pretty well. It's not easy starting Mexican hot desert seedlings in Maine winter. But someone's got to do it. And those are Johnny's and even seeds several years old, still all sprout. So I don't know what happened with those Mardens seeds. I guess there's a reason why they're there, and sometimes those reasons matter.

04/19/2026

Here's a pic of our newest greenhouse, the one by the street, taken at night. Looks like rows of plastic plant ID tags, but in a week you won't see the tags as the plants begin to cover them. We've done well utilizing this fantastic new building for early spring propagation. Although it represents about 25% of our greenhouse capacity, this one features "walk through" service and the plants can be better protected in bad weather. Somehow, Chris and I built the entire greenhouse by ourselves, with help from a dozen Cape Lions members "at the crack of dawn" to hoist the plastic coverings last spring about this time. (There can't be any wind.). And because we did the work ourselves, it didn't really cost that much compared to the benefits we've already seen. You just have to get used to drilling and fastening through metal instead of wood, and have the correct tools. I'll try to find a pic or video of the Lions brigade grappling with the 75 x 60 foot pieces of plastic sheeting to hold it down before it blows away. Much thanks to the community to help with this endeavor, and happy gardening!

04/19/2026

These "oh BABY" packets of seeds were a cute gift table decoration for Monica's baby shower party held at the Lions clubhouse. She's a teacher in the Cape system. No one seemed to be taking the seeds, so I gathered a few figuring if anyone ought to plant these seeds it's me. That's all I do and I spent $1,000 on seeds this year. This "bouquet wildflower mix" from Bentley seed in Cambridge NY said to contain 17 different kinds of seeds, is not normally the kind of seeds I would plant because they grow at different rates and sizes and some are perennial or biennial meaning you would not actually get flowers until the second year. They might look awkward in our seedling trays, with a Cosmos a foot high next to a daisy two inches high. Oh well it's an experiment why not try it for fun and see what happens. I sowed two packs of seeds on March 18, about a month ago. There is about a quarter teaspoon of seeds in a pack, they must be spread really thin, to be able to separate them later. In one month, they grew an unbelievable amount of different looking seedlings, now what am I going to do with them? I winnowed them out of the starter dishes and transplanted 8 trays or 48 six-packs for 288 plants total. This is going to take up room in the greenhouse, and I have 20,000 more plants showing up tomorrow to deal with. All part of the fun? Perhaps, but April is like hell month because if you want it in May and June you have to do the work in March and April, and I think people appreciate the effort and the results will speak for themselves. Look forward to seeing you!

11/26/2025

09/18/2025

This year's relish!

07/25/2025

We now have native corn! That means we can cook you a lobster, corn and potato. There is a $2 per lobster cooking charge up to $12. So a lobster, corn and potato for less than the price of a lobster roll.

07/07/2025

Raspberries are close. Picked a handful today. Flowers still have a little while before pick your own. We also sell lobster, live or cooked for a small fee. $9.95 lb for up to 1, 1/4. $10.95 from 1.25lb to 1.5lb $11.95 for anything 1.5 lb and more.

05/26/2025

Three weeks since the last post, we've now concluded Memorial Day weekend with two sunny days in a row! Certainly helped with the parade and ceremony too. Many thanks to everyone who stopped by to garden. I thought I'd take a new photo to compare with the earlier one, although it's really outside that's beefed up with a pretty well organized display. In the old days, my Father would nail old boards to sawhorses to make tables to fit under a 10x20 plastic tarp. I'm sure he would be amazed to know we now have grown from that 200 sq. ft. to 6,500 sq. ft. of greenhouse space. And they are all completely full. Yes you sell stuff, but the rest keeps growing and needs to be separated and spaced out. After Memorial Day the pace keeps up, actually accelerates, because warm weather annuals like zinnias (that are in a zillion seed germination trays now) need transplanting, and if I don't transplant enough I won't get to keep any to plant in our own cut flower garden. Thankfully, the Mexican Zinnia ladies haven't caught up with me yet. Plants native to arid hot deserts don't like to grow in 45 degree drizzle like we just had for a month. Anyway, today is a day to thank Veterans for their service, and appreciate one's hard work. The pic is OK but doesn't give it justice, you'll have to see for yourself.

05/07/2025

There seems to be a lot of curiosity about the new building and everyone who's stopped by says they're impressed. I was hoping for a nice sunny day to take a few photos. But that was, two weeks ago, maybe Thursday. So, looks like we're ready to go. In the extra week of delay since May first, more varieties are ready to display. And now it seems even at 2200 SQ. ft it's still full! So now I'll let the plants do the talking. Look forward to seeing you. Tell your friends!