Sprout Farm

08/22/2026

Sprout farm newsletter August 22nd 2026 sproutfarm.net open 9-5 daily
Hello Everyone,
We've turned another corner into a little summer. That's the time when the Falmouth Road Race is over and the college students leave to get ready to return to classes. Life slows down just a little bit from the hectic July days. Even the public schools are starting before Labor Day and it just seems wrong to look at yellow school buses before the holiday. Sunset on August 31st is around 7:30.
Did we ever make a decision about staying on Daylight savings time? I remember when we tried it back in the late 70's. I lasted just until the little kids were getting on the school buses in total darkness then the parents made their choice loud and clear. Standard time was good for early classes and buses.
Jay is making the trek in early ours of the day to The Big Apple and we now have, in addition to the best peaches in New England, apples. Paula Reds and Gravenstein are the first tart apples to come off the trees. We have some cukes and other staples from the Big Apple. I'm glad they know ow to grow a late summer garden. We find it a challenge. Jay like the garden neat and tidy. Pick a row of beans a couple of time, turn it under and plant something for fall. I take a different approach. Pick the row clean, wait for the new flowers to set and keep picking beans over and over again. There is one raggedy row of beans that we started picking on July 9th and I pulled a 5 gallon bucket of beans out of it this morning. There are still flowers on the plants so I will continue to defend it from the tines of the tractor. Ken is keeping busy picking tomatoes and lettuce. Thank goodness Sandra is keeping up with the flower bouquet. I just don't have the energy to do that chore. More than the energy, I don't have her eye for color and form. The shallots from the garden are finally dried and are on the stand.
The chrysanthemums are starting to crack color so they are coming out of the greenhouses. We have some yellow and bronze/orange coloring up a little earlier than expected. He set the price a $5.99/9” pot. He doesn't want them to linger here. They are looking good with generous and tight branching. We have five or six varieties of perennials that are potted up in the seeding house that are for sale. There is some lupin, delphinium, helianthus, swamp milkw**d,cone flower. We have some work to do on the milkw**d before it is ready for prime time. Here's an article about aphid control on milkw**d. There are some very unusual ideas here. That's just what we need.
https://monarchbutterflygarden.net/control-aphids-milkw**d-plants/
The perennials are staying in the seeding house because the automatic watering system does the job better than we could at this time of year. We thought we would try starting perennials from seed and we are pleasantly surprised to see how many of them did well. Now they have to go into ground and chill out for a winter season, or vernalize, so they will bloom in the spring.
The kitten report: The little explorers are climbing up Jay's legs and he always wears shorts. They have an all consuming interest in shoes and boots; the smellier the better. They sniff them, climb over them, dive into them head first and play with any loose laces. Wheezie is very patient. Here tail never stops swishing so the kittens always have something to pounce on.
We're keeping the gold kitten. He's a chub. They've started climbing the drapes, right on schedule. Kittens climbing drapes is our entertainment and the drapes were a super bargain so we don't worry about them.

The kittens have been moved from our bedroom to the sun room/living room. They hangout in back of a big chair on a soft blanket. They're cute when the sleep and they more cute when they wake up. I have to be careful not to let those moments interfere with chores or driving. Wheezie claims the house her territory and defends it from our other older cats while she is caring for kittens. She takes exception to Cat-a-chino at all times and he's terrified of her. He can go from the kitchen, down the cellar stairs and out the cat door in the basement in less than four seconds. He may be older but she's meaner.
That's all the news for now. Be sure to stop by and see what we have growing for you.
Jay and Phyllis Sprout

08/09/2026

Sprout Farm Newsletter August 8, 2026 sproutfarm.net open 9-5 daily
Hello Everyone,
Has anyone tried to cook a meal with one of those solar ovens? If there was ever a time for outdoor cooking, it was this week. The temperature is challenging enough but the humidity is truly uncomfortable. Some of the plants are beginning to complain. Our summer squash is diminishing due to powdery mildew or something similar and the new plants are looking pretty small in comparison. Jay says we are getting a few more tomatoes but we're still picking from the greenhouse with the tall tomato plants. We are surprised by the nice growth on these plants as they usually fall prey to disease long before August. I was out scouting for horn worms last night and saw three and picked offs two. When I went to relocate the ladder I surprised a skunk, nothing serious but we both went our separate ways. The wildlife continues to thrive and we keep a bowl of fresh water by the back steps for any stray cat that happens to need a drink.
The last of the veggie plants went into the compost pile this week and the benches were stacked up so we can do a deep cleaning of the front yard. Jay predicts the chrysanthemums will begin to crack color around Sept. 1st. We will bring them out when they show color because it is easier to see the flower than it is to find and read a plant tag. By the time they are on display, the tag is buried somewhere around the base of the plant and pretty much invisible.
Here are some very brief garden suggestions.
'As the gardening to-do list starts to get crossed off, begin to think about next year. Make notes while things are still blooming. Figure out which plants may need to be moved or divided. Also, order spring bulbs. If you’ve had your amaryllis outside, now is the time to bring them in.
Sow lettuce, greens, carrots, beets, and turnips for a second chance crop. Mulch around the root systems to retain water and keep them cool. Keep an eye out for pests and act immediately to eradicate them. Fill in bare spots in the lawn by sowing mixed grass seed.'
Speaking of turnips, we have started to transplant our Eastham turnip seedlings. We wintered over one turnip plant and it grew to over four feet tall before it fell over. We forgot about it as it was totally engulfed in w**ds. When we pulled back the w**ds we saw that the seed heads had matured and that turnip seedlings were covering the ground like a green mat. Fortunately, there was still an abundance of seeds for collecting and now we have seedlings from '25 and '26 growing in the garden. None of our off-Cape farm friends are excited about Eastham turnip so this must be a local thing.
Sauchuk Farm corn has been very popular and I made a second trip today to make sure everyone got corn and no one pulled in a saw that dreaded, “Sorry, Corn Sold Out” sign. Some of you may have purchased white corn for the first time when we were temporally out of the butter and sugar corn. The parking lot was a little crowded at times and I told Rylan to turn down the volume on the driveway alert or it would drive him crazy. It broadcasts into our living room and the farm stand register area when someone enters and exits the parking lot. He said that was a big improvement.
The kitten report: The kittens will be three weeks old tomorrow. They are just getting their sea legs under them. They go forwards and backwards with the same confusion. Any sideways movement is purely accidental. They have been living is a dark room, under a low piece of furniture for so long that any ordinary light draws them out to investigate the world. They don't go far, maybe less than two feet from the desk, before they turn around and stumble back under the desk where they curl up with their litter mates. Mom is calm and quiet unless she is really hungry but we have a routine; if you walk into the room, you feed the cat. She likes that arrangement. We expect she will keep the kittens there for at least another week. We are spoiling her by running the air conditioner all the time to keep her comfortable. When mama's happy, everyone's happy and that includes her five kittens.
That's all the news for now. Stop by and see what we have growing for you,
Jay and Phyllis Sprout

07/26/2026

Sprout Farm Newsletter July 25, 2026 sproutfarm.net open 9-5 daily
Hello Everyone,
We've turned the corner and mid summer is just around the corner. I think I saw the first Halloween candy display going up in a supermarket off Cape. This is a sugar conspiracy, I'm sure of it. They can't sell candy and decorations for Labor day so they just skip it and move onto the next holiday.
Now for a better diet, you've come to the right place. The first flush of summer is over, that means we are between the tomato house and High tunnel #1. Translation: we don't have many tomatoes right now because we are waiting for those in the high tunnel to ripen up. We hope the zucchini and summer squash hold up until the second planting starts to produce and Jay spends a lot of time hunting for cukes. I get home from the corn run, grab a bucket and head out to pick beans. Life is very predictable around here. The corn is grown in Plympton, just west of Plymouth. August is coming and we heard from The Big Apple that the peach crop is bountiful. So, someone is going to be getting up nice and early to go to Wrentham pretty soon. There are too many crops to list them all but we sure you'll find something tasty, especially if you stop by in the morning.
Flowers-cut. Our first planting of sunflowers has been cut and are resting in the cooler. From what I see, this will be the best planting of the year so if you have a thing about sunflowers, now is the time to indulge yourself. Sandra is doing a remarkable job pulling bouquets together. The plants are healthy, we just have to be patient on some of them, like asters that have this internal clock that says, “We will bloom when autumn is near.” Thanks. We will do fine.
I have an update on the tomato horn worm saga. The black light flashlight arrived and last week I waited until dark and went out to the tomato house. That's the one where the plants grow up 8-10 feet tall. The horn worms like to start feasting at the tender tips on the top of the plants and work their way down. The ladder was in the center of the row and it was easy to climb up and search for worms, find them, pry them off the branch, put them in a bag. Climb down the ladder, move it four feet and repeat the drill. The black light made the foliage look reddish-purple and the worms stood out as bright turquoise. I couldn't believe the contrast! I could have searched for hours, which I did, and I would not have seen a single one of those worms in bright daylight. At night, with a black light flashlight, those worms glowed and were were toast. There is something deeply troubling about pulling those worms off their branch. They cling, stubbornly, and feel dry and squishy and just icky. Lesson #1, wear gloves to separate you from the worm. It helps somewhat but it is still icky. That first hunt yielded around two dozen huge worms. It was sad to get up close to see the damage they had done. It was good to see the black light showed up tiny worms as well as their big brothers. I went out a week later and did the same drill and only found three worms so that's a big improvement without chemicals.
The kitten report: We have kittens! Rather Wheezie has five new kittens and one is orange. James is happy to finally have an orange kitten. She had them last Sunday under our bed, as usual. So far all has been quiet. She gets us up at 4:55 am just to make sure we keep a strict schedule. She gets fed first, then Jay feed the rest of the clowder or whoever shows up, then I just get up slowly and feed her again. Everyone is on KP duty and she is not shy about letting us know when it is chow time. I will remember their birthday if I call one of them FIFA because they were born on the final day of the World Cup. Four of the kittens are black, gray, white, striped and blotched. I think the kitten list is finished at this time. We just have to keep everyone healthy so they can go to good homes. Chino, our tuxedo cat, showed up tonight for the first time in many weeks. I don't know where he's been but he is hungry and deeply suspicious of the other cats. He's in my face and in front of my screen. I expect to hear fur fly and Chino head for the door as soon as Wheezie catches sight of him. If he's smart, he will lay low and get breakfast tomorrow morning like a proper cat.
That's all the news for now. Stop by and see what we have growing for you,
Jay and Phyllis Sprout

07/12/2026

Sprout Farm Newsletter July 11, 2026 sproutfarm.net open 9-5 daily

Hello Everyone,

Well, you've been asking, you've been calling, you've been sending up smoke signals and I can now confirm- We have corn! I picked up corn from Sauchuk farm in Plympton for the second day in a row. It is a little small but it is oh so sweet. The price went up a little so it is not $1.00/ear. Unfortunately we will not be getting blueberries from Sauchuk Farm due to a lack of blueberry pickers. He has pick your own blueberries but there is no one to pick them wholesale. Wild blueberries are delicious but the bushes set fruit buds in August and that is a pretty dry month around here. If you want to know if there will be wild blueberries this year, just look at the rainfall for last summer. We had over 5” of rain this past week. That will go a long way to alleviating the dry dusty conditions we've had over the last few weeks. It's also good for the corn to get a good drink. The rain loosened the soil so much that some of the sunflowers leaned to the side and now the flowers won't be straight. It's always something new.

The garlic has been harvested and is drying along with the first planting of onions. The first row of beets is in the cooler and all I see is a row of w**ds. I know I just w**ded that area less than two weeks ago. How did they grow so fast? The snap pea season seemed short for some reason but I'll soon be picking beans. Most of the plants look health and some, well, not so much. I'm just happy I don't see any signs of rust, on the beans, not the truck. We took care of the truck over the winter and now it looks great. The lettuce is still large and bountiful along with the kale and Swiss chard. It is time to start a second planting of kale so we will have lots of it when the weather turns frosty. The Eastham turnip from last fall is setting seed pods but they are far from ready. I'm going to see if I can get the seeds from last year to germinate. I never know how they will turn out but you just have to keep trying. We have lots of tomatoes, zucchini and summer squash.

We are down to the last few flowers and last few tomato plants. The greenhouses are full of mum plants and the boys have done a great job w**ding them. This week's job has been to scout for Colorado potato beetles in the eggplant and the potatoes. On the first day out William and I each filled up a 24 oz jar of beetles. That must have been over 1k of insects but we only found four egg clusters to crush. After three days there's only a couple of dozen bugs so we may see a pesticide free harvest. The scouting will continue as long as the plants look healthy.

We have a bumper crop of Potomac snap dragons for our cut flower bouquets. I will take those over the 'rocket' variety any day. We await our first Benarys asters, not zinnias- we have those, but asters. That's one plant we hold our breath and hope that it stays healthy all the way until it is time to cut the stems. Let's just say it is sensitive to soil conditions.

This was a surprise- we have fish! As the pond lost water we were able to see the three tiny koi that we had added to the pond after the great koi disappearance last year. We'll have to do something about the algae but the fish survived the winter and that's all that counts. We were convinced that they had died. After all we had been searching for them without seeing them all spring. You know they must be small if we didn't see them until July. Now Jay or James has the incentive to patch the pond liner and fill the pond up. I miss the hungry fish and it will take years for those babies to grow up.

The kitten report: Wheezie is fat and greedy for treats. I don't think it will be long before she finds a dark corner and enlarges the family. Scruffy stills comes around everyday for fresh water but he doesn't hang out with us. He runs away if you even look at him. He doesn't go far but he's hopeless. James says, “If there's an orange kitten, we're keeping it.” I reminded him that orange cats are almost always male and he said that's OK. There's something about the personality of orange cats that we all love. They rule!

That's all for now. Stop by and see what we have growing for you.

Jay and Phyllis Sprout

07/11/2026

We have corn! The corn comes fresh from Sauchuk Farm in Plympton MA every day so stop by the farm and enjoy some of the sweetest, sweet corn ever.

06/20/2026

There are new foods at the farm today: tomatoes, bulb fennel and sugar snap peas. The long wait is over!

06/14/2026

Sprout Farm Newsletter June 13, 2026 sproutfarm.net open 9-5 daily

Hello Everyone,

The hot weather has arrived and the time to get plants into the ground is now. June is the best time to plant perennials and it is tempting to walk into any nursery and pick out the plants that are in bloom now and neglect everything else; the plants that bloom later or the plants that bloomed earlier and have gone by. I was told by a man who maintained a large perennial garden that there are 13 two week seasons for perennials. I find that a daunting standard to apply but If June is the best month to plant and you want color all season NEXT year, then you would want to look for plants that have already bloomed, plants that are in bloom now and plants that aren't showing any color at all. The most important thing is to get them into the ground so they can establish strong roots before the soil really heats up in July.

That brings me to Jay's annual clearance sale, which begins Sunday, June 14th, and Flag Day. It is also the birthday of someone famous but I won't touch that. Our markdown's from last week are even bigger this week. Perennials and Hanging baskets are 40% off. Proven Winner 4.5” pots are on sale along with many other plants, There is a long list of markdowns and it will take too much time to wade through Jay's handwriting, but it's there. It is easier to list the plants that remain at regular price: Vegetables & herbs, Zinnias - Benarys, and Planters. It's not too late to start your garden or containers for your deck.

In the garden- We have lots of beautiful lettuce. We are starting to get beets and kale and chard. We do not have tomatoes yet. Jay guesses that we will start to get them around the end of the month. The sugar snap peas may be ready towards the end of next week. We have some beautiful ceramic bud vases from our friend Janelle. Small bud vases are difficult to find but they are perfect for that one (or three) special flower. We support local artists. We just don't have a lot of indoor display space.

Mimi's microgreens are fully stocked in the cooler.

People are planting cukes and every year they become a challenge or a champion. The Epic Gardener has his garden in North Carolina but he is fun to watch and has lots of good information. He is unusual because he doesn't hide his failures and every year he builds on what he learned from the previous year. While his summer growing conditions arrive in his back yard before we see ours, we gain from his experience in little things like how to grow cukes. We do not carry the all female varieties but we do start them every few weeks because growing outdoors is always a challenge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEFvkqvpPnY&t=90s

The fish pond is down to the original lower level and we have no fish for the last year. Something is chewing up the thick lining and we are grateful that underneath that liner is the concrete pond shell. We're going to have to give some though on who or what is going after the liner. Could it be the same thing that wiped out all the fish in one night without a trace? It is a mystery but there is no rush to solve it right now.

There was a market/craft gathering at the Mashpee Commons today and it had a distinct 'dog' theme. I remembered Jessy but now that we are the owners of five cats, I felt a little out of place. The cats are taking the hot temps in stride. They hang out under the trees or the plants in the garden. We never know when they will show up, with one exception. They show up for breakfast. Even the hunter has stopped bringing in various creatures for out inspection. Wheezie and Scruffy are hanging out like brother and sister. Things may change in a couple of months. Who knows. We have reports that the kittens are all doing fine and we will be happy to share and pictures that come our way.

That's all the news for now. Stop by and see what we have growing for you.

Jay and Phyllis Sprout

Are your cucumber plants barely producing? There are a few tricks t...

06/13/2026

A reminder that right now all Hanging Baskets and Perennials are 30% off our regular prices. Zinnia lovers, the 2nd planting of Benaries zinnias are now on the benches. This is the tall variety. The plants are small but they love the hot weather and long days. it won't be long for them to catch up to the early crop.
It's time for locally grown lettuce lovers to rejoice. The lettuce is huge and abundant. Stop by and check it out.

06/07/2026

Sprout Farm newsletter June 6, 2026 sproutfarm.net open 9-5 daily

Hello Everyone,

No rain for one week. I hope the guys off Cape are taking advantage of the good weather to get in the first crop of hay. Our dairy goat days are over but we still remember the huge truck that would arrive in the middle of the night with a years worth of 2nd cutting of alfalfa hay. Nighttime was the best time to stack the hay in the loft when the temps were cool and the world was quiet. The guys at Hanson's will get in a crop of straw and that is something we look forward to.

The special of the week, 6/7-6/14 – We will be continuing our 30% off on our selection of perennials and add to them our hanging baskets, fuchsias, Impatiens , geraniums and more, now also 30% off regular prices. The garden shop season is winding down and some things are no longer available, but you just might find what you need.

Our friend Shelley, from Shelly's garden design is with us on weekends to help you find the perfect plant for that spot that needs 'something'. She's been helping customers since May, I just forget to mention her in the newsletter. Sharon and Sandra are with us all year but Shelley has experience with plants in her garden and the garden of her clients that is exceptionally wide ranging and helpful. She knows what we have and what we have left. That saves a lot of time, even if it sometimes leads to disappointment. The greenhouses are emptying out and just in time. In just a few weeks the mum plants will arrive.

The back garden is doing well, The sugar snap peas have started to flower so we hope to have peas in about three weeks. The carrots are doing well and for the next few days they will have no w**ds. That will change with the seed laden breezes but for now they are clean. Ken and I are keeping the pathways clean with tillers and tilthers. To each his own but no pull start equipment for me. I go through this every year and by the end of July I admit defeat and wade through the w**ds. I saw my first Colorado potato beetle in the lettuce. The lettuce was on the edge of the garden near the woods and far away from the potatoes. Jay saw a moth for the tomato horn worm and tracked it down in the greenhouse and killed it. It probable laid eggs somewhere and we should expect to see the damage around the time of the county fair. This link to New England Nurseries has a little bit of advise for everything in the garden. I learn a lot just scanning through them. https://www.newenglandnurseries.com/post/blooms-beyond-insights-from-new-england-nurseries.

The kitten report: More like the future kitten report. Sleazy Wheezie has been AWOL and that is unusual. We get occasional reports that her kittens are doing well. She has slacked off on bringing in gifts and that is a relief. This is the time of year we look real close at their faces. We don't treat our cats for ticks so we have to do a close inspection to make sure the nymphs for the deer ticks are not clinging to the edges of their eyes, ears or lips. They are as tiny as the head of a pin but they come off easily. That's a daily grooming routine but if you like cat videos this one is very different. This is about cat anatomy and how a cat can fall a great distance without injury. Did you know they have six more vertebrae than we have? That's just one strange thing. Check out the rest in under 3 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lr-pvtM4mJo I must go. Wheezie is calling and we must obey. She has the strangest meow.

That's all for now. Stop by and see what we have growing for you.

Jay and Phyllis Sprout

A cat falls from a 10-story building. By every law of physics, it s...

05/24/2026

Sprout Farm Newsletter May 23, 2026 sproutfarm.net open 9-5 daily

This is memorial Day weekend and we give special thanks for those who have served our country with their lives and their sacred honor. I helped with the signs at the Mashpee Rotary.

Jay wrote quite a sale section this week. Special this week; finally a Proven Winner sale. 41/2” pots on sale for 2/$10 however this does not include the following varieties:Lantana - all and Begonia double ups. These 2 varieties will be on sale while they last 2/$11.00. To get them off to a good start, our selection of Coast of Maine composts, 1 cu ft $11.99 for the next week will be on sale for $9.00.

One of the most time consuming chores is to take all those plants we have grown in the greenhouses and get them outdoors and onto the benches. Jay says we just don't have time to get the second planting of sunpatiens out to the benches so they are still in green house #4 and a few of you have found them. So now it's time for those of you who are still looking for sunpatiens to get in and get them out of the greenhouse. Would you believe it is almost time to pot up fall mums. I still need to get the bag of ice melt off the deck. We're sorry that some of your favorite veggies were not on the benches but they are in the seeding house and just breaking the soil in their cells and pots. We will continue to seed them up every few days but there are certain times of the year when we just don't have the space to keep up with the demand. We sill be planting cukes and squash for the next six to eight weeks. So if you think you missed the official window in which you must put your transplants into the ground, relax, you have plenty of time and the warmer days and nights will make the seedlings happier to grow. This morning it was 43 degrees. Warm weather plants sulk with those temps.

An old menace has returned. I was gazing over the garden one evening when I saw a creature eating the lettuce seedlings. Oh no, That's not a cat. It was a woodchuck. According to my father who went deer hunting in Maine but never saw a deer, woodchucks taste like chicken. Why would he know that? The first stage of removal was observation and realizing he had burrowed under the pallets that held the last of the winter wood supply. So we spent a lot of down time on the deck just watching the garden. That crafty marmot will be the challenge of the week. James stacked the wood in the basement, upended the pallets and found the hole in the sand. Wood chucks can tunnel up to 45 feet so there's no telling where the other entrance is. I can't remember seeing the house without a stack of wood under the deck. It looks naked. We'll spend some YouTube time gathering the wisdom of the gardeners and see if we can find a way to remove him before he does any more damage. I have no desire to test out my father's assertion on the taste of woodchucks. I'll stick to Stop & Shop, thank you.

The first flush of w**ds is up and they spread over everything like a carpet. I'm keeping up with them so far which is why you don't see me out front very often. This week I have to get the w**ds out of the greenhouses. There aren't very many now but they tend to grow big if left near drip irrigation plus fertilizer. Now if only the woodchuck would eat the w**ds and leave the veggies alone.

My favorite tool is still the Husky hoe at Home Depot for $29.99. It is severely overlooked probably because people don't understand the advantages of a triangle shaped hoe with four very sharp sides and a point that can slice through any tough w**d root clump. I wish it didn't come from China but the US version was good but not that good. My second favorite tool is the bamboo double loop. I build it with a wide loop for cleaning up areas of 4” and a narrow loop of about 1.5” All the better to remove w**ds from in between beets and onions while standing up.

That's all the news from the farm for now. Stop by and see what we have growing for you.

Jay and Phyllis Sprout