Sprout Farm

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

05/17/2026

Sprout Farm Newsletter May 16, 2026 sproutfarm.net open 9-5 daily
Hello Everyone.
Let's get this out of the way. This week's special sale is- Geraniums- 6” pot, red, Violet, Dark Pink, Pink Flash and White- while they last -$4.00 each. The sale is from Sunday 5/17 to Saturday 5/23.
Seed geraniums in the 4” pot, Red, Violet, 'white and Pink, while they last - $1.99 each.
Finally- Pro-mix organic Herb/vegetable 1 cu ft bag- $9.00.
This warm weather has really brought out the need to get our hands in the dirt and grow something.
I wish we could say you could purchase seeds from us but we tried several companies and in the middle of the season I could honestly say that after a few well known and loved seed packages sold out, I would look at the display and say, “I wouldn't plant any of those varieties so why are we trying to sell them?” I don't know how to fix this issue. You will not find the green bean variety, Jade, in any store display but after several years of trial and error, that is the one variety we plant the most. Jay uses Johnny's Seeds and Harris seeds. This week Ken planted seeds for carrots, peas, beets, zucchini, and green beans. If you plan on growing vegetables from seeds don't forget that some varieties can be planted every three to four weeks to spread out the harvest season. Plan you seed purchases accordingly. If you want seed trays, just ask us. We have plenty to share with you.

We have lots of tomato plants. We need to move them out so we can make room to start cucumber seeds in trays, among other things. The rye grass we planted last October as a cover crop never germinated. That's the first time that's happened. Some grass germinated this spring but only in the garlic. I am grateful that Ken w**ded that patch today. This is the big growth time for the garlic and it doesn't need competition from tall grasses. We're planting more allium, that's plants in the onion family, from the plants we stared by seed. The onions we planted early from starts from down south are doing fine but these home grown babies will finish up later and hopefully gain some good size.

The basic to do list doesn't change from year to year. Gather your tools, make sure they are sharp and you have the ones you need. Remember to fertilize your garden when the seeds start to sprout and continue throughout the season. Start planting your summer vegetables. We don't have any lettuce seedlings at this time in six packs but we have stared the plants in seed trays. We will do this until October. Lettuce is easy to start in seed trays and the germination is a lot easier to control rather then planting the seed directly in the ground and guessing if the w**ds will show up before the lettuce. It is time to plant your perennials but wait for a cool day so the transplants won''t have heat shock. We're sure to have a stretch of those days here on the Cape. Last chore is to wipe out the w**ds. Deep tilling brings up buried w**d seed that then germinate so you may need to lay down a mulch to smother the w**ds or just gently kill them by running a tool one to two inches below the soil line and cut them off from their roots. The sun will germinate any seeds down to a depth of two inches so a couple of passes with a hoe or rake will greatly reduce the w**d pressure.

The kitten report. The last two kittens left us for their new home on Thursday. When I went to pick up the tiger kitten you could tell she knew something was up. She was sitting there shaking, no much, but she wasn't open and stretching. Fortunately, she went with her brother so she will have someone to curl up with when the two of them have finished exploring their new home. I've spent the last couple of days putting away kitten toys, vacuuming hidden corners and checking the drapes for any serious damage. I'm happy to report that after five years of kitten gymnastics, they look just fine.

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

05/10/2026

Sprout Farm Newsletter May 9, 2026 sproutfarm.net ope 9-5 daily
Hello Everyone,
Happy Mothers Day to all mothers on this happy day. The more I learn about other cultures, the more grateful I am that mothers are so highly valued in America. Our 30% off sale on hanging baskets continues just for today, Sunday, Mothers Day.
The special this week: Tomato Plants $2.50 each and Coast of Maine Raised Bed Soil- 2 cu ft bag - $16.00/ea. That sounds like perfect pairing to me. All Coast of Maine bagged products are in the soil shed so they are always warm and dry and not waterlogged from being left outdoors all winter.
Ken has been quietly working in the garden for weeks and when I finally had a chance to catch up with him he told me about all the things that are coming up. He's planted all the cool weather crops we always grow and he says they're doing well. He says he's planted squash. I was surprised to hear that because we usually wait until the weather and the soil is well warmed up. The soil warming up sooner may be due to the new roto tiller for the tractor. The old one still operated fine but over the years the tines had worn down to the point that they had lost their curve and were nothing but straight sticks that didn't really turn the soil. They looked into buying new tines and found the price difference didn't justify all the work. Ken runs the tractor, plants the seeds, plants the transplants and he really likes the new tiller.
Jay has looked at the results of growing tomatoes in a greenhouse, even an unheated greenhouse verse growing them in a field. Jay figures we get at least double the yield from the same number of tomatoes grown under cover because they are healthier and less stressed from disease, insects and wild weather. The guys put up the last greenhouse frame last fall but they didn't cover it. The plan is to put the plastic on it this week and fill it up with tomatoes. I won't miss fighting the w**ds, bugs and disease outdoors. I reminded Jay that Swiss Chard grows exceptionally large in greenhouses and for the same reasons that tomatoes do well. Let's see if he can adjust his floor plan. Jay will be watching the weather for the perfectly calm morning to put up the plastic. A single sheep of plastic 100 feet long can act like a crazy sail if a gust of wind catches it at just the right angle. Then it's just putting the wiggle wire into the tracks to hold the plastic tight for the next three or four years. You don't see that system at Home Depot and it is so simple.
Some of the earliest transplants are catching the attention of the local flock of turkeys. That will require some covering so we'll have to put that together. I remember the days when the site of a wild turkey was something so rare you would take a picture of it. Now the darlings roam everywhere and when their chicks hatch out, the flock increases by twenty new members. They are all hungry and the deer fence does nothing to protect our crops from turkeys.
The kitten report: and then there were two. Boots and dark stripe have gone to new homes. We hope to see pictures of them as they grow up. We still have Leggings and Little Tiger and they will go together to their new home when Leggings starts to eat solid food. I catch him eating kitten chow but he has no interest at all in canned cat food. He is still interested in Mom but Mom is giving him some serious push back when he wants to nurse. Little Stripe is getting better at climbing drapes and Leggings likes to show him/her the way. I just can't remember which stripe is a female. The Tuxedos were both male. They are a little shy around children but cats trust the quietest people first. That is self explanatory.
That's all the news for now and we hope to see you soon. This is the bussiest three weeks of the season so please be patient.
Jay and Phyllis Sprout

05/03/2026

Sprout Farm Newsletter May 2nd 2026 sproutfarm.net open 9-5 daily
Hello Everyone,

This Week's Special: something that is asked for every year, something free. This week we'll change the sales period a little- Sunday May 3rd through Friday May 8th - will be a free 1 cu ft bag of Pro-Mix potting soil with each $60 before tax plant purchase. Everyone always looks forward to Mother's Day so for 2 days, Saturday and Sunday, May 9th and 10th – all Hanging Basket will be 30% off regular price. The parking will be crazy next weekend so please be patient. Warm weather garden favorites like 6 packs of beans and squash will not be available due to cool weather.

May isn't very old yet but the weather is mild and seasonable. Jay has some of the frost hating plants out on the benches because he need the space in the greenhouse. Most growers face the same problem. This is a roll of the dice. Will we have an overnight frost before the end of the month? We usually do.
We have a wide selection and everything looks beautiful when it comes out of the greenhouse. The outside plants have to adjust to hand watering, breezes, and fluctuating sunlight. If you want to put warm loving plants in the ground, you may want to cover the ground with black plastic for a sunny day or two to warm the soil up.
The perennial garden is going through another phase. The daffodils are fading and the few tulips that have survived are blooming. The Virginia Tradescantia is coming up all over my garden. I am going to have to do some serious w**ding to get it under control. These plants came from my neighbor's garden back in my hometown of Lincoln, MA. Nostalgia is nice but they're taking over and it's time to rip most of them out. I will keep the patch that grows on the edge of the garden. James enjoys mowing them down when the foliage gets w**dy looking. I think he enjoys it. They always come back.

I think I need this tip for the tiny perennial garden I tend.
The 70/30 rule in gardening is a design and maintenance strategy where 70% of plants are reliable, structural, or native, providing year-round stability, while 30% are experimental, seasonal, or colorful, allowing for creativity without risking the entire garden's success. This rule offers a "safe" approach for beginners to guarantee a beautiful, low-maintenance garden, often referred to as the "https://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/using-the-70-30-planting-rule/" May is till within the planning stage for most gardens. It is nice to see how those tiny plants have filled the space over the years and now the root area is so tight you are thankful you planted those spring bulbs close by all those years ago. It's time to feed those beds so they will bloom next year. We do not carry shrubs but other garden shops near-by have the wide variety we don't have room for.

The kitten report: The creatures are seven weeks old and full of mischief when they are awake. They have gone vertical. Every desktop, table, drapery rod, or other unexplored space will have a kitten checking it out over the next two weeks. Sit on the couch to enjoy a snack and something furry will soon have whiskers and twitching noses zooming in on the enticing smell. They have figured out how to get up onto the dinner table. Now the drill is, if the clowder is sleeping, eat fast. If they are awake, lock them up in the sun room and don't let them out until we finish dinner. Wheezie is very confused. There is such a thing as kitten manners but they are very resistant to training. Down time is just the opposite. Kick back and read a book and soon you'll notice a small furry body or two curled up next to you legs sound asleep. We haven't taken them outside yet. Maybe this week. That's always a gamble. Will they find their way under the farm stand before they learn to come when they're called?
Stop by and see what we have growing for you,
Jay and Phyllis Sprout

04/19/2026

Specials for the week of April 19th through April 25th.
Special this week: Coast of Maine, 1 cu. ft. bag- Planting mix, Potting soil, or Lobster Compost. Save $2.00/bag. Also, our remaining viola and Pansy 6 packs are not $3.50 ea.

04/19/2026

Sprout Farm newsletter April 18th, 2026 sproutfarm.net open 9-4 (I'll explain that later)
Hello Everyone, This is the first official SFNL of 2026. Thanksgiving 2025 seems like a lifetime ago.
Jay and the crew have been busy since February filling the greenhouses with plants and we're just waiting for the weather to turn consistently warm before we put them out.
Right now we have: Mimi's Microgreens in the cooler, Jams, syrup, and honey.,4 varieties of seed potatoes. Outside we have vinca vine, spikes, pansies, violas. Our cool weather veggie six packs are on the benches: lettuce,, kale, onion plants, Swiss chard. There are more coming but we have to wait.
Our outdoor herbs are:sage, thyme,French tarragon, chives, parsley, mint, lavender, marjoram, oregano and rosemary.
Our herb garden suffered significant losses. We lost all of our chives and rosemary plants. The garlic chives fared well as did the French tarragon.
Most of our perennials are outside to the right of the walkway and the right of lower pergola. Currently in bloom: Columbine and Meadow Rue- cotton ball, and amsonia.
We didn't lose many things in the storm but when the gas ran out in the generator, the greenhouse with the new tomato transplants went real cold. So much for planting early. We had other seedlings started so we expect our first ripe tomatoes some time in June.
Here's a brief April planting guide; Tomatoes: While it's still too early to plant tomatoes outdoors in April, it's the perfect time to start seeds indoors. (they are warm and safe in the seeding house)...
Peppers: Like tomatoes, peppers benefit from an early start indoors in April. ...
Lettuce and Salad Greens: ...
Radishes. ...
Herbs. ...
Spinach. ...
Peas.
We do not sell seeds but it is an excellent time to find them in your favorite store. Walmart, Ocean State Job Lot and Home Depot have a good selection at this time. We have started to plant the first lettuce seedlings in the ground and the turkeys have not bothered them, so far. Ken is busy out back and the new tiller has done a beautiful job smoothing out the soil. I won't have to worry about w**ds for a few weeks and I plan to enjoy them.
Our returning pair of mallard ducks paid us this week. The net over the pond did not stop them at all. Maybe it never stopped any birds and that's why all the koi disappeared. The pond was open all winter and there is no sign of the koi we added last fall.
The kitten report: We have four- four week old kittens and they are cute. We transferred them from our bedroom to the sun room this week so we enjoy their antics from the comfort of the living room couch. They are learning to climb the furniture and it won't be long before the drapes will have kittens clinging to the fabric. We have two tuxedo and two tabby kittens. They are spoken for. They love to hide in hard to reach places and every litter, every year finds the mechanism for the lounge chair, their perfect hiding place. Most of the time they come out when mom calls them but there's one little tabby that sleeps right through her special meow.
Special this week: Coast of Maine, 1 cu. ft. bag- Planting mix, Potting soil, or Lobster Compost. Save $2.00/bag. Also, our remaining viola and Pansy 6 packs are not $3.50 ea.
Jay may not stand around until 5:00 if no one has been by in the last hour so just be warned, the 5:00 closing time is fluid.
That's all for now. Stop by and see what's growing.
Jay and Phyllis Sprout

11/26/2025

Happy Thanksgiving. Sorry to say, we are out of cider.

11/23/2025

Sprout Farm Newsletter Nov. 22nd 2025 sproutfarm.net open 9-4 daily until Thanksgiving

Hello Everyone.

What happened to all that beautiful daylight? I feel like I should be getting ready to hibernate. There's a brief flurry of activity around the upcoming holidays and then the winter days stretch out into long quiet weeks. I like this rhythm, and Jay gets a lot more sleep but come February, when the sun sets after 5:00 pm, we start to stir. The greenhouses have been set up with trays and pots just waiting for the new shipments but let them stay there for a while. Jay will keep the wood in the stove and the snow blower ready to tackle any Nor'easter that threatens our peace. We don't see any travel in our future so it's a good thing we enjoy staying home.

Jay wants you to know what's left as we close for the season Wednesday at 4:00. We have a couple of days' worth of carrots, a few turnips (no Eastham), Lots of HONEY- even the big 5-pound jars so stock up, fresh cranberries, a few dried sweetened cranberries, apples, some squash, tomatoes, beets, micro-greens, and cider. We are out of jam and syrup.

We wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas. Spring will be here before you know it.

I have just enough energy to do some winter cores and our friends at Mahoney's have a nice page on their website about care for your garden in winter. We specialize on plants that die back to the ground so that makes our chores easy. In late winter we'll pull those w**ds that got way out of control because their roots will have lost their grip in the winter freeze. The good advice to clean and store tools for the winter should include- find, clean and store tools for the winter. https://mahoneysgarden.com/getting-your-garden-cozy-for-winter-a-new-england-guide/

The kitten report: As I type, Wheezie is singing in the living room calling us to admire her latest kill, a mouse or a small rat. Jay is explaining the difference in the shape of the head. That's one of those trivia things I do not need to know. Like how can you tell if a chicken is a good layer or is she taking her two-month rest? That involves gloves and feeling up the back end of the chicken. Hey, you never know when a skill like that will be important. We raised chickens in the past, but I do not see them in our future.

It is hard to believe this is the last newsletter of the year, but I am very hard pressed to say anything useful, so this is a good time to stop. Come by and see what we have in these final 4 days. It has been a good year, and we have enjoyed your business and your friendship. We're keeping it local and we'll see you in the new year.

Jay and Phyllis Sprout

Prepare your garden for winter with essential tips on protecting plants, mulching, and planting bulbs for a vibrant spring!

11/09/2025

Sprout Farm Newsletter November 8th, 2025 sproutfarm.net open 9-4 until Thanksgiving

Hello Everyone,

Please note that we close at 4:00 pm from now until Thanksgiving. I forgot to put that in last week's newsletter.

The Halloween candy is 50% in most stores if you can find any left. It's been calling to us from the grocery shelves since mid August because there is no other holiday to claim our attention and sweet tooth over the summer. Now the orange and black decorations will be transmuted to pilgrims and turkeys as a token sop to get us ready to celebrate Christmas. Yesterday's frosty morning with temperatures dipping to 25 degrees soared to today's temperatures in the 60's. One sound summed it up for me. Leaving church this evening, around 5:00 pm I heard one cricket singing one chirp, then going quiet as the evening chill settled in. This beautiful Indian summer will end in winter eventually.

Most of the brilliant reds, yellows and orange foliage has given way to the copper, mahogany and russet hues of the oak trees. The pin oaks will hold onto their leaves throughout the winter interfering with solar panels but they always were a little different.

Jay sold the last of the lettuce today and he doesn't grow any in the greenhouses because it gets buggy. He continues to pick tomatoes from the greenhouses while they are partially red and letting them ripen in the farm stand. We have beets, carrots, turnip, squash, many varieties of apples, jams, syrup, honey, cranberries and dried sweetened cranberries from Carver MA. Don't forget we have gift certificates for your favorite gardeners. We just found out that Mass. State law says that gift certificates are good for seven years unless they are a contest prize. Seven years! Oh my. We will be 82 by then. Oh my! We gave up hiding our age decades ago so just go with it.

We received this beautiful card in the mail this week and I wanted to share it with you all. This is such a beautiful gift and precious talent. Thank you.​

This kitten report is brief. Wheezie is still hunting. This week on the menu: mice, small and not too fast. Twix has shown up for his winter retreat, all 18 pounds of him. All the cats give him lots of space.

That's all the news for now. Please join us here for your fall staples.

Jay and Phyllis Sprout

11/05/2025

Our fall hours have changed. We are open from 9-4 pm daily until Thanksgiving.
Thank you

11/02/2025

Sprout Farm Newsletter November 1st, 2025 sproutfarm.net open 9-5 until Thanksgiving
Hello Everyone,
We've turned the corner. Halloween is over and now it's seven weeks until Christmas. When you have a child born on Halloween, these gift intervals become important. I think life is full of intervals. We just don't recognize them until they are pointed out. I hope you remember that Sunday the 2nd is the first day of Eastern Standard Time and you should have turned back your clocks if you can figure out how to find the 'clock' in settings. Clocks are everywhere but the one I like the most is out at the farm. It is a planting clock. We won't have to fine tune that one until spring, but it is a beautiful clock.
These last few newsletters are kind of sad. I just keep ticking off how many items are no longer on the shelves. Lettuce, Swiss Chard and Kale are coming to an end. Those beautiful, lush leaves of summer are now shrunken tiny leaves that couldn't make a salad for a baby, much less an adult. We still have tomatoes. They don't have a lot of seeds in them, and the seeds are where you get the 'tomato' flavor, but we have both red and green ones. Jay has picked all the turnips and he's waiting to see if the late broccoli will do anything or will the crowns be junior size like the kale.
We have a great selection of squash, including butternut. Our friends at Hanson's Farm made sure I went home with some spaghetti squash. We have some sugar pumpkins that are perfect for cooking.
We have some large decorative squash. They are very dense and heavy. There is a lot more to them than your stringy carving pumpkins and even more than your average sugar pumpkin.
We have thirteen varieties of apples. It was fourteen but we're down to thirteen. Jay says the crispest apples are: Jonagold, Spencer, Honey crisp and Baldwin. The season for Honey Crisp is coming to a close. He is surprised that Baldwins are so crisp and have a really good flavor. I prefer the Spencer for a nice crisp apple.
Last minute chores: Put a layer of mulch on top of the soil to help keep it insulated and prevent the soil from freezing. Dispose of any dead plants or leaves. Store any tools or gardening supplies that you won't be using over the winter. Store liquid chemicals indoors so they do not freeze. Mow your lawn one last time for the season. If you have a water feature in your garden, now is the time to drain it and cover it up. Also, drain and bring in any hoses. A fun chore is to start collecting dried plants and cones for holiday decorating. We can collect the greens when it gets closer to the holidays.
The kitten report: The weather is turning colder, and the cats are spending more time in the house. Twix has started to show up for breakfast and that's good because other creatures that like cats have been seen in the neighborhood. When the sun slants low on the horizon the south facing sun room is flooded with light and heat. Wheezie parks herself next to the doors waiting for the temperature to rise enough for me to open them. If only she could read the thermometer on the door she would know when to start waiting. A sunbeam in winter is a cat's best friend. She is still hunting. This week it is small birds. I think a lot of our habitat was disturbed when the sewer lines went to the back of the house. Small critters seem to have been displaced. Her hunting instinct is so strong that she regularly attacks a knothole on the baseboard in the living room.
It doesn't seem right that the gardens are going to sleep when the weather is some of the best we've seen for November. Get out and enjoy it while you can.
That's all the news for now. Stop by and see what we still have growing for you,
Jay and Phyllis Sprout