Black Dirt region farm yields color season after season
Warwick. The fifth generation, family-owned farm and nursey maintains 2,000 pots of perennials and a wide variety of flower & vegetable bedding plants each season.
| 31 May 2023 | 02:25
Hanging petunia baskets at Scheuermann Farms & Greeenhouses. (
)
Travel down Little York Road in Warwick’s old German hamlet of Little York and you’ll soon discover why visitors return to Scheuermann Farms & Greeenhouses season after season for proven vegetable plants and flower stock.
Sally and Bob Scheuermann have lived on this Black Dirt region farm for decades. They are specialists in what to plant, where to plant it, and when, and they are known for the World’s Best Sweet Corn and a wide variety of annuals and perennials, proven winners of nursey stock.
This year’s late frost a couple of weeks ago wiped out much of the early plantings that normally take place in May. As a result, some harvests will be delayed this season or the quantity will be greatly reduced. Many farmers had to replace their plantings, and residents wound up returning to replace flowers that had been decimated by the below freezing temperatures.
The Black Dirt Region, about 26,000 acres of deep, rich, black earth, is one of the most fertile agricultural regions in the United States. It is the result of a glacier that created a lake of submerged soil over 12,000 years ago. During the late 1800s, early Polish and German settlers in the region, during the late 1800s, recognized the swampy, submerged soil as “chernozem,” Russian for “black earth.” The same soil, found in a few other parts of the world, including Ukraine, is so highly valued that it is illegal to move it.
The Scheuermann Garden Center contains many of the containers, planters, and ingredients needed for the perfect garden, including dozens of flats of flowers for both inside and outside your home.
“Petunias can take the heat, while other varieties need more shade,” Sally Scheuermann said. She is full of helpful information about the right varieties to select for the right property and orientation in the sunlight.
Meanwhile, the Scheuermanns said are busy planting sweet corn, tomatoes, and other vegetables for later this season.
Their farm is open seven days, from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. (or Sundays until 4 p.m.).To learn more, log onto ScheuermannFarms.com.