Heather and Andrew Fry, owners and operators of Twiggs Ferry Flowers at Dutton, were the guest speakers at the March 22 meeting of Planters with a Purpose, the Mathews Community Gardeners’ group.

Also speaking on the topic of soil health was Frank Long, Middlesex Extension Agent, Agricultural and Natural Resources. “Having local experts who practice leading-edge gardening methods is a great resource to our community,” said Mathews Extension Agent Rachael Morris.

“We practice a regenerative, organic, small-scale, high-intensity form of farming where we grow tens of thousands of plants closely together,” noted Heather Fry. The farm utilizes soil sampling, heavy compost amendments, landscape fabric with measured spacing, drip tape irrigation, Hortenova netting, and “compost tea” applied twice monthly. “Everything is grown from seed; we grow over 50 varieties in the whole color spectrum,” Fry continued.

One of the innovative practices is the soil blocking method for starting seed...