Vegetables from farmers’ greenhouses will soon travel to buyers

Eimantas Bakšys, a farmer from the village of Zizėnai, Miroslava ward, said that he starts the new season with hope and optimism. In his greenhouses, onion leaves are already being harvested, and in a few days the leafy vegetables will be harvested as well.

“Everything is much earlier this year, the onions planted in the greenhouses and the leafy vegetables sown will begin to yield some three weeks earlier. Compared to last year, when the spring was long and cold, the onions had just started sprouting, this year the situation is completely different, from this weekend we will start selling onion letters. Next week, we will delight customers who are longing for fresh vegetables with salad and spinach. A little later, we will also offer young beetroot leaves, from which housewives cook spring soups”, said E. Bakšys.

Early strawberries are also pleasing. “They were shriveled up, and when I went to them at the beginning of this week, a pleasant surprise awaited them – they had already raised their inflorescences, and the leaves had sprouted throughout the entire spring. If such heat wakes up next week, it will begin to bloom. Mid-early and late strawberries are in no hurry to wake up.

According to the farmer, this year is particularly abundant and, of course, the medlieva, which had already burst with buds, predicting a good harvest, will bloom a day later. Honeysuckle, which produces one of the most valuable berries, is already in full bloom.

“Only the fields are still wet, we can’t drive in and sow anything – neither vegetables nor grains, because even though the weather is warm, the ground has not warmed up yet”, E. Bakšys shared his observation.

And although we are all happy that this year the heat is pleasing at a record early time, the farmer claims that there have been even earlier warm springs: “We take pictures of our work every year so that we can remember what year it was. Looking at the photos, we can see that there have been years when we got the first harvest of vegetables even earlier. It was a year that St. We could offer a variety of greens for the Easter table (regardless of the fact that this holiday is moved every year).”

E. Bakšys, who has been farming for twelfth year, grows various vegetables in greenhouses covered with double polyethylene film and in open ground.

A farmer with experience in growing vegetables and selling them said that one of the conditions for successful trade is the variety of vegetables, because when a person comes, he usually buys more than one type. Of course, it is much more difficult to grow different vegetables, because you need to coordinate the crop rotation and choose the right place for each vegetable. It is no less important to choose vegetable varieties that would grow best on the available land and would appeal to buyers.

“It is necessary to calculate how much and what kind of vegetables to grow. Last year we planted 7.5 hectares with potatoes, but there was no big purchase. Compared to the quantities of other vegetables, there are the most of them left,” said the farmer.

According to E. Bakshis, this did not happen because buyers started eating less: “After the shopping centers made promotions, selling a kilogram of potatoes for a few cents, people formed a stereotype that it is a cheap vegetable. People come and complain that it is too expensive, that it is cheaper in the store, but farmers cannot sell the grown crop at a price much lower than the cost price.”

E. Bakshis market – residents of Alytus city and district. Sometimes buyers also come from other districts, they usually buy large quantities of vegetables.

Soon, the farmer will offer strawberry seedlings to buyers, as he does every spring.