Gearing up for gardening

Rib Mountain - MyFox Wausau - Spring is only days away. And when the grass turns green, so do many gardens. Area greenhouses are gearing up for the growing season.

There's only a few flowers, but plenty of green. Workers at Rib Mountain Greenhouse are busy preparing for the upcoming season.

"Spring tends to come earlier and earlier so we're bumping up our crops so that they're ready," said owner Chris Spiegel.

She and her husband Kent have been growing your garden-variety greens for decades. A process, for them, with almost no off-season.

"We basically start in November," Kent said. "taking cuttings, starting seedlings, and getting ready."

He says they typically don't open until Mother's Day Weekend, but the spring-like weather is already budding interest around town.

"There's a lot of people coming in now just because they're antsy," he explained. "They're anxious for Spring. And with the warm weather we've had, people are even out in their yards starting to rake."

But before the flowers can bloom big outside, they need a helping hand. The Speigel's use a process called defoliating. That's removing premature buds and stems.

"It helps the plant stimulate new growth," Chris said. "It makes it into a bigger plant. That way, in the Spring when we sell it, it has lots of flowers on it."

The Spiegels expect a good year for growing. Especially people starting to sprout their own veggies.

"It's going to be a little bit interesting to see because of the cold weather that they've had down in the south," Kent said. "how that's going to effect the vegetables and that type of thing this year."

Rib Mountain Greenhouse is set to open the end of April.