Farm Glance: Les Serres Naturo

While checking out La Mauve cooperative in St.-Vallier Quebec we were offered an unexpected chance to visit one of its member farms–Les Serres Naturo has been owned and farmed by Leo and Ginette Dutil for twenty years. A major aspect of the 10 acre operation is based on growing crops in eight large greenhouses custom designed and built by Leo using mostly scrap metal. The greenhouses contain large oil furnaces that heat hot water in pipes running beneath the soil. Leo and Ginette, we have concluded, are farmer-geniuses and were able to show us more techniques and technologies than we will share here.

Ginette looked at us like we were bush-league when we marveled at her tomato-support system, which she tells us can be bought at any large greenhouse supply store. Yet we've visited many market gardens, at least out west, that don't use them. These are the best supports we've seen for ease of use.

These supports are best googled as 'tomato hooks.' I quickly found some online for 28 cents apiece with twine; 13 cents apiece without twine. They allow for very quick adjustments to tomato plants, including laying the plants down to allow more room for the plants to grow.

You'll have to use your imagination with this one. Leo welded some scrap metal together to create an attachment for his tractor-run tiller that concentrates the soil into deeper, narrower beds, ideal for carrots. Leo has promised to send us a photo of this thing in action,

Here you can see how Leo attached this implement to the tiller

Here you're looking at one of the welds of the implement.

We liked this method of blanketing the soil around greenhouse plants with plastic: instead of puncturing holes in one wide piece of plastic, Ginette uses two pieces alongside a central row of plants. It's hard to tell in the photo, but this plastic is opaque, and these cucumber plants are all planted as one row. She gets moisture retention, warmer soil, and weed suppression out of this system, but the plastic can easily be moved without disturbing the plants.

Leo and Ginette speak to V. Thanks to both of them for a great day.