About Us
Ben Caesar started Fiddlehead Nursery in the spring of 2012. He was introduced to permaculture and forest gardening through a friend in Guelph, where he filled his small urban yard with edible perennials before moving to the Beaver Valley in the spring of 2011. He runs Fiddlehead Nursery with the help of Wwoofers, or international farm workers who work in exchange for room, board, and education.
Our Climate
We live in USDA Agricultural Zone 5a, meaning our winters reach lows of -28.9C. We grow all of the plants we sell in our demonstration gardens, and only sell perennial plants that survive our winters (unless otherwise noted). If you live in an agricultural zone comparable to ours or warmer, our plants would likely survive your winters. If you live in an area with colder winters than us, you would still be able to grow many, but not all, of the plants we offer. Each plant in our catalogue lists the coldest hardiness zone in which that plant can survive. You can find out more about your own agricultural zone using the maps found here:
http://www.planthardiness.gc.
Our Growing Practices
For us, idealism guides our methodologies. We propagate all of the herbaceous plants and most of the bushes we sell, and we use strictly natural ingredients in our soil mixes and fertilizers. We don’t use any pesticides, fungicides or herbicides on our farm. For fertility we use compost and nitrogen-fixing plants, and to keep gardens low-maintenance we use mulch and perennial ground covers .