Cape Farm and Garden Tour is new in Sussex County

• Tickets for the Cape Farm and Garden Tour on June 11 are $20 and available by calling (302) 684-1514.

Within a 6-mile loop in coastal Sussex County, three sets of landowners are preparing their properties for a unique event June 11.

The first-ever Cape Farm and Garden Tour hopes to connect visitors with three local ventures whose vision for the future is at once beautiful, diverse and instructive.

The brainchild of Michael Zajik, owner and creator of Mill Pond Gardens in Lewes, which will be the garden part of the tour, the event showcases the creativity inherent in local businesspeople with a shared passion for nature.

“People want to connect with the environment, and this is a great way to start. The farms and gardens are close by, and you can do it in a day,” Zajik says.

Zajik, who grew up on a farm in southern Maryland, emphasizes that farms don’t have to be big to be successful. He sees the explosion in farmers markets and the farm-to-table movement as catalysts for diversifying conventional agribusinesses.

“Those who go into it [to grow] food may eventually go into other things to round it out – bed-and-breakfast, hosting weddings, farm-to-table dinners. It’s an opportunity for creativity, and they’re starting to make their properties more attractive,” he says.

The two farms – Black Hog Farmstead and Lavender Fields – are proof that diversification leads to success. Well-known in the Lewes community, both businesses participate in numerous local farm markets, host farm-to-table dinners on site and have expanded from a single focus to multifaceted ventures.

John Feliciani and Helen Waite, a married duo with long roots in horticulture, have gone from a plant propagation business to Black Hog Farmstead on New Street that includes a popular bed-and-breakfast and monthly farm dinners on their expansive porch. The porch looks out on 4 acres of display gardens, vegetables and herbs grown in raised beds, a holistic orchard, flocks of geese near the barn and small greenhouses where their latest venture sprouts.

“Microgreens are totally new,” says Feliciani, pointing to flats of sprouting peas, basil, dill, mustard and broccoli, among others.

“They have 40 times or more the nutrient value of full-grown plants, particularly broccoli,” he says. The crop is quick, taking only about seven days until ready for his restaurant customers.

In the orchard, Waite has planted a groundcover mix of various greens, including clover and turnips, meant to improve soil health.

“The idea is to feed the soil so the soil feeds the trees,” she says of the many fruit and berry varieties growing at the farm.

Because the property is low-lying, Waite planted moisture-loving blueberries on the contour lines to minimize the water flow. Eventually, they hope to specialize in you-pick blueberries and figs, another crop they are encouraging along.

Feliciani still propagates heirloom shrubs from Winterthur, where four generations of his family worked in horticulture, but he and Waite are proper farmers now, raising crops for markets, restaurants and their B&B.

Marie Mayor never intended to become a lavender farmer; she just wanted to keep the deer out of her Baltimore garden. But when she showed up at Lavender Farm, as it was known then, to buy lavender in the early 2000s, it was the day the sale of the property fell through for the owners and before she could think about it, she had bought it.

She and her partner, Sharon Harris, would take years transforming the neglected farmhouse, fields and out buildings into Lavender Fields, a thriving business that grew from a single crop.

“We started out doing cuttings of lavender plants, which sold out, and then people were asking for sachets,” Mayor says.

Her response was to build a store and make body and bath products with the heavily scented flowers. Using hand-harvested blossoms from mainly English and French varieties – Hidcote, Munstead and Grosso are among the best for scent – they diversified their product line to include sachets, soaps, lotions and eye pillows, among many offered for sale in the store.

At the same time, they turned their attention to the overgrown historic property and set about clearing it, establishing several ornamental gardens, including a 160-by-40-foot perennial and herb garden with brick paths scavenged from the farm.

“It came together with the help of 17 women and a Bobcat,” Mayor says.

Harris hand-dug a stone/brick/concrete patio used for lectures and weddings, as well as a 42-foot-diameter labyrinth, also popular for weddings. In addition to lavender, they have champion dahlias and boast a hosta garden that is part of the Delaware Valley Hosta Association tour.

As the environment improved and they reached out to local tourist contacts, their business grew. A commercial kitchen, nearly finished, is their latest venture, which will allow them to expand their food product line, which includes baked goods, vinegars, honey, teas and jellies, sold on site and in local farm markets.

Organizations and private parties frequently rent the property for events, and they also host farm-to-table lunches and dinners. By early June, the thousands of lavender plants should be in full bloom.

As the garden on the tour, Zajic’s property is an adventure, one that is part of America’s Public Gardens, open to the public on designated dates. Located on Mill Pond, it benefits from water views and Zajic’s many years as a horticultural supervisor of two Maryland public gardens, Brookside Gardens in Wheaton and McCrillis Gardens in Bethesda.

Zajic’s expertise is everywhere on display at Mill Pond – with the rare Korean azaleas he propagates, the rustic wood trellises he creates from logs and the two new habitat structures he installed recently to bring beneficial wildlife to his garden.

“Nature doesn’t isolate things into little fields of mulch,” Zajik says, and his lushly planted property is ample proof, as is its designation as a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat.

While he is proud of the flowers blooming in the yard, he gushes over his hibernaculum, translated as “tent for winter,” or a place where critters can seek refuge and shelter from elements. For the turtles, he dug a pit 3 feet deep, placing logs, twigs and brush in it and then angled dirt up and then down, covered it with landscape fabric and planted atop it.

“It’s important that it goes upward first and then down; otherwise, the turtles would drown,” he says.

Not too far away is his experiment with a xeriscape – or dry garden – devised for snakes and lizards. The round rock pile topped with a succulent garden hides a dwelling for reptiles, which he hopes to attract as pest management.

“Eastern garter snake is a predator of voles, which is my worst problem,” he says, adding that reptiles feed at night on slugs and bugs and cover a large territory. The gaps in the rock allow access while sand and shelf rocks allow areas to lay eggs and bask in the sun.

All three properties offer not just beautiful surroundings, but insights into nature, business and how the two can combine successfully.

Moira Sheridan is a Wilmington freelance writer and gardener. She is a graduate of the University of Delaware’s Master Gardener program. Reach her at masher9@verizon.net.

IF YOU GO

Cape Farm and Garden Tour tickets are $20 and available at www.capefarmandgardentour.org or by calling (302) 684-1514 for more information. Only 250 tickets will be sold.

TO-DO LIST

• Plant new trees and shrubs in the early morning or in the evening, when temperatures are cooler. Water in well and mulch.

• When you thin any of your vegetables – lettuce, beets, carrots, etc. – don’t just toss them, make a salad from them.

• Support vining, tall and heavy vegetables and plants with strong trellises and stakes.

• Cut back overarching branches, plant material that inhibits light for other plants.

• Soil should be warm enough to plant summer-flowering bulbs and corms like gladiola, dahlias, lilies, etc.