Farm market season begins

SHARON — It’s not your imagination; it actually was warmer at this time last year. Or at least that’s what farmer Charlie Paley claims.“I keep obsessive records,” he confided on Sunday afternoon, April 3, as he was about to close down Paley’s Farm Market for the day, following an active opening weekend.“Last year on our opening weekend it was in the 70s,” he said, sounding not exactly wistful but also not exactly happy.When the weather is balmy, he said, gardeners rush the farm market on its opening day. They are full of a pent-up and urgent need to hold tender seedlings in their hands and nestle threadlike white roots into soft, black, fragrant soil.This year, it was just a bit too cold and blustery for that. People stayed home to watch baseball and basketball instead, or perhaps to nap. Which is not to say that the market wasn’t busy. Saturday especially saw a good turnout (“It was actually an incredible turnout,” Paley said). When they got to the farm market greenhouses, shoppers found packs of nascent heads of lettuce, assorted flowers in flats and a few other hardy type plants that might survive this in hospitable spring.Pansies were especially popular. They actually prefer cool weather. “Plant them now, they don’t mind the cold, Paley said. “They’ll be in their full glory by May.”The lettuce should probably stay indoors for another week. “It can tolerate a little frost but we’re still getting some really cold nights,” he said. “We’ll probably put ours in the ground at the end of this week.”Hardy herbs such as thyme and sage can go in the ground soon. Of course, it all depends on what the weather does in the next few weeks. In true farmer form, Paley would not make any predictions about the conditions in the coming weeks or months. “I’m just crossing my fingers,” he said. Paley’s Farm Market will be open in April seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.