Growing for over 60 years
Pre-order your magical planting soil from our website shipped directly to your doorstep for the 2024 growing season.
About Murray Farm Greenhouse
About Us
The Murray Family has called River Road home for more than 120 years. Current owner David’s great-grandparents moved to River Road and began a dairy farm. A horse-drawn wagon delivered milk to customers in Penacook. By 1918 a pint of milk delivered to a home was fetching 6 cents while a quart was bringing 12 cents. A purchase over 4 quarts was 11 cents per quart.
David’s father and mother (Jesse and Helen) began what was known throughout the East as Murray Farms Hatchery. Up to 60,000 baby chicks were hatched weekly in the prime of the poultry days at the farm. Baby chicks were shipped all over the east to many poultry farms.
In 1964 Jesse and Helen began what is now know as Murray Farm Greenhouse. Once again it was time to turn to family. EVERYONE worked. As us kids got married it was a given that the in-laws were expected to pitch in when they got out of their daytime jobs. They surely did not have to wonder what their weekends in the spring were to consist of. With long hours 7 days a week neighbors and extended family brought food to help feed the gang on weekends.
David and daughter Amanda are now overseeing the operation along Tamera Kelly ( 2nd generation from her family) several dedicated seasonal employees and also with Amanda’s triplets Jayce, Kaidan and Aliya working seasonally after school.
Planning Your Plantings
There is nothing that makes the Murray family and staff sadder than a distraught gardener who has just lost plants that were planted prior to the last frost. A warm day or two and everyone is flocking to anywhere plants are being sold. This often results in poor luck and wasted money.
Frost free date is often 3-4 days after the full moon closest to May 30th ( meaning before OR after) clear starlit nights near the full moon will provide radiational cooling that will often result in a frost.
Rainy windy nights near the full moon are a benefit as it will not freeze so easily with the cloud cover. Watch the weather,clouds are good, clear is bad.
The Scoop
In 60 plus years of growing literally millions of plants, annuals, perennials, vegetables, herbs, and seasonal plants in pots, packs and planters and learning from our own AS WELL AS OUR CUSTOMERS successes as well as trials and failures, we honestly feel that we have the secrets to success in the garden. Not in a particular order they are,
#1 CONSISTENTLY checking daily for water, monitoring temperature, feeding correctly will get you a long way ahead.
#2 BEGIN with the best quality plants (don’t rescue poor/stressed plants from the box stores) use a container that is appropriate size for the plants.
#3 WHEN you water plants it should be ONLY when the soil is nearly dry, but not to the point of wilting. When you water be sure you thoroughly saturate the entire root system while keeping the foliage as dry as possible. ( leaves hate water on them)
#4 OUR MAGICAL PLANTING SOIL eliminates much of the guesswork when planting any container, it has Controlled Release Fertilizer (CRF) it is made fresh to ensure you get the full season benefit, and the highest rate of CRF in the industry. ( thus a limited availability/ time window in May/June) Replace the top 6-8” of soil in your planters each spring with our “Magical Planting Soil “
#5 ALL PRE-PLANTED pots, planters, that you bring home need to be fed EVERY 5-7 days with a high quality water soluble fertilizer like Jack’s ( yes miracle grow is ok) 1 tablespoon per gallon and water to saturate the roots!, Feed,Feed , Feed! ( remember if you’ve planted in our “magical planting soil” you set and only need to water all summer.)
The soil Murray Farm Greenhouse plants in has no “CRF” rather we have a system that automatically mixes our soluble plant food in with our watering system. The “CRF” is designed to make it easier/ “magical” with minimal effort on your part!
Over 60 years of growing plants for the area!!!
The Murray Family has called River Road home for more than 120 years. Current owner David’s great-grandparents moved to River Road and began a dairy farm. A horse-drawn wagon delivered milk to customers in Penacook. By 1918 a pint of milk delivered to a home was fetching 6 cents while a quart was bringing 12 cents. A purchase over 4 quarts was 11 cents per quart.
David’s father and mother (Jesse and Helen) began what was known throughout the East as Murray Farms Hatchery. Up to 60,000 baby chick
