Page Title

Wayne Neubarth

Victoria 952-443-1910

Tom O’Connell, CPA

Income Tax Preparation. 952-474-6509

Bertas Funeral Home

Chaska * 952-448-2137

CORNERSTONE Insurance Agency

David Barsness * 952-448-5028

Sebenaler Chiropractic Center

Chaska * 952-448-9908

Christ Victorious Lutheran Church

Just south of Victoria * 952-443-2993

“Landscapers would come in and dig the trees themselves, which was nice for us,” said Jeff. “People like Urban Kerber would bring in a couple guys and dig out two or three trees with shovels and then ball them by hand. They’d roll them around and get those balls so perfect, and work all day to do it.”

“We always sold a few trees to individuals,” he said. “I can’t tell you how many trees I’ve shoved into Volkswagens or little trailers.”

As the business grew, so did the equipment. “In the early ‘80’s we bought a tree spade and later had one built on a truck so we could dig the tree and carry it out with the same vehicle. One time we bought 700 trees from Charlie Hanson -- he had a nursery just down 78th Street from here -- and then we got a call from the Hazeltine Golf Course for 150 trees. We were lucky but did we scramble! We dug them out, one at a time, with the tree spade and hauled them, one by one, all through the night. Then we sold another 150 to the Island View Golf Course at Waconia and did the same thing.”

In no time the Hartman Tree Farm was growing all of its own trees. “We buy them about a half inch in diameter and maybe 12 inches long,” said Jeff. “We call them whips. We get them from Bailey’s here in Minnesota. It’s near Woodbury. They deliver the whips in truckloads of bundles and we put them in our cooler until we’re ready to plant.”

“We plant them with a machine that my brother Jerry and I built in about 1985. We want very precise rows. At one time we used an auger to dig holes for planting. George Notermann, a brother of Jean Bongard, was one of the guys who worked for us, planting one tree at a time.”

“Now it’s very fast,” said Jeff. “Our equipment makes the furrow and fills it in after the tree is planted. There are two guys on the machine and it’s pulled by a tractor. One guy takes a whip and hands it to the other guy who sticks it in the ground. The first guy can barely keep up with the second guy. They can plant 5,000 trees a day.” (Continued next page)

For many years the Hartman Tree Farm was owned and operated by Jerry Hartman and his wife Ann. However, since Jeff is the eldest of four siblings, his history with the tree farm predates theirs. Said Jeff, “I grew up with the tree farm while Jerry was still shooting BB guns.”

“Jerry and Ann took it over from my dad in the early ‘90’s and I acquired it from them in 2005,” said Jeff. “I thought about things differently than they did. I thought retail would help create traffic. The hurdle was in naming it retail since the property is zoned agricultural, but my land and work is agricultural so it works out.”

Retail Nursery and Sales

It was only last summer that Jeff constructed the Retail Nursery Center and Sales Office. Its footprint is about 80 feet by 40 feet. “It sort of looks like a train depot,” he said. “Part of it is open air with a shade shelter to protect our plant material, and part of it is for the display of products such as mulch, fertilizer, seed, garden tools, bird feeders, and things like that.”

The Center opened in August, 2007. The inside retail space is about 20 feet by 10 feet and is heated and air conditioned so customers can shop in comfort.

“We had pumpkins and mums and many fall products last year,” said Jeff, “and after that we had Christmas trees and wreathes and other seasonal products. Then we shut down for a while this winter and hope to reopen in April. Last year we had 6,000 plants. This year we will have more annuals for customers, along with our perennials.”

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