Wow, what a week it has been! I feel as though I have spent all my waking hours trying to keep water up to all the plants, it has been so hot. The shrubs, the perennials that are in the holding beds, and my poor little seedlings that were doing so well and that I was so happy with have been scorched to death from the intense heat and wind that we had this week. I would estimate that I lost about 40 percent of the new seedlings that I had planted just last week. The intense heat, the small root system that hadn’t had a chance to take hold, and the wind, my poor babies just roasted, I can’t even blame Sadie this time. Just Mother Nature, and oh she can be soooo cruel at times.
Enough of my whinging. Things have been going well here are Lottarock Farm. I have been slowly spreading bark mulch and compost on my new space, figuring our what is going to go where, working out the paths and trying to take my time so I get it right the first time. Getting too old to be rearranging all this every year. I think I have the space now designated for the little spring bulbs, the narcissus, the perennials and the peonies. Might as well get it all in now, because time goes way too fast.
So if you didn’t know, we are called Lottarock Farm because we have way too many rocks, not little rocks, but honking big rocks, bigger than VW beetles! While I might have a lot of rocks, I am quite shy on soil, so in order to prepare these future flower beds I am doing a few soil building experiments. Beds are being spread with bark mulch which I have from the tree clearing and topped with compost. Other beds have compost covered with bark mulch, and other beds yet with cardboard, bark mulch and compost, and last barn poo, cardboard, (to keep the dogs out of it) and bark mulch. It will be interesting to see what happens. It will all eventually become soil, but which will be the fastest. This is all part of my “No Till” experiment. With No Till, I am keeping all the nutrients in place and not damaging the soil structure so the plants have the best possible environment to establish themselves and thrive. At least that’s the idea. We’ll see how it goes. The most important thing is that I get that little bit of soil covered. I had plans of sowing everything with a cover crop but with it being so dry I just think I would be feeding the birds with the seed since every drop of water is very precious here at the farm. That is another story.
So between hauling water non-stop and building beds for next year’s flowers I have been pouring over the bulb catalogs to see what fabulous spring flowers I can tempt you with.
So you are asking what is up on deck for the future flowers here are the Rock? Well the peonies are starting in. I need some heat, but not wicked heat because we want those beautiful blooms to last and some natural rain would go a long way. For the flowers and my body. Also many of the perennials and bi-annuals are starting to happen so I guess all I can say at this point is stay tuned to the newsletter which will give you all the details. I leave you this to tempt you.
Until next time, Allie