Month: August 2020

We are so desperate for rain, and most of the big storms have passed by us. Good because we didn’t need the damage, bad because the rain would have been good to top off the rain barrels. But that is flower farming for you. One is dependent on the weather and at the mercy of the bugs and diseases, and luckily for me, because it is my first year growing in this spot, I have gotten by OK. Not perfect, but OK. I do need to do a soil test this fall without fail. I think my dahlias are doing so poorly because they are missing out on some crucial micronutrients. I should have done that first, as we are told to do but the excitement was too much. Shame on me. I know better. Really I do.

The flowers are still producing like crazy which is good. The amaranth is now way taller than me, I am learning through trial and error on conditioning the eucalyptus, the dahlias as you know are struggling, and the asters are coming in big time!

So here is a big question for you. Should I order 18 varieties of tulips with 900 bulbs? A lot I know, or, should I order 27 varieties of 540 bulbs? I sorta know what you would say, I mean common sense should prevail. I mean, why would I need over a thousand bulbs, because I have already ordered a bunch of tulips, when I can just have a mere 750 tulips? Ordering bulbs is like going into a candy shop for some, or a plant nursery for me. By the way, I am only talking tulips here. I am not even going to mention the daffodil or other bulbs I am ordering. I am holding you in suspense. The other bulbs are far more perennial so they will last for years verses the tulips that are one hit wonders. They are beautiful aren”t they?

The pumpkins and gourds are growing underneath all that foliage and hopefully I will have a decent crop to share with you when the time comes.

So, until next week, stay tuned to the newsletter, bring a friend, and let’s enjoy September.

Well I can’t complain about the weather too much. We have had a string of beautiful days, lower humidity with cooler temperatures but we really need some rain. The flowers are doing OK. They would be doing better if I wasn’t quite so parsimonious with the water, but oh well. My well has to continue on, so water gets divided between the flowers, the vegetable garden and the house, because yes, we do need to take showers and do dishes occasionally. But have no fear, the flowers still rock on.

On this week’s agenda, back to bucket watering the trees and shrubs that were planted in the spring. They are looking a bit parched right now. I can hear them gasping. The Bt treatment for the caterpillars seems to have worked so that also has to get done before the week is out. In the flower department the asters are really looking good, the lisianthus is almost over which is a shame because they were so stunning. I have to work on the timing of them so I have more flowers and to get them to grow better. Once I get them started they are good, but man are they a bugger to get started. The dahlias are frustratingly slow, but there are cosmos and sunflowers. If I only had water.

The first of the spring bulb orders has been placed. Many more orders to go yet. That is on my to do list. Order the rest of the tulip bulbs for spring. All 750 more of them. You don’t want to know the total number. I don’t even want to know the total number.

So until next time, let’s have some rain please. Allie

I would like to have said Mid August doldrums, but my web sever doesn’t like me to say things like that. Oh well. Let’s just say mid August whatever. I don’t know who is looking more tired, my gardens or me. I need to get the gardens fed, they need a boost to wake them up. The heat and the lack of rain is hindering them. Yes, I have been watering but with a limited well and a vegetable garden to water I to have been very careful about where my water is going. Don’t fret though, I still have plenty of flowers to go around for everyone’s enjoyment. And don’t worry, I am still having a blast growing flowers and seeing all of my flower people.

Enough of me. I know you want to know what is new on the flower front at Lottarock. The asters are starting to show color. A few stems have been picked and put into bouquets, but now they are starting to come into their own.

The peacock orchid lilies are starting to throw out a flower stem here and there. It will be a lucky flower person that will score a stem of those. And a stem is all one needs. The stems might be a little contorted but placed in an empty wine bottle as a vase it would be stunning, and the fragrance will knock your socks off. The amaranth is still growing our of control. I have no idea what is up with it, but it is certainly taller than me. Next year not so many, or grow them in lean soil. The extra big ones I am going to leave for the birds at this point. It would have to be an enormous bouquet to support the size of those flowers.

I have started to put in my tulip orders. Oh silly me. I think I am up to almost a thousand bulbs now. I hope you all love tulips. The flowers ordered are going to be crazy! They are flowers. In the spring. Need I say more?

Until next week. Allie

Anyone in our local area knows that much of New England was hit with a tropical depression storm on Tuesday night. Holy moly, the wind was incredible but thankfully not much rain, as much as we need rain, I am glad we only got .6″ of an inch. It would have created so much more havoc than we already had. I’m even more grateful that it wasn’t snow. Ohhh, that would have been bad.

So the flowers and the farm survived. The tall flowers like the amaranth, which is already over my head, and the cosmos are all listing at a forty five degree angle, thankfully they were all corralled in, but they did take a beating. I hear curved stems are all the rage these days in bouquets. They certainly do have a relaxed air about them. I do feel that curved is better than broken. The dahlias were pummeled, so they have been re-secured to their posts, given a pat and some food and hopefully they will come good. I am so ready for their beautiful flowers.

It has been quite a year for the bugs this year. Fortunately we have lots of birds and the guinea fowl dash through the garden a couple of times a day. They just wiggle through the fence on their way to enjoy the delicious cover crop that I have sown. I suspect that they are eating more seed than bugs these days, as well as the blueberries which is a riot to watch. You just can’t make this stuff up. Every morning after walking the dogs, I do the cabbage worm squish, the Japanese beetle drop in the soapy water and the squash borer lookout. Repeat again after evening chores. I just bless my lucky soul that so far I don’t have slugs because I find them the most, or one of the most disgusting things in the garden.

I was listening to a podcast the other day while in the garden and the flower grower, a floral designer was worried that growing flowers wasn’t an important skill, and her mother said “that everyone need the joy of flowers in their lives.” I can’t agree more, and I hope that you do as well.

Until next Sunday, I leave you with a couple bouquets bunched while harvesting. I hope they make you smile. They do me. Allie

The flowers are flowering like crazy, and the bugs are as well. I am spending every morning and afternoon squishing green caterpillars between my fingers that are devouring my flowering cabbages and kales. A lovely way to start and end my day don’t you think? The are the larvae of the cabbage moths, and they seem to think that the flowering cabbages and kales are much sweeter than the ones in the vegetable garden because those plants, much to Steves dismay I am sure, are look good. These, well, we will see what an interesting shape they will have when the weather starts to get cooler. I am tempted to let the guinea hens in there to see if they will eat the larvae but I think that is really asking for trouble. I wouldn’t have a garden left, forget the bugs. That and the Japanese beetles have found the zinnias.

On the good news side, the scabiosa is just about getting ready to pick, the asters are looking good and the dahlias are starting to flower. Woo hoo! Every week is exciting and different which is good for you, and excellent for me. Oh! and most important, the lisianthus and dianthus are starting. Not tons, but boy are those lisianthus exquisite.

So here is a little bit of info for the dirty flowers, one of them is the zinnias. They are known as dirty flowers because they turn the water skanky. Other dirty flowers I grow that you should know about are the rudbeckia or black eyed susans, yarrow, chrysanthemums and kale. Pee yoo. To remedy this, add a couple drops of bleach to the flower water every time you change the water, which should be every couple of days. I know, it can be a pain to do when we are so busy, but it is soooo worth it.

So there you have it. The story of another exciting week at Lottarock Farm. ‘Til next time, Allie