Month: March 2022

Welcome to the flower shed

As I sit at the kitchen bench typing this and looking out the window there is white stuff coming out of the sky. Argh. Yes, I know that it is still March, but oh this time of year gets really hard to bear. So many beautiful days interspersed with some not so lovely days, like what is in our forecast. They have been saying for a few days now that a winter chill is coming our way, like two nights being down around 12F, and tomorrow is not even to get above freezing. Argh, no, double Argh. I have taken every precaution I can, the babies are all safely tucked in as best I can, and now I just have to keep my fingers crossed. Everything planted outside is supposed to be cold hardy, but this will be the test on just how cold hardy they will be.

Today was exciting because today I hauled out the last four crates of tulips out of the bulb room into the dirty room. So now timing and the weather is everything. The tulips in the ground are starting to emerge. Will we have warm enough weather for them to bloom by the time the last of the forced tulips are done? Only time will tell. To be honest, I am so ready to have a wider selection of tulips to have for you. Next year will be better with variety selection, it is quite the learning curve. Good thing I am not a control freak because some things like weather which dictates all is unpredictable. Thank you all for your patience while I learn this forcing thing.

The anemones are starting to flower. My guess is that it will be a few weeks yet before I will have enough for you all, and no matter how many times I check the progress of the ranunculus, I have yet to se any buds, but the plants look good and healthy so patience Kerwin, patience. These too will bloom.

Seeding is really starting to pick up, so once the tulips move out, the dirty room shuffle begins. Seeds on the heat mats, to off the heat mats but under lights to transplanting still under lights to…that all depends on space, weather and time. A true juggling act.

So I will leave you not of sugar plums dancing in your head but tulips in a champagne bucket because really, what could be better?

Until next time. Allie

So here we are at the first day of spring and it was beautiful. And now, the pace picks up for this flower farmer. Onward flowers.

It has been a busy busy week and this is still the slow time, or was the slow time, but things are starting to happen quickly now. The first batch of cool flower seedlings have been planted in the high tunnel, with another batch to follow in another week or two, and the second batch of anemones and ranunculus have been planted out, these in the high tunnel as well.

And a big surprise here, look at this everyone….

That bud is still a bit off from harvesting, seeing that it is only about two inches tall, but I hope within a few weeks I will be doing some serious harvesting.

The tulips that are planted out in the garden are starting to poke through, phew, because I have pulled my last full crates of bulbs this morning to go into the grow/dirty room. Hopefully, there will be continuous blooms, but with farming, timing is never a guarantee. I still have about 250 tulip bulbs in the bulb room yet to go, but they are only half crates. Also today Steve installed the air conditioner in the bulb room to keep the temperatures down. With the latest heat wave it was getting a little too hot in there for our comfort. (mine and the tulips).

I will keep it short tonight, but want to leave you with this photo of last Friday’s flower haul. I must say, I think it is beautiful.

Until next week. Allie

Here we are at Mid March and flower mode is ramping up. My winter break is over. Deep sigh. But things are a happe’n here at Lottarock. Yes, I still have tulips, many, many tulips, and yes, I should have flowers now all the way through till Frostmas in October, give or take a week or two. I was asked today when the ranunculus were going to come in…well, they are growing, I hope by early April? but it all depends on the weather. Does that mean you are tired of tulips? I sure hope not, I have many, many more coming on. Yes, the colors are getting boring, but in another month there will be tons of varieties. I am still learning the growing system, but I think I am getting there.

Over all, things are growing well. This week some of the remaining ranucnulus and anemones are going to be planted in the high tunnel. I am waiting for a slightly warmer week since I have to water the beds well before planting. They will be joined with some of the cool flowering plants, and then, in another two weeks I reckon the high tunnel will be completely planted out. This is all experimentation mind you, but if I can produce flowers early, by crappy I will.

I am gathering my tulip order for next year, but I probably said that last week, and I have figured out how to force a larger quantity next spring. The funny thing about gardening is that you are always planning the next crop nine to twelve months before the crop is ready to harvest. It is a bit different from vegetable gardening in that manner, the far in advance planning, and vegetables have far more succession plantings, but one thing is for sure, we are all at the mercy of the weather and light levels.

It has been working out for me to do the flower shed here now at Lottarock. The temperatures are better, the driveway is open and I can get so many more things done here at the farm during the open hours than I could when we were at Main St Cheese, so for the rest of the season, flowers will be available here at the farm. At the moment we will just have the flower shed open on Fridays and the hours will be from 9-2. Stay tuned to the newsletter for when the hours will change and Tuesday will be added.

So. Until next week. I think and dream flowers. All flowers, but especially tulips. Allie

Can one have enough of tulips? I know I certainly can’t, especially when it is cold, gray, muddy, and everything else that March brings with it. Even today, with the sun going full bore, and the snow melting, the color and brightness of the flowers can’t be beat.

You fabulous flower people are taking every tulip I can produce and I love it. It makes me so excited, believe you me. So now that I nearly have a year of forcing tulips under my belt, (I will have forced tulips into April, then the in ground tulips will take over) I am making plans for next year. I have figured out where I can do another 1000 bulbs, and I am planning to have far more varieties. It is all in that leaning curve.

The ranunculus and anemones have all now been planted in crates, with the last ones going into the high tunnel in the ground during our thaw this week. They will be joined with some cool season flowers. Yes, they will need protection from our most bitter nights but I honestly hope that the single digit nights are behind us now.

The next big batch of seeding will start, and the plant shuffle begins. One never has enough room for tulips and seedling this time of year, and it is only going to get worse.

I have had a couple of questions about tulip growing so, if you are interested, here goes. The ones that you are getting now are what is called pre-cooled, they have had their “winter” coming over on the ship. I plant them up, get the roots going, which takes about 4-5 weeks, then bring them into the growing space. There are also the tulips that are planted in the ground that are treated just like any other in ground spring plant. At harvest time, I pull the tulip bulb and all out of the ground, keep the tulip and toss the bulb. Ahhh, I hear a collective gasp. Yes. All of their energy has been used up being forced and I treat them as annuals. And when one does the math, they are about the same price of a six pac of annuals that you put in the garden in the summer, and those get tossed don’t they?

There is one main issue that I am having, along with all other tulip growers and that is stem topple. I know a few of you have mentioned it so I will do my best to explain it. It can be caused by fusarium, which tulips are very, very prone to, but it is also linked to high humidity. If the crates in the bulb room get too dry, and then given a lot of water when they are in the grow room, the water causes the cells to burst, hence the topple. It also happens to a lot of growers in the spring when they can’t vet the grow spaces enough and the temperatures and the humidity build up. I think the underlying problem is the fusarium, then the humidity just adds to it. The flowers themselves are fine, so I just cut them above the necrosis and put them in a bud vase.

I will still be dreaming tulips, so until nest week. Allie