Month: January 2023

If there is one thing that flower growing teaches you, it’s patience. Something very difficult for someone who isn’t known for having much. But wait I must to see color on the tulips. Yes, they look good, and the first crates have only been inside for two weeks now, but with last week’s totally craptastic weather, some tulip color would be a lovely balm for many souls. Patience, Kerwin, patience.

What exciting things are happening besides the slow tulips? Well almost all of the seeds that already have been sown have started to germinate, so in another week or two they can be transplanted into larger soil blocks and grown on until they can go out into the unheated greenhouse. At least that is the plan. I see a tiny little sprout of a ranunculus which is hugely exciting so things are happening. Tomorrow four more crates of tulips come in and another big seeding day is on the schedule. More perennials, now that the last of the seeds have arrived, and the first sowing of the cool flowers. Yup. Things are happening. Just not tons to show you, but soon.

Meanwhile I am enjoying the longer days, not having to do evening chores in the dark and any amount of sun makes we happy this time of year.

I will leave you in anticipation of things to come. Until next week. Your impatient flower girl, Allie

I was listening to a podcast this afternoon on two young sister growers from Virginia who are bringing back the chrysanthemum. And if I were younger I would be right there with them. Back in the olden days, back when Woodmans was a flower growing concern with lots of greenhouses growing amazing flowers, chrysanthemums was one that we would grow every summer, for fall harvest, in cold frames on the right side of the driveway. One rarely sees US grown chrysanthemums, almost all are imported, but wouldn’t it be really cool to be able to be able to find the stock to excel at that again? When all the companies were amalgamating, and the South American flowers were really taking hold, it was deemed that it wasn’t an important crop, so the stock was lost. Like I said, if I were younger I would pursue this project. But I’m not, so let me tell you what is happening on the farm.

The first four tulips crates have been hauled into the dirty room. Yay! They are looking good I think.

Tomorrow another four crates will be hauled in and so it goes. Four crates each Monday until they are all gone and the field tulips rock in.

The seeding of the perennials has also started, and some of the cool flowers. As you can see if you look hard, the first batch of the stock have started to germinate. Another Yay, and it looks like more are starting to sprout. And yes, I check on their progress every few hours.

On this week’s agenda, besides shoveling, is to start soaking the ranunculus and anemone tubers and corms. As soon as the first tulips are harvested, the hopefully by then sprouted ranunculus and anemones will be planted and put into the greenhouse to grow on. Then that will be done every two to three weeks for succession of flowers. Things are getting busy here. Well, compared to a month ago things are getting busy, but it will be getting far busier very quickly.

So since color is practically non existent right now, I will leave you with a vase of colorful stems that I harvested last Thursday.

Stay tuned for tulip news. And until next week, your ever faithful flower grower. Allie

What a dreary week this has been. I believe another fitting word would be drizzmal.I know I am not a big fan of winter but this weather is ridiculous. More reason to celebrate fresh local flowers when they get here.

Not much has been happening here growing wise. Spent a full day trying to get my website figured out. That took all the patience I had, a year’s worth probably, but hopefully, fingers crossed please, that we are good to go. I really don’t like technology. I just want to make gardens and grow flowers.

I am also trying to devote time each morning learning. That I enjoy. Trying to find a mentor or mentors that works for me is, well, challenging. I don’t ask for much, growing, sustainability, floristry and everything else that I can learn. When I am driving or in the gardens I am listening to podcasts and there are some really good ones out there, then there is also some really useful information on Youtube. I take everything I glean, mash it all up, and well, I make it work for me.

I have been enjoying my Thursday flower challenge that I have been posting on Instagram. I wander around the property and see what kind of bouquet I can create, then I post it on Instagram. It is a challenge, I want it all to come from the farm, but it is amazing if you look closely, and have a bit of humor, what one can do. These are last Thursday’s postings.

As you can see, I am having fun with snow covered greens and dried flowers from the garden.

Little jobs are getting done meanwhile. Benches were built for the greenhouse because in another month that will be getting filled up and I need to be ready. Steve built me a really cool watering wand for the tulip crates, and it looks as though it will also work for watering the seedlings once they have been transplanted.

Tomorrow the first four crates of tulips get pulled into the dirty room. I can not begin to tell you how excited I am, and yes, I am awake all night worrying about the tulips but here we go. The count down to flowers begins.

Until next week. Allie

Odd title I know, but growers go by the week of the year, so since I am a flower grower, this week is week two. Or, it is just a good title this week. Another note that has absolutely NOTHING to do with flowers. Tonight is one of the most clear nights we have had for ever it seems and the stars are amazing. Now onto flowers.

It has been a busy week here at the farm, hard work with some mighty procrastination going on. I should be working on my business plan, ordering seeds, working on seed scheduling, but no. I have been doing fun things outside because it was unusually warm and clear of snow. Steve and I got new beds built in the high tunnel and filled with compost. That is huge off the to-do list. So now, the beds are ready for the cool flowers and the ranunculus and anemones when it comes time to plant them.

The tulips are looking good and are in their 12th week in the flower cooler so in another two weeks the first of the crates will be pulled into the dirty room for the growing on, which will take about another 4 weeks, soooo, we should have beautiful tulip flowers by mid February when some color will do our souls good.

I am slowly gearing up, thinking and dreaming flowers. I am looking forward to some home grown flowers and color. I find it important to grow flowers that are good for for the birds and the pollinators and no chemicals are used on the property. The flowers are fed with fish emulsion and compost from the farm. Hedgerows are being planted for the wildlife and for me to be able to cut from and I don’t till the flower beds at either end of the season building up the soil health but am trying to leave the property in a good healthy way. All this takes time and work, but I strongly feel that this is the best management practice I can do at the time. So, unlike the flowers that are shipped in from overseas, these flowers you can safely handle and sniff the perfume. And you are supporting a local flower farmer.

I leave you with this quote from a fellow flower member. “Without the knowledge of the struggle….The joy of the bloom is diminished”…. Thank you Kathy Guyer. I can’t tell you how much that means to me.

Until next week. Allie

Hard to believe that it is a new year and a new start to a flower gardening season. Yes, flowers are getting started this week. Perennials need to be sown as well as the cool flowers that will be planted out in early March.

I had a lovely three week break cruising the south Atlantic, rounding Cape Horn and up the south Pacific, but now that that is done, the holidays are done it is time to buckle down and get on with flowers. I am ready, are you?

First on my, or should I say our, docket is now that the snow has melted and we can find the lumber, new beds for the high tunnel need to be built. I am reconfiguring the space so there will be more room for flowers so new beds need to be built while the weather is in our favor to move compost and get them ready for planting at the end of February.

The tulips in the crates are coming along nicely which is exciting. I am starting to lose sleep over them now so their season must be getting closer.

That is it for now, just wanted to say hi. Oh, if you have any suggestions of what you would like to see this growing season, drop me an email and I will see what I can do. I always love a good growing challenge. Until next week. Allie