Author: Allie

Well if last week was the week of the drearys, then this week was autumn. One week hot and humid and dreary, this past week was chilly in the mornings and lovely during the days. Jeans were needed as were the wool work sweaters. This week I think it is going to be a combination of the two, cool nights, perfect for sleeping, and warm days so swimming will be possible along with garden work.

I will say that the cooler temperatures certainly got me thinking about the end of the growing season, taking notes of what went on this year and planning for next year. Oh yes, I am already thinking of next year…what to grow, what not to grow and the amounts to grow. More of that in the future posts. I want to keep you hanging in floral suspense.

I can’t believe that the next blog posting will be in September, where on earth has the growing season gone? It started with tulips in mid February and here we are, still going. To be honest, I am ready for the season to wind down, even though that still really doesn’t happen until the end of November for me. Tulips this year are getting delivered in November, dahlias will have to get dug and stored. Beds have to be put away of this year’s crops and some prepped for very early planting next spring. A flower farmer’s life is rarely done, always moving on to the next season six months if not more before it actually happens.

But enough of that, the flowers are looking good and the selection is still great. Due to my one armed spring, and the challenges of of pests I don’t have the numbers of flowers that I had wanted, but I haven’t run out of flowers so that is good. The dahlias, zinnias, celosia are all looking good, the snapdragons have been pulled and are done for the season, the chrysanthemums are starting to form little flower buds…the moles are still dining on everything they can….argh.

I don’t have many flower photos this week for your enjoyment, just one of the instagram #windowframthursday. I call this dark and gloomy. Like the weather we had been having.

I am going to go off for a swim, and Steve will regale you with his little ditty.

Till next week. Allie, I dream of flowers and getting internet.

It is dreary today day, or even this weekend, but that is OK with me. I am enjoying the joys of reading and not much more knowing that when the week returns tomorrow I will be busy in the gardens weeding and getting wood chips on the paths, harvesting and all the flower stuff.

Before I forget to tell you, we have no internet. It has been a pure mess since we changed going from a business internet to residential to get ready for the hopefully pleasure of Fidium. We have absolutely no idea when we will be hooked up, last Tuesday is long under the internet bridge. I will do my best to get the newsletters out but I am making no guarantee. I have to do it either at my brother’s next door or at the library, both inconvenient but doable. Just assume the flower shed will be open on its normal hours. I can be reached by text…just a stink’n bummer. Luckily I have high speed at the lake so the Sunday blogs will still be out to entertain you.

Amazingly I haven’t taken many flower photos to share this week. I do have my #windowframethursday photos to share but that is about it.

Hydrangea, celosia, zinnias, orach, yarrow and dianthus from the high tunnel that hasn’t died from thirst amazingly enough.

So I will leave you for the week now. Remember that the flower shed will be open Tuesday afternoon from 2-5 and Friday from 9-2 even if I don’t get the newsletter out!

Until next week, Allie, I dream of flowers and having internet again….

Last week certainly was a doozer. We had a hail storm on Monday afternoon, luckily all the flowers are fine, and I wasn’t home to see it happen because I probably would have been in a panic.

Then at the end of the week we were told to brace ourselves for the remnants of Hurricane Debbie, so I added another layer of twine to support the dahlias and kept my fingers crossed. Luckily, we only had a half inch of rain, and lot of wind, but not to two plus inches they were warning us about. In between these events we had some good rain so I haven’t had to water all week! Our well had a week’s vacation.

The flowers are looking good. I am fretting I won’t have enough for the following week, but I seem to be getting by. The dahlias are coming in slowly. Persnikety things dahlias. They don’t like it too hot, which we have had plenty of this summer, then this past week hasn’t had lot of solar which they also don’t like. Not much I can do but be patient.

My flower days are filled with tying up the flowers, weeding, mowing and harvesting. All necessary. Once the row is weeded I try as quickly as possible to get mulch down to try to discourage more weeds.

I did have time to do my #windowframethrusday arrangement. Not my best, but not horrible either, but here it is for your enjoyment.

I am starting to go over in my head about next year, I know more perennials for sure, but if you have any suggestions just let me know.

I had a special guest visit the garden on Saturday morning. My long distance cheering fan and mentor, Kathy G. Thank you for taking the time to visit me. It means the world to me.

Until next week, Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

I hope everyone was able to stay cool this past week. I was doing flowers early in the morning in what cool we had then would sit on the porch in the afternoon under the ceiling fans reading. What a novel thing for me to do! and I was reading novels to boot, not books on how to grow better flowers! Very novel.

The flowers are looking good despite the heat and the lack of rain. I am careful with irrigating because of our well but so far so good. Last week I filled the mobile water tank three times and drove around hand watering just about everything that was put in new this year that isn’t on the watering system. That took a while, and three batteries to run the pump. Next week I will take a picture of the remote watering system which is kinda cool and one that I am very grateful for. Steve picked me up two more batteries because one battery is good only for 1 1/2 tanks of water. Each tank holds 65 gallons.

As you can see the flowers are quite floriferous. The zinnias have finally come into their own after such a terrible start. There aren’t as many as I would like, but I have them. The celosia is starting to feather, the scented geraniums are magnificent as foliage, the orach is setting very cool pods for interest, I am harvesting various perennials and am still battling rodents that are driving me crazy.

I had a snake eating a frog and I reminded said snake that we are to work together on this gardening project. You are to take care of the rodents, the frogs take care of the insects and we need to work as a team and not eat each other. Sheesh.

The dahlias are starting to bloom, slowly. They don’t like the heat and it slows them down, which is interesting because they are from Mexico. I am harvesting some, but I have lots of buds so soon, really soon I hope. I will have buckets of dahlias.

I just want to say thank you for your understanding that the flower shed was closed the last few Tuesdays. Life sometimes overrules flowers. We should be good now for the rest of the season with the shed open both Tuesday afternoons and Fridays. If you have special requests just let me know in advance so I can have things ready for you.

I haven’t done and #windowframethrusdays for a while because well, life is just not aways accommodating but finally I got one posted last week. I hope you enjoy it as much as I had fun creating it.

One last shout out to Gary who saved me once again with the website. Thank you Gary. You are my savior.

Until next week, I dream of flowers. Do you? Allie

Gardening is much more pleasant this week, for a change. It is so much nicer to be dealing with the cooler temperatures, even though it is only for a few more days, it is actually nice to be out in the garden.

My biggest excitement is the house is finally finished being painted so no longer will you have to wonder where you were going to park when you come to get flowers. The driveway is open again. That is a huge yay, and I am sure they are just as happy to be out of here as well.

The flowers are going gang busters and some of the dahlias are even starting to celebrate by showing bud and soon color, and then home to you.

As you can see, just about every flower that has been planted for the summer crop is blooming. The rudbeckias, snapdragons, salvias, scented geraniums and basils for fillers, the list just keeps going on, and soon, very soon dahlias will be added to the list.

Not much new is happening on the farm so believe this, I don’t have much to say, so I am giving to give you all a break and stop here.

Remember, there is no flower shed this Tuesday, but the shed will be open on Friday and the rest of the scheduled flower days.

Until next week. Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

This is the longest wave of heat I can ever remember and trying to keep up with the watering is, shall we say, challenging. The plants don’t like the heat nor does the flower farmer. Back when I was living in Queensland, we would have shade cover over the nursery stock. It did break the intensity of the sun and did make the plants, and growers cooler, but I don’t know if that is feasible here. At least not yet. In our future? It is a possibility. I’m certainly glad I am not harvesting in the high tunnel now. Or working in a greenhouse. They just get unbearable this time of year.

The summer flowers are finally hitting their stride. I am beginning to harvest the zinnias and celosia and a marigold or two. The garden phlox is beginning to bloom and blooms are coming in strong for almost all of the flowers now. This is a photo of last Thursday morning’s harvest, and is only part of it.

Even with the extreme heat, the flower shed will be open Tuesdays and Fridays. I am hopeless for posting the openings on instagram, but I do get the newsletter out the night before to let you know of any changes. Speaking of notices, Tuesday July 23 the flower shed will be closed. I will continue to remind you, if I can remember….Then back to our normal schedule.

I am going to go for a swim. Stay cool everyone, and hope to see you in the flower shed soon.

Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

I hope everyone had a fabulous 4th of July weekend, or maybe even week? We certainly did. thank you to everyone who came by to get flowers on the second so we could have a long weekend with friends at the lake. R&R is just what was needed to rest up for mid season flowers.

The summer flowers are coming in and I am harvesting like crazy. The zinnias are just starting as are the celosia and marigolds. I may not have tons of one flower, but each harvest is at least three buckets full. I am shutting down the tunnel for the season now. The crops are almost done and the irrigation seems to have spring some serious leaks. Oh well. We’ll get it all fixed up for next spring.

The peonies are now all gone till next year now. In some ways they are like the tulips, although a much shorter season. I certainly love them when they are here, but it is also nice to see new flowers coming into season. And that season is the summer annuals. Yes, the “dirty flower” season is upon us.

What are dirty flowers you might ask. These are the flowers that make your flower water skanky. All of our favorite flowers are included in this category. Zinnias, yarrow, celosia, the scented geraniums. So when you get your flowers on flower days, remind me to give you a flower preservative packet. It keeps the water cleaner and also has a bit of flower food in it. If you don’t want the packet or run out, just a couple of drops of bleach in the water will help. Change the water every day or two, recut the stems and the flowers will be just fine. if you don’t do anything, well, they will turn skanky. Trust me.

The dahlias are coming along nicely, I am hoping by August? I will start having them available.

Flower farm details are check for slugs and Japanese beetles on my way to feed the donkeys in the morning, and after I feed the donkeys at night. Turn on the irrigation before the sun hits the hoses, harvest very early in the cool or wait until evening. Once a week I will the mobile water tank to water all the new plantings that are not irrigated, as well as top up the donkey water tank cause damn we need rain. Exciting I know.

I leave you with my red, white and blue flowers to celebrate the 4th.

Until next week. Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

June, what a month that was. Memorable in both good and bad. But that’s farming. But July is here and let’s go!

I had lots of special flower orders going out in June, buckets of flowers for a DYI wedding,

Special birthday bouquets, in remembrance arrangements,

And lots of other cool floral projects.

The summer annuals are slow right now, so it is a really good thing that I have some cool annuals in the beds that I can cut from as well as having perennials and bulbs for interesting flowers. It is a good thing I have been planting more perennials in the garden because they are great for filling the gaps.

The flowers in the tunnel are done for the season. They did really well until the big heat of last week, so I am grateful for them believe me, but I will dry it out, harvest the ranunculus and anemones to save for next year and pull everything else. If I can get my act together I will plant it up with some seedlings that I will keep going until winter, then let them go dormant until February and be able to harvest them really early. It is always the big IF.

We/I had a bit of a panic moment this past week. Around eight in the morning the bulb room alarm goes off saying that the bulb room, cooler was up to 53 degrees. I had a senior moment thinking it was the dirty room and ignored the first three alarms. Then I read my phone correctly and it was the bulb room. WTF!?! The air conditioner was no longer cooling. It was blowing air, but not cooling, and the temperature was rising, and I had lots of wedding flowers being held for pick up as well as the regular flowers. After searching online to see what we could do, nothing, I started calling repair people. Apparently window air conditioners are considered disposable and they don’t repair them. You can imagine my panic and language. So. Because it is a 18,000BTU air conditioner not many people cary them locally. Like, nobody. So I went online and ordered one. To be delivered in 4-7 days. More bad language, but what can I do. Around noon, Steve goes down and pounds on it again, and he got it to cool. Isn’t he my magnificent hero. Meanwhile, I have now purchased another. The next morning I get an email from where I ordered the new aircon from and it has been shipped, and will be delivered the next day! Yay! I now am the proud owner of a back up aircon unit in case of emergencies. We think that with all the storms raging through it did something to the controls so we also now have it on its own surge protector.

Now that July is here, I will be doing Japanase beetle patrol as well as slug patrol. Isn’t flower farming beautiful?

Anyway, I leave you with a photo if a tiny posie of the sweet peas that “I’m not growing this year”…

So until next week, have a safe and fun 4th of July.

Almost forgot, The flower shed will be closed on July 5. I will be open on July 2, but not the 5th.

Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

It is finally summer, what I wait all winter for, and it is here! yay! And the summer flowers are trying hard to rock in. It is a good thing I have plenty of transition flowers to tide me through until the real summer flowers get here.

The peony harvest is done, but I still have many colors available. The zinnias I really think are going to be a bust this year. Argh, friggin slugs. I had a snake in the garden with a frog in his mouth, I bopped the snake gently and he released the frog. I told them you guys need to work together to help with the rodents and slugs, not eat each other. Let’s get it right please. I need them to do their jobs! Stop whinging Kerwin, lots of the other flowers are doing just fine…Zinnias? I try to remain hopeful.

The bed that I let go to seed last summer is my earliest row to come into flower in the big garden.

Also in the self seeded row is lots of Nigella, most of it has already been harvested, lots of verbena b getting tall more feverfew…it pays to have a messy garden sometimes.

The dahlias are looking OK. I have slug damage, maybe some rodents enjoying that succulent growth, but many of them have had their first pinch, and the week of the 4th when we have houseguests, the rest of the stakes go in and the corralling begins.

In case you are wondering, each pink flag on the stake is a different variety, four tubers per variety was the plan. Not all plans go the way I want them to, but there will be plenty of dahlias. Fingers crossed. I always cross my fingers with big crops like this. Especially this year where everything seems to be a bit more challenging.

But have no fear. There will be plenty of flowers. The yarrow is coming in nicely, the Red Hot Pokers and Eremerus are looking grand,

So I leave you now, a big storm is getting closer and I need to get this out before I lose our dismal internet. The last photo is of last week’s harvest wagon. See. Lots of color and varieties.

Until next week then. Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

The official start of summer is this Thursday, not Memorial Day, or the first of June, but Thursday, and the weather is going to match it. We have had such a lovely cool spring, I know, we had some hot days, but those are going to feel mild compared to the three H’s that are coming this week. Yup, the Hazy, Hot and Humid are going to descend so I better enjoy the cool of tonight while I can. This heat will blow the peonies so fast it will be scary, but I have harvested plenty and they are all enjoying their time in the cool. Speaking of which, if it is truly going to be as hot as they say, I will more than likely have the flowers in the flower cave on the open flower days. Just follow the signs.

A riot of colors are being cut from the gardens now. I have almost every color under the rainbow, and it is such a beautiful thing. I don’t know if I will have a riot of zinnias this year because of the slugs, but everything else is looking good. The tunnel is full of color and the perennials and more of the cool self sown flowers are just going out of town.

So what is planned on the farm this week besides keeping up to the watering? Well early in the day I will get the watering done and I got a bunch of perennials that need to go in the ground. The space is all prepped, I just have to get them in. Tomorrow should be cool enough to work in so I will get those planted and mulched. That is the plan anyway. The rest of the week, getting a path wood chipped before 10 each morning. Then trying to stay cool. Harvesting will also happen early or after dinner at night, but honestly by then I am pretty zapped so early morning harvest it will be. Fingers crossed. I have to choose my times working wisely, paths can wait till cooler days if they have to. The third and last batch of the zinnias will also go in the ground. Fingers crossed that these take. They are small but if I don’t get them in the ground soon I will miss the season. Ugh.

I leave you with last week’s #windowframethursdays. I just love this creative outlet, I hope that you all enjoy seeing them.

So until next week, stay cool flower friends.

Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?