Author: Allie

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

Here it is the end of July nearly and I have flowers by the bucketloads. The zinnias are pots of bright colors, the amaranth looks like Jack could climb them, the snaps are snappy, the bachelor buttons are cheerful and on and on. The asters and the dahlias are also stating to come into their own, slowly though so don’t expect big buckets of them yet.

We have had extraordinary hot weather, and some wicked storms come through but the flowers all seem to be holding up. In fact, they seem to be doing better than the gardener some days and certainly better than our internet.

I actually don’t know if our internet is up and running yet. Consolidated Communications wasn’t able to give a time last Thursday when the region’s internet would be back up and running, so, if you don’t get any newsletters this week regarding flowers, don’t worry, just come on over during our open hours. Remember, Tuesdays from 4-6 and Fridays form 9-11. I do so look forward to seeing you and catching up.

Alyson from Nye Hill Farm did have delicious green beans and yummy blueberries last Friday so I am hoping she will be bringing a small selection of farm fresh produce again on a regular basis. Hint, hint Alyson.

‘Til next time. Allie

What a scorcher in the last few days! Who wold have thought that Friday morning it was really chilly, and I was downright cold, and now the temperatures are in the 90”s. It is hard to keep up.

I have escaped to the lake in New London to avoid the heat. The gardens? Well, when I get home in a couple of hours I will see how they have fared. Hopefully well. Everything had a deep soak before we left and everything is also well mulched. I guess you will have to wait until tomorrow’s newsletter to see what is happening, or happened.

The flowers are starting to come in strong, lots of bouquets being made. This is last Friday’s garden haul. Beautiful isn’t it.

So, until next week. stay cool and hydrate. Allie

It may seem strange, starting up a cut flower farming business in one’s 60’s but here I am. The growing of flowers I am finding, more or less, the easy part. It is all the other important stuff one has to do to get the business name out there to generate flower lover followers. That is a mouthful isn’t it. The blog is chugging along and Mary is helping me with the website design because I am clueless. I don’t even know what half the terminology means. Then Instagram, whoa, that is way over my head, but I am learning. Baby steps. Hopefully I will have it all figured out by next year’s growing season. It is all such challenge because I would much rather be outside growing and playing with flowers than doing the computer stuff. Can you hear me sigh deeply?

With the rain we have been getting lately I have eased up on watering the beds every night, and instead sowed a bunch of buckwheat where I had spread the mown purple clover from the orchard. I can’t tell if the clover has germinated, but the buckwheat certainly has, and that is good because the recent rains have been pelting down. The white clover that I had spread on the roadway and paths all floated down the hill and was stopped by the wood chip that we had spread earlier in the season. At least the wood chip prevented everything from washing away and ending up in the woods. On the good side, the rain tanks are back to overflowing again, and bucket watering is taking a break for a few weeks. It is amazing how much time is opened up when one isn’t watering constantly.

The flowers are starting to really come on now. The sweet peas are still putting out flowers of 200 plus stems every few days. The snapdragons are flowering like crazy, the zinnias are starting up and there are a few flower buds on the dahlias that are showing color. Trying to get photos of the flowers in the garden is difficult because most of the flowers are cut before they are wide open so most of what you see is green. But I know that the flowers are there.

The flower shed is filling up very nicely on Tuesday and Fridays during the open hours. Soon I will have to put a board over the donkeys hay bin so I have more space to display the flowers and bouquets.

I look forward to seeing you soon at the open flower gate. Allie

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night wondering if the retirement you have chosen might just be a bit overboard. So last night that is just what happened. I woke up, thinking 750 tulips! What on earth am I thinking! It is bad enough that I have just ordered 21 peonies, that will have to be planted this autumn, but really, do I need to plant 750 tulips? Will I be able to market 750 tulips? Who can say not to tulips. They are one of the most exquisite flowers, no, regal flowers out there I think. Next to peonies and roses and sweet peas….and all the other flowers when they bloom. I mean, look at this springs partial haul. Can one have too many tulips?

To err on the wise side, I am holding off on the tulip order for a week or two. I still have time and hopefully some of the best will still be available when common sense reigns.

It looks as though I have never picked a sweet pea here at the farm. They are flowering like crazy. Last week I picked about 250 for Tuesday, Friday I had picked another 400. I know because I bundle them in units of 25 and go from there. I try to harvest every morning before the sun hits the flowers, put them in fresh water and into the fridge to hold them for you. For all of this, they don’t have a long vase life. I wish I could make it better, but seeing how fast and furious they are coming in maybe that is a good thing? What doesn’t go on Tuesday or Fridays gets composted just because they just don’t have the shelf life. But just look at them!

So you might be asking what is coming on at the farm. Well…Snapdragons for sure, bachelor buttons, eucalyptus in small amounts and the zinnias are starting to show bud as well as some of the dahlias. I think it will be a few weeks yet before I am picking the dahlias fully. Patience. It is a virtue. I am told.

I will leave you with last Friday’s door arrangement which is now gracing my screen porch. Stay safe, and look forward to seeing you all soon at the open garden gate.

PS, we have changed the blog so when you go to the menu and hit subscribers portfolio, you will see some of the photos that you have been sending me of your flower arrangements. Cool heh.

The sweet peas have been coming on fast and furious. I feels as though I am harvesting them both day and night. I wish I could say I have armloads full, but only lots of beer cups full. The colors are beautiful, I wish I had room to grow all the varieties that are available, but alas, no. And the fragrance is sublime. It is too bad they are only at their best for about a week, give or take the ambient temperature, but what a week of pleasure they give. I have bunches scattered around the house, some even beautifully displayed in old clean dog food cans. Yes, even clean tin cans will work for flowers.

I haven’t picked yet today because I am waiting for the weather to cool down and the sun to leave the garden for the day but look at the bounty awaiting me. Oodles and oodles of beautiful sweet peas.

I am sad to say that I am done harvesting the peonies. It was a beautiful but short harvest time this year because of the extreme heat. I still have some in cold storage and will see how they look for Tuesday. If they aren’t up to snuff they will be composted. What I have done though, is order 21 peony roots for planting this fall in the new beds. That should take care of all our addictions. So next early summer I will have plenty of flowers and I won’t have to cut from the house stock so heavily. Two rows, ten plants each row, that should be enough. I hope.

I have also started to pull together my tulip order. I have earmarked about 750 tulips. Do you think that will be enough or am I going foolishly overboard? I had originally marked about 1500, but I know for sure that is overboard. Even for a flower nut like me. I haven’t hit the order button yet….and that doesn’t even count the narcissus, allium, frittilaria…

I have finally gotten the pumpkins planted and they are looking good. The second planting of the sunflowers is well, lets just say struggling. I think I will have to just direct seed the last row. The chipmunks pinched the last crop a bit close to the ground so I don’t think they are going to take. So tomorrow, a new batch of seed go in, protected with a bit of row cover to slow down the chipmunks. Argh.

Steve scythed the purple clover in the orchard for me last week and I have raked up the tops and spread them on the last bit of open garden space. I figure the stalks and seed will cover the bare earth, especially if we ever get rain, the seed will eventually germinate and the soil will be protected and sown at the same time. I also broadcast some buckwheat seed for added cover crop protection and to start building up the rocky soil. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

So I leave you with an image of last Friday’s wall pocket, or I should say, door pocket bouquet.

Until next week. Allie