Author: 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

I am sure you are wondering what happened to the Peony time. Well, it is still here, but just. This past weeks heat wave hasn’t done them any favors. I go out in the morning and harvest what I can, get them into water and with the heat, by evening I harvest them again. I am keeping them cool in the flower fridge, but outside, oh my they are going by fast. But in answer to your question, yes, I will still have peonies for this coming week.

But more exciting than peonies, and you might ask what is more exciting than peonies, are the sweet peas. I love sweet peas. They remind me of my grandmother. With today’s breeding and selection sweet peas have come a long way. I hope that I have chosen varieties you will like. But then, how can one go wrong with the beautiful fragrant flowers.

So this past week has been a week of watering. Deep soaking watering, and most of the plants are doing well. I can’t say I am terribly pleased with how the lisianthus are doing. They are notoriously difficult crop to grow, and this year is no exception. If I didn’t love them so much for their stunning, long lasting blooms I probably wouldn’t bother. I can’t say what the crop will be, or when, but we will struggle together. The lisisanthus and I. Could be a poem.

I think I have the new garden space mostly laid out and at least covered with bark mulch, and in my mind where things will go. I know, it is all up to change, but for the most part I think it’s good. I wish it would rain so I can get a cover crop sown, but at the moment that is going to have to wait. Can’t see feeding the birds expensive seed if I have no way of keeping it watered waiting for it to germinate. On deck to plant is the next crop of sunflowers and the pumpkins and gourds. Then I think I will be done with planting until fall. I think. I always have to leave room open for options. I am still planting perennials in the holding beds for the big fall planting but that doesn’t count.

So. Until next time. Allie

I feel as though I have been a chook running around with my head cut off this past week. Phew! I have finally gotten the last of the narcissus transplanted into their new beds. Was that a chore and a half, but it is all done. Until this fall’s shipment of bulbs arrives and I have to get them all planted, but that isn’t until October so I will be good for a few months yet. The last of the annual seedlings have been planted, another great task hurdle done, and now that the narcissus have been moved I can finally start getting the sunflower seedlings planted.

Steve has helped me get the barn poo cleaned out from the goat stalls into beds and we have covered all that with wood chip. As I was spreading more chip, and I even roped a friend into driving the tractor for me while we visited, I decided that this new area will be the perfect place to plant the pumpkins and gourds. Those seeds have been started and hopefully will be planted out by this time next week. Hopefully. That word can mean so much optimism. The netting has been put in place so the seedlings and plants will grow straight stems, but artfully curving stems are all the flower arranging rage now so hopefully that will also help.

The peonies are starting to come in fully now. Yay.

So this is a bouquet that I made out of left overs from last Friday’s open garden gate. I think it is still looking good despite a bit of trauma.

So we are nearing the end of the spring flowers. And honestly, it is very sad to see them go, but there is so much more in the upcoming weeks that will be just exciting. So I will say good bye to the spring bulbs, and hello, the beginning of summer flowers.

Check your mailbox for the newsletter for what is available on the open garden gate days.

Until next weeks blog, Allie

Here we are at June 7 and I am still planting flowers in the cutting garden. All the flowers that had fried to a crispy toast have been removed and replanted. Some replacements I had on deck, some are new ones that hadn’t been planted yet. Although I have tried to keep the beds planted in blocks to make harvesting easier, and it looks way cooler, it is now a bit haphazard. Oh well, they are all growing well now. I probably have another, let me think, four or five flats of 806’s which translates to 6×8=48×5=240 plants that yet have to go into the ground. All this week. Maybe Tuesday.

Meanwhile, bed construction still continues. I have most of the area flagged out, and we are shaping the spaces slowly. Hot work, but with Steve on the tractor and me shoveling it really does go faster than with just me. Tidier as well. Hopefully by July all the beds will be filled and if we ever get some decent rain, cover crops sown. If not, it will just be with what we have. Cardboard, wood chip and a dusting of compost. I also have the last fifty narcissus bulbs to get shifted this week because the sunflowers are beginning to go in and I need the space for them.

At the moment we seem to be going into a short lull. The ranuncs and anemones are nearing the end, sad, they were stunning, and the peonies are just hanging on to their tight buds with all their might. I have a few singles, but the bigger wow ones are taking their sweet time.

Listening to a podcast this afternoon after a short respite up at the lake cottage, a farming flower couple were excited because they were taking their first vacation together after seven years of starting their flower farm. Oh to be so young. My body wouldn’t last to those rigors anymore. Hopefully after this year the biggest push will be over, and then it will just be normal hard work.

Until next time, Allie

Wow, what a week it has been! I feel as though I have spent all my waking hours trying to keep water up to all the plants, it has been so hot. The shrubs, the perennials that are in the holding beds, and my poor little seedlings that were doing so well and that I was so happy with have been scorched to death from the intense heat and wind that we had this week. I would estimate that I lost about 40 percent of the new seedlings that I had planted just last week. The intense heat, the small root system that hadn’t had a chance to take hold, and the wind, my poor babies just roasted, I can’t even blame Sadie this time. Just Mother Nature, and oh she can be soooo cruel at times.

Enough of my whinging. Things have been going well here are Lottarock Farm. I have been slowly spreading bark mulch and compost on my new space, figuring our what is going to go where, working out the paths and trying to take my time so I get it right the first time. Getting too old to be rearranging all this every year. I think I have the space now designated for the little spring bulbs, the narcissus, the perennials and the peonies. Might as well get it all in now, because time goes way too fast.

So if you didn’t know, we are called Lottarock Farm because we have way too many rocks, not little rocks, but honking big rocks, bigger than VW beetles! While I might have a lot of rocks, I am quite shy on soil, so in order to prepare these future flower beds I am doing a few soil building experiments. Beds are being spread with bark mulch which I have from the tree clearing and topped with compost. Other beds have compost covered with bark mulch, and other beds yet with cardboard, bark mulch and compost, and last barn poo, cardboard, (to keep the dogs out of it) and bark mulch. It will be interesting to see what happens. It will all eventually become soil, but which will be the fastest. This is all part of my “No Till” experiment. With No Till, I am keeping all the nutrients in place and not damaging the soil structure so the plants have the best possible environment to establish themselves and thrive. At least that’s the idea. We’ll see how it goes. The most important thing is that I get that little bit of soil covered. I had plans of sowing everything with a cover crop but with it being so dry I just think I would be feeding the birds with the seed since every drop of water is very precious here at the farm. That is another story.

So between hauling water non-stop and building beds for next year’s flowers I have been pouring over the bulb catalogs to see what fabulous spring flowers I can tempt you with.

So you are asking what is up on deck for the future flowers here are the Rock? Well the peonies are starting in. I need some heat, but not wicked heat because we want those beautiful blooms to last and some natural rain would go a long way. For the flowers and my body. Also many of the perennials and bi-annuals are starting to happen so I guess all I can say at this point is stay tuned to the newsletter which will give you all the details. I leave you this to tempt you.

Until next time, Allie

Phew! What a week this has been. I think I finally have the new space figured out. But wait! I haven’t shown you the final grooming of said new space. Here it is, taken from the drone. What looks like a lot of space shrinks down when beds, paths and tractor ways go in, but here it is for you all to see.

Today was mostly spent planting out the flower beds. Whether I have enough space when it is all said and done it yet to be seen. This is what happened today.

I know, there are a lot of open holes yet, but look at what still has to go in!

In the meantime, we are creating new beds that will be planted this fall at the earliest. I need a bed or two for the spring bulbs, a bed for the peonies, one or two for the perennials. Then the shrubs that got planted the other day along the left side and back that will be used for cutting and adding to the bouquets. Lilac, flowering quince, physocarpus, oh that space will all be filled up soon. Then I will save some space off to the right behind the little shed for the pumpkins and gourds. Yes. it is a happenin’ place. A full happenin’, happy, beautiful space.

I have gotten a lot of lovely comments with photos of the flowers that you are taking home and making arrangements with or just taking beautiful photos of the flowers. Soon, I hope to be able to post them here so everyone can enjoy them. Especially my friends in Europe who can only enjoy them virtually.

We are at the tail end of the magnificent tulips, what a show they delivered. The anemones are still going strong and here is a lovely photo, not of the farmer, holding a bunch of rainbow colored ranunculas.

Until, next week. Allie

Well we are half way through May, phew, what a time we are having. I have been harvesting armloads of absolutely amazing tulips. Bicolored tulips, doubles, double fringed, a flower arranger’s dream. The ranucnulus are starting to come in fast and furious, the anemones are still going strong, the alliums are showing buds as well as the early peonies. Like I said, a flower lover’s dream.

I will never be a garden club flower arranger because I am not very good about following rules, but this bouquet was made from all flowers frown here at Flowers-at-Lottarock. There are a variety of tulips, ranunculas, narcissus, and then some beautiful magnolia, bleeding heart and spirea added because they were looking good in the garden at the time.

You to can make an amazing bouquet with an assortment of flowers from the farm, then just fill in with a couple of things from the garden and viola! In fact many of you are sending along pictures of the flowers that you have gotten and arranged. I love seeing this and am trying to figure out how to post them so they can be shared with everyone that is a member. All I need is a youngster to teach me what to do. So take those flower pictures, and send them along to my email allie@flowers-at-lottarock.com and I will try to figure out how to post them for you all to see. I think that this will be beautiful. Also important because many of those early tulips were sold before I got to see them open, and I think that would be fun as well.

The arrangements don’t have to be elaborate, even a stem in a vase will be lovely. It isn’t a competition, just I think you all would like to see what you are all creating. And as long as it makes you smile and happy, then I am happy. I leave you with this photo of my simple window sill posy.

To finish off, it looks as though we will have open flower gate on Tuesday afternoon this week. Like I said, I am harvesting bucketloads of beautiful flower stems. So stay tuned for the newsletter Monday night. Gasp, that is tomorrow! Hope to see you all soon, and your pictures of your created beauty. Allison