Author: Allie

Wow, here we are at week seven and mid February. If this year’s flowers season flies by a quickly as these first few weeks I will need to fasten my seat belt. Between moving tulip crates hither and yon, harvesting and bunching tulips for sale, seeding, transplanting seedlings, transplanting sprouted ranunculus into crates, then today hauling them out into the greenhouse I am getting an upper body work out as well as my 10,000 steps in. No problem. All of this is good. No complaining here, just letting you know what is happening at the farm.

The first Friday of open flower shed with tulips just knocked me out of the park and over the moon. I can’t say enough how much I appreciate your support. Tulips were sent off to Flag Leaf bakery in Antrim, and if you haven’t been there let me just say that their bread and pasties are right up there with the best in the world. Dropping off tulips at Cranberry Meadow Farm (CMF) in Peterborough was also a success, making pick up easier for those flower lovers not in Hancock. That being said, I will still have the majority of tulips available here at the farm. If you really want to pick up tulips at CMF, you will need to let me know so I have an appropriate number of bunches available there. All I ask is that you write on the post-it note (that are in the tea box) your name and how many bunches you took so I can adjust your balance. This is a learning curve for us all so thank you for working with me to work out the kinks.

So onto the best side of being a flower farmer, for me anyway is what is happening at the farm. I have tulips. I am harvesting about 200 a week, yay, and if I must say so, they are pretty damn sweet.

Unlike last year when we had the same old forced tulips until the in ground tulips came in, this year every two weeks will be another four varieties on offer. Not that the tulips on offer last year were bad, it is just that I got bored with the offerings, so I have mixed things up. Each week will be a surprise, even I don’t know what they will look like until I harvest. I can’t wait. Let me know what your favorites are because in another two months I will be having to put my bulb order in for next year. I know, crazy, but that is how the industry works. So far my favorites are the Exotic Emperor, and Lalibela, which is this apricot, yellow, orange OMG single.

The ranunculus that were soaked a few weeks back have all sprouted and are being planted in crates as soon as I can get the tulips out of them. The first three crates were hauled into the greenhouse this morning and I have many more to go. Tomorrow’s soaking will all be destined to go into the high tunnel once they have sprouted. Oh yeah. Things are ramping up. The perennial seedlings have been transplanted into the next size soil block and I am hoping that by the end of next week they too will be able to go into the greenhouse ’cause I am starting to run out of space. Hence the dance of the Greenhouse Shuffle.

Oh right. The blog is going to be coming out of this server, but the newsletter that tells you our open hours and what will be available will still be sent by Google. If you are just happy with the blog and don’t want the newsletter let me know. If you are getting the newsletter and not the blog, check your junk mail. Google. Let me just leave it at that.

If you know of any flower lovers that don’t know about Flowers at Lottarock, bring them along, and if they become addicted, there will be a special treat for you. There can never, ever be too many flower lovers. Now, Steve will fix this for you to read.

Until next week. Allie

It is beginning, the tulips are showing color! I can not even begin to tell you how relieved I am. I tried a new method, did the math, then worried and worried that I had messed something up, but, the first crates of tulips are just about ready for full harvest. The first two bunches go to birthday ladies this week, lucky them, then the rest will then be available for everyone. How exciting is that?!?

I am going to try something new this spring. Please email me and let me know what you think. Cranberry Meadow Farm (CMF) will let me put a bucket or two, depending on the interest, of tulip bunches in their hall. This would make the flowers more available to you, so you don’t have to drive to Hancock. I will still have bunches here, but I would have a set number at CMF available for pick up. Details haven’t been worked out yet, but please let me know what you think of this idea. Send the email to flowersatlotarock@gmail.com or alliekerwin@gmail.com. I generally don’t look at the comments posted on the blog so this is the better way.

What a wild weather weekend this past weekend was. I don’t need a repeat of it for a long time. We raised the temperature in the bulb room to protect the growing tulips and then after taking the temperature of the dahlias, which were reading a temp of 29.9, we lugged all the boxes of dahlia tubers up into the dirty room to protect them from the cold. If anything I couldn’t let those tubers freeze. This afternoon, when the warmer temperatures returned, we lugged all the boxes back down again. While I was down there I gave all the tulips a good drink which should see them through until they all come up to the dirty room to grow on. The good news is that everything looks good, and I hadn’t planted anything outside yet into the greenhouse or the tunnel.

But soon, the greenhouse and tunnel will be planted. The first batch of ranunculus are sprouting, the perennial seeds are sprouting and hopefully will be transplanted into larger soil blocks this week. The growing space shuffle is ramping up for sure and I am going to need upper arm strength to move everything around from now until June. Whoa.

Valentines Day is next Saturday, or wait, this coming Saturday. Ask your dearest for a flower card to get the flower season off to a good start instead of a box of chocolates. I mean I have nothing against a box of chocolates, but don’t you think flowers would be so much nicer, and the flower card will last longer than a box of chocolates. Remember the old Whitman’s Select box that would come in a red ribbon? Ah yes. Those were the days.

Because it is so white out, and we are all longing for some color, I will leave you with some of this week’s floral color. The forsythia I cut about two weeks ago, and the tulips, I cut today. Enjoy, and see you next week.

Enjoy the color, and until next week. Allie

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

it is officially the end of the season, and for that I am quite relieved. It has been a long season, starting in mid February and ending just a few weeks ago, but now alas (yippee!) the growing season of 2022 is behind me.

I must say thank you to all of you have supported my flower passion. To those of you who came and got flowers, to those that would send me encouraging emails I can not thank you enough and your support means everything to me.

We are going to take a break for a few weeks. Give you all a chance to get a break from me. We are off on a well needed rest and vacation and will return mid December. Then I will be back, full of vim and vigor, ready to leap into January seed sowing for those hardy flowers, then fingers crossed tulips mid February and so on and so forth. 2023 will be another fun, flower filled year so stayed tuned.

So, until mid December, enjoy your break from me. Until then, Allie

I think I can, I think I can. With Wednesday’s looming plowable snow forecast It will get it done, or not. I am sooo close to finishing up. The dahlias are all planted, the tulips are all planted, the cover crop has been mowed, and almost all the flowers have been cut down except for the chrysanthemums that the honey bees and pollinators are all over and I can’t bring myself to cut them down until the season is truly over.

So what am I going to do with all my “spare time”? I will be making some dried bouquets that I will have for pick up if you are interested. I have some really beautiful farm grown flowers and grasses to adorn your space many of which you have seen hanging from the ceiling of the flower shed. If you want to create you own, just let me know so I can get the assortment ready for your perusal. Just drop me an email and I will have what you want ready for you. I think it will be pretty cool to do something different with my flowers.

My other cool project is that on Instagram, @flowersatlottarock I am now challenging myself to do a windowsill arrangement every Thursday. I chose Thursday because it seems the only day that I have time to be creative and not rushing from one place or another.

I need to work on the windowsill a bit more, it still has builder’s gunk on it but these were the flowers I harvested last Tuesday. And no, they aren’t arranged, it is just how I had gathered them in the garden.

I am loving the season extension that the chrysanthemums are giving me. I have been getting flowers almost a month after the flower shed closed for the season. Not enough to convince me to extend the shed any longer in the season, but will still be willing to do special flowers until there is no more. But then, I will have dried flowers on call, and holiday bouquets…next year.

Until next week. Allie

Here we are. November, and this weekend has felt like mid August, with the warm temperatures and the high humidity. Not that I am complaining because it has been a pleasure to be able to work in the gardens without 16oo layers on to stay warm. The plants might be confused, but hopefully they will adjust.

It has been a busy week here at the farm. My friend Gary has been helping me on my mailing system. Hopefully I have transcribed all of you addresses correctly and you will be getting these emails…no more google, hopefully but a proper mail server, or whatever they are called.

That was painful office work, and for fun I finished planting the last of the in-ground tulips. All 3000 of them are hopefully tucked in and they won’t be bothered by the rodents. They were my hair pulling last spring. That the the temperatures in the 70’s and 80’s early May. That was NOT fun. Soon it will be a new year and new flower growing experiences.

My other great hurrah is all the dahlias have been gotten ready for storage. I don’t divide the tubers now, I leave that lovely chore for spring. But each variety is labeled and put in it’s own tulip bag, (which I have an abundance of), then into plastic storage boxes and this year they are being stored in the cooler with the tulips. They both need to be about at the same temperatures so this saves me from having to haul the heavy crates down into the basement.

Now with those two huge projects behind me I can now focus on getting the rest of the flower beds put away, the peonies planted, the leaves mulched, last year’s leaves on the garden beds, THEN, I can start cleaning up the house gardens. I do feel as though I have made great headway.

Until next week. Allie