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So here we go, round two is coming up. What does that mean? Well, we are all done with the forced tulips, I, or we have taken a week’s deep breath, and now we are beginning the next round, the in ground tulips. Just to let you know, they are just as stressful as the forced ones but in a different way. Now I am truly contending with Mother Nature, and she can be fickle.

The good news is, it looks as though I will have tulips available for Friday, but please pay attention to the newsletter on Thursday night. I WILL have some beautiful narcissus available so you don’t have to raid your garden for a beautiful bouquet. There are anemones, yes still with short stems but they look beautiful in a little bud vase, the frittilarria are now standing up straight and, if they are listening to my whisperings, they should be close to harvest.

There is something about little flowers. You have to stop and look at their beauty, or to be more eloquent, to pause to enjoy their beauty. They are not a stand up and look at me, and I will have plenty of those, but a small vase of these on your desk, by your bed, or maybe a favorite place, in the loo, where a lot of pause happens.

So what have I done on the “week off”? Well, I supplied flowers for a bridal shower, and also for the fundraiser of Music on Norway Pond. That was a lot of flowers, and I was harvesting and conditioning them about every hour trying to hurry them up. Let me just say that breathing warm air over them in impatience DOESN’T work. In the end it all worked out.

Meanwhile back at the flower farm, the sweet peas that I wasn’t going to grow are now planted in the garden. Steve, bless him, helped me, or let me help him, put up the sweet pea fence and planted commenced on Friday. I also go the second round of cool crops planted next to them.

So It goes like this, first sow the seeds. Upon germination, move the seed tray to under the lights until big enough to transplant into larger soil blocks. Leave the seed tray dirty room until big enough, or warm enough to be hardened off in the greenhouse. Then when that space gets to full, they get more hardened off outside the greenhouse waiting for planting in the garden beds and the greenhouse space is filled again. It should be set to music, the seedling shuffle.

I leave you with this, the next HUGE seeding starts this week, the perennials need to be planted out, the donkeys are having their teeth floated, which I think means they get ground down, and flowers will probably be harvested two or three times a day because it is that time of year. None of this is a complaint, by the way, just the way it is.

Until next week. Allie

Welcome to the flower shed.

Here we are, a beautiful spring day, if you like cold wind from the west and snow showers all day, but it is spring, and the flowers and I can’t be stopped. Slowed maybe, but not stopped.

Hurrah! The last of the forced tulips are done and sold. I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for supporting Flowers at Lottarock for our tulip forcing endeavor. Yes, it was a huge learning curve, yes, the variety was limited, but next spring will be bigger and better I promise. I I will work on the stem topple. Even though the stems give away, for some reason, the flowers still looked amazing for a week either cut shorter, or just left as is in the bouquet it is very frustrating to have happen.

Now I am waiting for the field grown tulips to catch up. I have to supply flowers for two events this next weekend….so unless we got some really warm and really sunny days….I may not be open on Friday, but one never knows with Mother Nature. So wait for Thursday’s newsletter and I will let you know.

This is where we are at the moment….

If a flower farm has lots of flowers blooming in their field, they don’t have enough sales. Most flowers need to be harvested before they open. Once they are open, they are normally visited by pollinators, and the flowers can start to make seed and ten they start to die off. So the flowers need to be harvested when they are normally just showing color, that way they will last much longer for you, my flower lovers.

Seeding is progressing, the space shuffle is commencing, but I will be honest, it is awfully nice to be able to walk into the dirty room and not have to worry about where you are going, or the dogs tearing about and the tulips getting wrecked. They are out of there for the year. Phew and Yay!

So I leave you with this…the tulips are coming, as are the narcissus, the anemones are being harvested and the ranunculus are starting to throw visible buds, and I am a happy flower farmer.

Until next week. Allie

Welcome to the Flower shed!

It is amazing how some weeks it seems as though I have tons to report, and other weeks not quite as much. So much of it is weather dependent but…I do have things to report.

This week will be the last of the forced tulips! For me that is exciting because I will, hopefully, in the following week be able to offer something different. The in ground tulips are growing right along, especially with that good dose of rain we had the last few days. Now with some heat I am hoping to be able to start seeing flower buds and the wonderful variety starts. Variety is the spice of the flower grower’s life.
This flower grower anyway.

The narcissus are budding up quite nicely, and before we know it there will be beautiful mixed arrangements for offer. That’s right. Mixed flowers. The ranunculus are s-l-o-w-l-y budding, but the anemone are starting to get decent length stems, the narcissus are looking really good, I have some lovely flowering branches, so there is much to look forward to here at the flower shed in the next few weeks.

The high tunnel is full to the brim, the sweet peas that I wasn’t going to grow are out in the greenhouse getting ready for their first pinch, and the perennials have been moved outdoors because I needed room in the greenhouse. From this time of year until everything is planted out in June, it is a constant shuffle of plants from one space to another, but by some miracle it all seems to work.

For the time being, the shed hours will stay at Friday, from 9-2. As always, stayed tuned to the newsletter to find if there are any changes.

Remember this,
April showers, bring April flowers. Until next time. Allie

Welcome to the flower shed.

So here we are in April, finally. I can now pace the gardens and see things happening for real, rather than in my impatient imagination. So much is happening, where do I begin?

The high tunnel is almost completely planted with a wide array of cool flower seedlings. This is just a trial, but if I can grow cool flowers, (these are cool, but what cool flowers really mean is that they are flowers that actually do much better in the cooler temperatures, than the summer flowers). The plan is, get the rest of the ranunculus planted (these are the ones that I saved from last year) as well as the stock seedlings while I am waiting for the vet to come and do the donkeys’ teeth. By the end of Tuesday the high tunnel will be filled to the brim.

The sweet peas that I wan’t going to grow are geminating quite nicely and will hopefully be planted out by the middle of the month.

The in-ground tulips are really emerging from their winter nap, which is good because I am nearly our of the forced tulips. Yes, I will have some for the flower shed on Friday for sure, but there just might be a lull for a week or two, so stay tuned.

The anemones are starting to produce flowers, but only enough for my enjoyment at this point. However in a few weeks, fingers crossed, there will be enough for all to enjoy. The ranunculus are taking their sweet time but all things flower when they are ready, NOT when I am ready for them.

So while we wait….I hope you aren’t bored of tulips yet because I have 35 varieties of absolutely stunning tulips that are coming along. Doubles, parrots, magnificently colored singles. I for one can hardly wait. Speaking of tulips, I have already put the order in for next year. I know. I know. So to keep you filled in, the forced tulips that you have all been enjoying were pre-cooled bulbs, that were planted on December 23rd. They had already had their cold treatment onboard the ship on the way over. The problem is/was I could only order in lots of 500, which is why there were only four varieties to choose from when you came to get tulips. I have learned much this last year and will continue to learn this forcing tulip thing. I can’t say thank you enough for your patience and understanding, especially while I try to navigate Stem Topple. The bane of forced tulip growers, especially this one, but what I have learned is to really look at each bulb before planting for disease which seems to be part of the problem. This next order that I have just placed is going to be different. No pre-cooled, so I can have a much wider variety to offer. They will come in early October (fingers crossed), they will be crated up, and placed in the cooler for their cooling season. So, Week 14 I will have 4 varieties of 500. Week 15, the same but different’ varieties. Week 16 eight varieties of tulips so on and so forth. This way, none of us will be bored with the selection. So I have 3000 to force, and another 3500 in the ground. It will be beautiful, that is for sure. Timing and patience is everything. For now, it is exciting to see the bulb room empty of crates, but not of tulips.

There you have it. My flower filled life. I just love it, and love even more bringing beauty to as many as I can. Until next week, I will be dreaming tulips. Allie

Welcome to the flower shed

As I sit at the kitchen bench typing this and looking out the window there is white stuff coming out of the sky. Argh. Yes, I know that it is still March, but oh this time of year gets really hard to bear. So many beautiful days interspersed with some not so lovely days, like what is in our forecast. They have been saying for a few days now that a winter chill is coming our way, like two nights being down around 12F, and tomorrow is not even to get above freezing. Argh, no, double Argh. I have taken every precaution I can, the babies are all safely tucked in as best I can, and now I just have to keep my fingers crossed. Everything planted outside is supposed to be cold hardy, but this will be the test on just how cold hardy they will be.

Today was exciting because today I hauled out the last four crates of tulips out of the bulb room into the dirty room. So now timing and the weather is everything. The tulips in the ground are starting to emerge. Will we have warm enough weather for them to bloom by the time the last of the forced tulips are done? Only time will tell. To be honest, I am so ready to have a wider selection of tulips to have for you. Next year will be better with variety selection, it is quite the learning curve. Good thing I am not a control freak because some things like weather which dictates all is unpredictable. Thank you all for your patience while I learn this forcing thing.

The anemones are starting to flower. My guess is that it will be a few weeks yet before I will have enough for you all, and no matter how many times I check the progress of the ranunculus, I have yet to se any buds, but the plants look good and healthy so patience Kerwin, patience. These too will bloom.

Seeding is really starting to pick up, so once the tulips move out, the dirty room shuffle begins. Seeds on the heat mats, to off the heat mats but under lights to transplanting still under lights to…that all depends on space, weather and time. A true juggling act.

So I will leave you not of sugar plums dancing in your head but tulips in a champagne bucket because really, what could be better?

Until next time. Allie

So here we are at the first day of spring and it was beautiful. And now, the pace picks up for this flower farmer. Onward flowers.

It has been a busy busy week and this is still the slow time, or was the slow time, but things are starting to happen quickly now. The first batch of cool flower seedlings have been planted in the high tunnel, with another batch to follow in another week or two, and the second batch of anemones and ranunculus have been planted out, these in the high tunnel as well.

And a big surprise here, look at this everyone….

That bud is still a bit off from harvesting, seeing that it is only about two inches tall, but I hope within a few weeks I will be doing some serious harvesting.

The tulips that are planted out in the garden are starting to poke through, phew, because I have pulled my last full crates of bulbs this morning to go into the grow/dirty room. Hopefully, there will be continuous blooms, but with farming, timing is never a guarantee. I still have about 250 tulip bulbs in the bulb room yet to go, but they are only half crates. Also today Steve installed the air conditioner in the bulb room to keep the temperatures down. With the latest heat wave it was getting a little too hot in there for our comfort. (mine and the tulips).

I will keep it short tonight, but want to leave you with this photo of last Friday’s flower haul. I must say, I think it is beautiful.

Until next week. Allie

Here we are at Mid March and flower mode is ramping up. My winter break is over. Deep sigh. But things are a happe’n here at Lottarock. Yes, I still have tulips, many, many tulips, and yes, I should have flowers now all the way through till Frostmas in October, give or take a week or two. I was asked today when the ranunculus were going to come in…well, they are growing, I hope by early April? but it all depends on the weather. Does that mean you are tired of tulips? I sure hope not, I have many, many more coming on. Yes, the colors are getting boring, but in another month there will be tons of varieties. I am still learning the growing system, but I think I am getting there.

Over all, things are growing well. This week some of the remaining ranucnulus and anemones are going to be planted in the high tunnel. I am waiting for a slightly warmer week since I have to water the beds well before planting. They will be joined with some of the cool flowering plants, and then, in another two weeks I reckon the high tunnel will be completely planted out. This is all experimentation mind you, but if I can produce flowers early, by crappy I will.

I am gathering my tulip order for next year, but I probably said that last week, and I have figured out how to force a larger quantity next spring. The funny thing about gardening is that you are always planning the next crop nine to twelve months before the crop is ready to harvest. It is a bit different from vegetable gardening in that manner, the far in advance planning, and vegetables have far more succession plantings, but one thing is for sure, we are all at the mercy of the weather and light levels.

It has been working out for me to do the flower shed here now at Lottarock. The temperatures are better, the driveway is open and I can get so many more things done here at the farm during the open hours than I could when we were at Main St Cheese, so for the rest of the season, flowers will be available here at the farm. At the moment we will just have the flower shed open on Fridays and the hours will be from 9-2. Stay tuned to the newsletter for when the hours will change and Tuesday will be added.

So. Until next week. I think and dream flowers. All flowers, but especially tulips. Allie

Can one have enough of tulips? I know I certainly can’t, especially when it is cold, gray, muddy, and everything else that March brings with it. Even today, with the sun going full bore, and the snow melting, the color and brightness of the flowers can’t be beat.

You fabulous flower people are taking every tulip I can produce and I love it. It makes me so excited, believe you me. So now that I nearly have a year of forcing tulips under my belt, (I will have forced tulips into April, then the in ground tulips will take over) I am making plans for next year. I have figured out where I can do another 1000 bulbs, and I am planning to have far more varieties. It is all in that leaning curve.

The ranunculus and anemones have all now been planted in crates, with the last ones going into the high tunnel in the ground during our thaw this week. They will be joined with some cool season flowers. Yes, they will need protection from our most bitter nights but I honestly hope that the single digit nights are behind us now.

The next big batch of seeding will start, and the plant shuffle begins. One never has enough room for tulips and seedling this time of year, and it is only going to get worse.

I have had a couple of questions about tulip growing so, if you are interested, here goes. The ones that you are getting now are what is called pre-cooled, they have had their “winter” coming over on the ship. I plant them up, get the roots going, which takes about 4-5 weeks, then bring them into the growing space. There are also the tulips that are planted in the ground that are treated just like any other in ground spring plant. At harvest time, I pull the tulip bulb and all out of the ground, keep the tulip and toss the bulb. Ahhh, I hear a collective gasp. Yes. All of their energy has been used up being forced and I treat them as annuals. And when one does the math, they are about the same price of a six pac of annuals that you put in the garden in the summer, and those get tossed don’t they?

There is one main issue that I am having, along with all other tulip growers and that is stem topple. I know a few of you have mentioned it so I will do my best to explain it. It can be caused by fusarium, which tulips are very, very prone to, but it is also linked to high humidity. If the crates in the bulb room get too dry, and then given a lot of water when they are in the grow room, the water causes the cells to burst, hence the topple. It also happens to a lot of growers in the spring when they can’t vet the grow spaces enough and the temperatures and the humidity build up. I think the underlying problem is the fusarium, then the humidity just adds to it. The flowers themselves are fine, so I just cut them above the necrosis and put them in a bud vase.

I will still be dreaming tulips, so until nest week. Allie

In case you didn’t know from all my excitement, right now it is all about tulips and I am loving it despite all the angst. What better flower is there that will get us though these remaining winter weeks? Brightly colored, vibrant and locally grown tulips!

I have been harvesting tulips for a few weeks now and each batch seems to be getting better. Each week I find I have about 4 crates worth of tulips ready for the flower club. That can range from 100-120 tulips a week, and you lovely people are wanting them all. Thank you. So four crates go into the very dirty dirty room each week. When the flowering crates are finished. I am certainly getting a workout between shifting crates back and forth from the bulb cooler to the dirty room and then back to the dirty room if I need to hold the blossoms. Good weight lifting with stairs.

If you think that all I am doing is tulips you are oh so wrong. I have crated up the last of the ranunculus and they are now in the greenhouse growing on. Seeds that have germinated and are ready to be bumped up are going into the next size soil block. More seeding will commence by the middle of the month, then we will really be busy.

At the moment, we will only be having the flower shed day 1 day a week. It worked out really well last week changing the date to Thursday because of Friday’s snow storm. The best I can say is for the time being, pay attention to the newsletter so you know what, when and where the flower shed will be. I want to thank you for your patience on this. We could still be at Main Street Cheese where it is much warmer, but it is awfully nice to be here at the farm so I can get some things done. So. Stay tuned.

I will leave you with one more tulip image for the week, then I have to go out and cover up the babies in the greenhouse to protect them from the cold.

Until next week, dream and think tulips. Allie

February 13, Valentines Day eve. Oh St. Valentine, do you know what you stir in people? It’s the day that everyone rushes out and buys a box of chocolates for their darling and a bunch of roses. Who decided that Valentines day had to be in February when local, farm fresh flowers are but a figment of our imagination? Why couldn’t you be celebrated in April even, but no, February. Are you and that groundhog in cahoots leading us all astray?

Seriously though. Do you know where those very expensive flowers come from at this time of year? Probably not your local grower. They are shipped from South America, Israel, the Netherlands, possibly California. Do you know how those flowers are grown? Are they grown with a multitude of chemicals to give you the perfect bloom? How many days are they harvested before they reach you? Hmmmm. Interesting.

I had my first batch of tulips in time for Valentines Day, and I am so sorry but they went like hotcakes. But….you can always tell your sweetie that the perfect gift would be a subscription to Flowers At Lottarock and you can have fresh, one mile traveled if that, sustainably grown flowers for at least 10 months out of the year.

The good news is. I should have plenty of tulips now until the end of the tulip season in early June. I always cross my fingers saying things like that because it’s farming and there are just some things, actually a lot of things I have no control over.

I figure, again, fingers crossed that I should have about 100 tulips if not more, available for your pleasure on Friday. They are starting to come in fast and furious now, well, for my first year doing this it seems that way. So. Come get your fresh, just harvested, locally grown, chemically free tulips.

This is what the first harvest looked like last week.

Beside the tulips, the ranunculus in the greenhouse are happy to have more space to grow and they will soon be joined with the anemones. The cool crops have been seeded and some have already started to germinate. I checked on the dahlias that are in storage in the basement and they are looking good. The days are getting longer and the plants in the dirty room are taking notice.

For the time being, the flowers will be on offer on at MAIN STREET CHEESE, in Hancock, on Friday mornings from 9-12. Sarah has been gracious to let me use her warmer space than my flower shed that is still put away for winter. If your card has expired, or used up, don’t worry, you can always get a new one. Remember, you can use the card when you want (during flower club days) and it is good for two years.

I look forward to seeing you on Friday morning, at Main St Cheese, 9-12. Wear your grippies for the ice. Until next time. Think tulips….Allie