Seasonal Updates
What's Happening on the Farm
We had an extremely short cool season thanks to the heat dome that rocketed daytime temperatures to the high 80's, and we just managed to get the last of our cool season seedlings into the ground. Our spring bulbs and corms are in full bloom: the tulips are harvested and tucked away in our makeshift cooler, our small patch of daffodils are reaching their peak (they've gotten cramped, and we will divide them in the fall for field planting so they have room to multiply), and our ranunculus are ramping up. Our first succession of anemones are going dormant, and while our later successions are blooming, their stems are still short! We are hoping that the cool nights will prevent them from going dormant before they give us a nice full flush.
In addition to planting, we've got some work planned for the farm over the next few months: rigging up more irrigation, putting in a new field and expanding the deer fence, organizing our compost system, and making headway on our walk-in cooler. As the season ramps up, so do the lessons learned: the leaf spot on our cerinthe and the botrytis on our earliest succession of anemones tell us that we will need to give our plantings some more space next year, and we had quite the showing of thrips on our white anemones. We will treat with beneficial nematodes this fall.
As our earliest spring flowers are winding down, our overwintered hardy annuals are starting to bloom. Sweet peas, calendula, statice, and lupine buds are popping open… and our dahlias are starting to sprout! It seems as if we barely have time to enjoy the beauties we planted in the fall before it's time to seed our warm season crops, and in the next week we will be starting our zinnias, celosia, and basil. Our sunflowers got a head start from a planting in February — let's see if we can get some blooms by Mother's Day!
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