The phrase “In like a lion out like a lamb” absolutely rings true for Spring on the farm. That feeling of anticipation and eagerness for flowers to bloom is quickly replaced by the frantic joy of harvesting daffodils and tulips that are popping open seemingly every hour! This year our tulips and daffodils have somehow found themselves on a similar blooming schedule rather than first daffs than tulips- which is making for an extra beautiful spring.
Our planting of Spring flowers looks a bit different this year, and we’re excited for how it’s been working! This year, we planted all bulbs, ranunculus and anemones in crates which has allowed us to easily expand the growing space to make room for more sweet peas. Additionally, the crates of bulbs that line the outside of our hoops houses have been the best splash of color in front of the new cow pasture.
Speaking of cows, we welcomed two more ladies onto the farm! Our boy Haggie has three ladies now: April, May, and June. The girls are all redheads and oh so cute. Having them here has been such a dream come true and everyone is loving them. Every morning I’m anxious to go see them and feed them and spoil them with treats! They’re like big puppy dogs and love the attention. The dogs love them as well, and frequently run up and down the fence hoping to play and sometimes sneak kisses through the fences. And yes, it is as cute as it sounds!
The last of the seedlings have been tucked into trays in preparation for planting early next month. Things like zinnias, nasturtiums, cosmos, and sunflowers are fast germinating and growing seeds, so you can still get away with starting them early in the month. Of course this year we’ve put extra time and energy into the sweet peas. We have 32,000 plants this year and are tucking them into every place we can find. Our main patch from years past will be just our blushes and peaches this year, with every other color of the rainbow getting a new expansion plot. All the new varieties we have growing get me so excited to see them and share them. And even more excited for seed collection to share again in the fall.
Growing Tip:
Sweet peas will grow to be very tall, so you’ll need tall, strong supports to start your plants with. Here at the farm, we use 10 ft. rebar t posts strung with Hortonova netting every 8 ft. This netting needs to be attached tightly, so that the vines can climb without pulling the netting over. All those vines get heavy! As the sweet peas climb, make sure that you are tying new growth so that it continues to grow up, not out. This will lead to strong, stable plants and structures.
Flower season is officially here, and we could not be more excited.
