5.1.24

Here we are. Almost halfway through 2024 and the flowers are really kicking in. It’s been an interesting year so far. Non stop. Go GO GO.. One thing about flower farming is that even if flowers are blooming, you are still busy planting, pulling weeds, planning & planting more. The other day, thunderstorms rolled through-the sudden downpour of rain flattened about 1/3 of my Mothers Day sunflowers. If this was year 1, I would have been out there panicking. Year 2 me says, it’ll be okay. As long as I have sunflowers for mothers Day, they’ll do just fine. They may look a little wonky…. but it’ll still be okay. I’ll still plant more sunflowers, might try adding some support and see how that works…

For those who follow social media, you may have seen where my original field of dahlias came back. After the windstorm/mini tornado took them out last year in June, I gave up on that field and just let it go. In the fall, I covered it with a tarp in hopes of being able to plant it out earlier this year. Well. Those dahlias decided to come back for another round. Lucky Me. I really hope they do better this year compared to last year. Will I get a bumper crop of dinner plants dahlias? I hope so.

Peonies. Im almost done harvesting my first year of sellable peonies. I planted 200 roots last summer, and this year, I only harvested from half of them- the ones that were really big and bushy and could handle it and I only allowed one bloom per plant. Everything else was disbudded. I think they look and smell fantastic- yes, I did let some of them bloom out so I could enjoy them a little. theyre amazing. maybe better than the ranunculus? Dont tell them I said that…. This fall, I will put another 383 peony roots into the ground… kind of excited for that.

The garlic I planted out last fall is getting ready to put up its scapes. If you’ve cooked with these before and want me to save some for you- let me know. Otherwise, this is one of those tasty experiments I’m indulging in this year.

As for the Russian Bocking 14 (Russian Comfrey)….someone mowed it all off two days ago. Not me. So, my experiment in using it as a plant fertilizer/animal feed has been delayed. More to come on that.