Getting Ready for Summer Blooms

“April showers bring May Flowers”, but what else does it take to get those blooms? Spring is a busy time on the farm starting with sowing seeds into trays in March. I just transplanted seedlings that were sown three weeks ago into larger plug trays and in a few weeks they will go into the field. I will plant each plant by hand one at a time with the help of my mom! Before the field is ready for planting, however it has to be disked, tilled and then made into beds. Landscape fabric is laid down and irrigation is hooked up! Check out our farm video to get an idea of what this looks like. Hundreds of bulbs including gladiolus, liatris and acidanthera murielae have been planted. I have even direct seeded into the ground several hundred sunflower seeds. Sunflowers are succession planted throughout the growing season to ensure that sunflowers are always available. In addition to what has been planted and will be planted for the summer, there are all the perennials that I planted last year and the year before. The perennial rows are cleaned out to remove any remaining dead stems, seed pods or fallen leaves. I typically leave this chore to the spring as these areas make perfect wildlife sanctuaries during the winter and provide seeds for birds! Also on my spring to do list is to plant one hundred lavender plants that will grow beside my high tunnel. These plants will not only add beautiful blooms to the farm, but will aid in preventing soil erosion around the high tunnel. It takes a lot to get the fields ready for summer blooms but all the hard work with soon pay off when the field is full of blooms!