February blues- not for this flower farmer this year!

This February has been so busy and its unexpected for me as usually I am using this time for a reset for the coming year. In New Hampshire it was the coldest part of the year & full of snow storms and Ice. But it has been interesting to say the least living in TN for my first February! We have had lots of ups and downs, but the soil isn’t really frozen and so I have had more time to do bed prep! AND I have had to still to weed! yes that’s what I said, I’m still weeding!! I have cold hardy annuals in the ground and in order to give them the best chance, I have to keep the weeds in check. It’s mostly grasses and hairy bittercress, but you need to stay on top of it otherwise the crops won’t be able to compete!

Bittercress & buttercup surround this poor crocus

When I am not weeding, I have been winter sowing seeds and, setting up the cooler as a germination chamber while planning for the season. I have many flower seedlings started and so many more to do! I have been able to make a bunch of soil for blocking so it will be ready for more seed planting soon. I have compost coming for more top dressing & have been continually mulching with leaves whenever I can get some more. I have also been trying to keep up with my Facebook (acresabloom1) and Instagram (acres.abloom) pages and hope you will check them out as there are a lot of photos there. Crocus are blooming like crazy right now and are so nice to see, but they are not for cut flowers. For cut flowers I have a few hellebores blooming and more to come. This will be a sparse hellebore year because they were transplanted but next year should be spectacular. I am hopeful that the tulips won’t get damaged by the cold snap that we are experiencing- yesterday it was 78 degrees today its 46 degrees and then it warms up again. That is so tough on plants. The Tulips should be our first blooms that are suitable for bouquets. After that there should be spring ranunculus and other blooms humming right along.

Hellebore

 

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