Farm Tour Friday 12/17/2021
Woohoo it’s Friday!
We are quite happy that we were working at a slower pace for the past few weeks because this week was anything but slow. A couple of our summer team members returned to work for us during their winter break. We got so much done with their help. Whoop, whoop!
This week we received our final shipment of bulbs which included tulips, anemones, ranunculus and Dutch iris. All the shipping delays around the world included our product sitting on ships for some time. It took about an additional 8 weeks beyond our normal receiving date to get our fall bulbs. With these in hand we were able to finish the raised beds for our indoor tulip area and all of our tulips are now in the ground. We planted approximately 6000 tulip bulbs in the high tunnel. These tulips should bloom about two to three weeks before our outdoor tulips. What a great feeling to be finished planting the tulips. With the indoor and outdoor beds completed we have approximately 23,000 tulips bulbs in the ground for spring blooms. Want to know more about how we grow our tulips? Check out our blog on Growing Tulips.
Planting the last of the tulip bulbs in a raised bed in one of our high tunnels.
Covering the tulips bulbs with compost in raised beds in our high tunnel.
Our team members tackled the propagation house dumping trays, cleaning up debris, and getting it all ready for the start of spring seeding. It looks great! Kate’s husband, Fred, finished the final touches to get the heater going in the propagation house. Over the past month he brought electric to the propagation house, put in a few outlets for us, and installed our heater. The heater is glorious. We will keep the temperature about 45 degrees to keep our new crops happy. We just need to keep it above freezing for the start of our first plants, anemones and ranunculus.
We soaked our anemones to give them a kick start to wake them up and planted them in nursery trays for a few weeks. They will pre-sprout in the trays before getting planting in the ground in a high tunnel. We got everyone involved in planting. Our little girls stepped in and helped with one variety, Carmel Mix. After about a half hour they had had enough! Their help was greatly appreciated and it is amazing how fast a task goes when they all help. Want to know more about how we plant anemones check out our blog Growing Anemones.
Anemone corms ready for planting.
Kate’s daughters planting anemone corms in trays for pre-sprouting.
Our new high tunnel is under way. You can see most of the structure now and we can envision it completed and full of flowers. We aren’t building the new high tunnel ourselves this time, it’s nice to have a crew doing it for us. We have built all our other houses in the past and it always has taken a long time to construct them. This way we can keep working on our crops while a team is putting up the high tunnel.
The new high tunnel being constructed.
Thanks for joining me for Farm Tour Friday. Have a great weekend.
Sunset on the farm from this week.
