Season is well under way
We are full speed ahead here. We are harvesting, planting, starting seeds and selling lots of flowers!
Seed starting will continue weekly throughout the season, not as intense as the early season but just as important. We start a thousand sunflowers a week and those start a couple of weeks ago are planted each week.
Harvesting is going really well, we are keeping ahead of all of our customers’ needs which is always a challenge. We have our first lilies and many sunflowers on the way. We know sticking to the schedule no matter what is what keeps our garden producing tons of fresh beautiful blooms.
I have become a deer stalker! Our spraying program is working but the deer need a little more reassurance that t hey do not want to come onto my farm! Babs our Golden Retriever is happy to do this job. We go out during late night or early morning with a bright light and look for the eyes, when found, Babs chases like no tomorrow. This seems to keep them from wandering into our yard for a few days.
Flowers are good for your soul!
Lisa Z
Suzanne carrying sweet william to the work building
img title=”" class=”alignnone” alt=”image” src=”http://www.thegardenersworkshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/wpid-2012-05-07_11-37-12_722.jpg” /
Snapdragons Galore!
To say we are knee deep in snapdragons this year is a bit of an understatement. It is the week before Mother’ Day and we are harvesting thousands of snaps in every color imaginable. We are growing 3 new varieties this year plus our standard Rocket.
Snapdragons thrive when transplants are planted in the fall. This practice works anywhere you can winter over pansies meaning you plant them in the fall, they survive the winter and start blooming the following spring. These hardy annuals (pansies, snaps, and countless others) spend the winter months getting rooted in and come spring they are ready to bloom.
Snaps are not needy, give them full sun ( at least 6-8 hours), good drainage, and soil that is well prepared with compost and you will have beautiful snaps.
The new varieties this year:
Chantilly Snapdragon: This is the earliest blooming for us. We began cutting these early March! This mix includes the most scrumptious peaches, yellows and pinks I have every seen. The blooms are open faced, they look like petunia blooms on a stick, gorgeous!
Opus Snapdragon: This mix began blooming about two later than Chantilly. A few of the colors are the same as the Rockets we have always grown but them start blooming weeks before Rocket. The mix includes a few multicolored stems like white with purple, white with pink and a yellow with orange blushes. Love this one because of its timing.
Madame Butterfly Snapdragon: This snap definitely stole the spring show! If you can imagine a snapdragon bloom with a ruffled second bloom inside of it that’s Madame Butterfly. The colors are beautiful and the blooms look like little roses lining the stems!
All of the new snapdragon seeds are in packaging now and will be available on the garden shop in the coming weeks. Visit this link for other fall planted flowers.
The Shade Garden
Our shade garden is in its glory right now. The lenten roses are in full bloom, the money plant is thick and blooming purple phlox like blooms, the simplicity is stunning.
The primroses have come and gone, the columbines are just getting started, and the Solomon’s seal is the real star this week, with the oakleaf hydrangea loaded with buds to carry us through to fall.
This garden is located at the base of a 70 year old tulip magnolia tree, deep dry shade, this garden thrives with little help from me.
Put plants in the environment that they thrive in and you are only required to enjoy them.
The Good Life
Steve and I have always known this place is special. This spring seems more so than ever before. Maybe its the earliness of the season or maybe it is we are taking the time to look at the details this year. We are expecting guests on Wednesday for the Historic Garden Week tour.
We are honored to share our little farm located in the midst of the city. We hope that others will feel how alive our farm is with the birds, bees, flowers and the people who love it.
After 16 years of living, working, learning, and caring for this place I have finally realized that I have found something that I never knew I had lost.
Lisa
Spring is Full
We are knee deep in flowers, seedlings, and bulbs. All needing our attention in one way or another. A blessing to have our cash crop coming in a month early, but boy are we hopping around here.
Then throw in that we are on the Historic Garden Week tour on April 25, 2012 and hopping doesn’t quite cover it!
Learn more about the tour: www.newportnewshamptongardentour.org
Ticket may be purchased Online at www.VaGardenweek.org
We are harvesting snaps, sweet william, bells of ireland, bachelor buttons, columbine and Lenten Roses.
Our warm season plantings begin this week, with over 25,000 babies in waiting….
Spring has sprung!
LZ
Babies Galore on the Farm
We have babies almost everywhere around here. There are wren babies, bluebird babies, of course sparrow babies, then we have the celebrity babies; the horned owl babies, not to be out done we have loads of ladybug babies, because we also have their favorite snack, aphid babies!
Robin babies on the way and apparently we have raccoon babies in the attic of Steve’s shop…not so good.
Take a moment to listen to the wildlife chatter in your yard on this glorious Easter morning.
He is risen!
Lisa
The Gardening Revolution has Begun!
The workshop March 24, 2012 was a huge success. As we are now being called, “the gardening gals” could not have been recieved any better.
We will be posting comments and video clips and are looking forward to our next one in 2013!
P.S. I harvested several buckets of flowers last week, 6 weeks early!
Lisa
The Gardening Revolution!
Tomorrow is our gardening workshop and it is going to be an incredible day.
My hope is that those attendnding will leave with a new take on gardening that is easier, less expensive and produces more abundance.
We have a special surprise for those that come on our farm tour. We have a scope on a giant horned owl nest that has two really big babies!
Happyspring
