Year in Review

I seriously had good intentions on keeping the blog more active this past year,
but, as you can see, it takes a lot more than good intentions, my friends.

When the record-breaking wet spring finally came to an end,
every waking moment was spent in the fields...planting, planting, planting. 
This beautiful orchard was a brand new growing space for me and the best part is
it's just 10 minutes from home...yeah!
I bought (and seeded) thousands of plants...every square inch of this plot was filled. 
Notice there's hardly any room in the pathways...a process I'm still learning!

With said weather delays, the first round of blooms were not harvested until late April,
which was 2-3 weeks behind last year's schedule.  Of course once the bulbs started blooming, it as difficult to keep up...sometimes harvesting daffs/tulips twice a day.  How fortunate I was to enter into a great partnership with a local organic grocery chain, and was able to offer their customers weekly bouquets throughout the season.  If you're local, (Hunterdon County, NJ), come find my pretties at the Basil Bandwagon stores.

It was fun trialing many new varieties of plants.
A few favorites were celosias,

Mountain Mint...

 Veronicas...
and pink sunflowers...
aren't they pretty?

Lilies are still a top favorite crop of mine. 
Succession plantings every 3 weeks (150 bulbs) provided enough
stems for farmers' markets, gorcery store bouquets and local designers. 
I plan to double the count this year.  They are super easy to grow and so beautiful!

However, they must be harvested in bud stage,

otherwise opened blooms bruise very easily...a lesson learned the hard way.

In midst of farming madness, I was honored to design wedding flowers
for two very special couples...in two very different styles.

 Farmers' markets remain a favorite outlet as I get to meet new flower lovers
every week and receive such great feedback from regular customers.

Seeing familiar faces every week was the best!  That's flower power for ya!

 End of summer's bounty!

By November, I was ready for a much needed break.
The last 4 months have been busy with on-line classes (on farming, of course),
design workshops, and some fun travels.
Now it's all about indoor seeding and getting
ready for the upcoming season.

Hope you all enjoyed the colorful photos in this post and maybe
it won't be another full year before you hear from me again!

Yours truly~Lynn

Catching up...

So much going-ons to share since my last post, but, as usual, I am scrambling for time!  With two farmer's market sales under my belt, it's a good time for a re-cap.

Remember all those bulbs I planted last fall?  Each and every one made it through the winter and provided such an array of colorful and gorgeous blooms!  I truly thought I would lose some here and there to voles and squirrels!

Even the bulbs I planted in plastic crates did extremely well!

I kept detailed notes on which varieties did best, provided longest stems (though I harvest them all with bulbs attached).  There will be a few varieties I will NOT include in this fall's planting, due to bud size, color pigment and foliage issues.

Before I knew it, the window for tulip harvesting came to a close...which is end of April here in central NJ.  This last harvest was certainly bittersweet.
As you can see, there were so many different colors and sizes it was hard to pick a favorite.

Tulips can be wrapped in newspapers (bulbs and all!) and stored in a cooler, for a few weeks.  Did you know that?!
Since this was my first 'farmed crop', mistakes were made in this process...
but that's how I'll learn to do better!

A sampling of blooms I had available for that first farmer's market sale. 
Not too shabby, eh?

It was such a fun experience and I felt like a proud mama, showing off her babies!
Offerings included wrapped bouquets in difference sizes and mason jar arrangements.

The flowers were a big hit and I even had a few repeat customers at the 2nd market, two weeks later!

I already miss all these beautiful spring blooms but I'm definitely looking forward to the next crop to harvest.  They include alliums, bachelor buttons, lilacs, peonies and irises.  Can hardly wait!  Thanks for visiting, friends!  If you're local, come visit me at the Rte 12 circle market in Flemington 9-1pm...every Sunday.