It's April already! Honestly, the month of March went by so quickly. Before I sat down to write about the goings on at the farm I actually had to pull out my planner and look at what I actually have been doing! I know I have been really busy but with what!
Once I looked at my planner I realized why I have been so busy. The month started with my dahlia tuber sale. The preparation for that is enormous. Not only do we spend several weeks dividing the dahlia tubers but then there is the preparation of the website, making sure that you have good photographs and descriptions to include with each variety and as I had 117 varieties for sale this year that is another time consuming project. I am so happy the way the dahlia tuber sale went. No problems with the website crashing or any scary disasters like that and the majority of the tuber varieties sold out, so I consider that a big success.
All of my sweet peas are now in the ground surrounded by fencing this year to protect them from the bunny parties that seem to go on after dark on our property. Never have we experienced bunnies before. The dogs love to chase them so this is a highly encouraged activity for them!
Seed sowing kicked up into high gear this month. I start everything from seed in my greenhouse, nothing is directly sown into the field as the weed pressure is too high. The greenhouse is now full to bursting with little seedlings growing away nicely. It is a big shuffling act. I only have room for so many tables with heat mats, so as soon as a tray of seeds has germinated the tray needs to be taken off the heat mat and onto a shelf and another tray of seeds goes onto the heat mats. One of my favorite times of day is to go to the greenhouse for morning watering to see what has germinated in the past 24 hours. I never fail to get excited when I see little specks of green peaking through the soil, and I am now of an age where reading glasses are a must for such inspection!
It is good to have some creativity each month to keep a nice balance. I learnt from Bex from Botanical Tales how to make a “Living Wreath”. Using moss, exquisite violas and grape hyacinths with some foliage and dried seed heads. I was so happy with the results. Learning new skills all the time is important for personal growth, no matter what your field of joy or your age.
Looking into April, we have the packaging and shipping of all our dahlia tubers in the first week - yes, I have said it before and I will say it again, they are a labor of love!! Then the field prep will begin, I still can not believe that the season is really under way. By the time I write to you next month if the weather continues to cooperate I will have the first flowers in the ground.
Enjoy the spring, step outside and take deep breaths wherever you may be and above all else keep moving forward.