4th of July at the Eno River Farmers Market
July 05, 2015
It was a wonderful 4th of July in downtown Hillsborough. There was a small parade, a gathering of folks in front of the old court house, families picnicking on the the square, and many wandering down to our market. There were over 850 adults who visited our market after the parade. Not much compared to Carrboro and Durham markets, but 850 adults is...
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Ray's Berry Heaven
June 25, 2015
We've got lots of blueberries and blackberries ripening thanks to this week's warm, sunny weather. The berries, this year, are especially yummy! Our berries, like our flowers, are never sprayed with toxic chemicals and so, when you purchase them, feel free to munch away as you meander thru the Eno River Farmers market this Saturday.
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Hot Enough to Fry an Egg on the Sidewalk?
June 24, 2015
Hey, it only hit 101 yesterday, not really hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk (need at least 150 F). The past two weeks have been brutally hot, as those readers in NC already know. What some folks might not realize is that the high temperature listed for the day is the temperature in the shade. You can add another 10-15 degrees to calculate t...
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Two Happy Ballerinas
June 02, 2015
May 30 was recital day for one of the local dance studios in Hillsborough. Although most of our bouquets are contained in vases, it’s fun to create hand-held bouquets, especially for these two young ballerinas. The young lady on the left, when she was 3 years old, was already helping her mom select flowers for their home.
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Art Gallery Opening Reception
June 02, 2015
We create custom bouquets for special occasions. This arrangement was created for an opening reception at the Hillsborough Gallery of Art on May 29.
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Blogging is Back
June 01, 2015
I now understand why some farmers are actively blogging during the winter but stop come spring. There hasn’t been much time to sit down and blog about flower farming the past 2 months as we have been crazy busy. Spring is a time of getting the transplants into the field, direct seeding others, maintaining the fight against weeds and critters, start...
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Ranunculus
March 26, 2015
Ranunculus are some of my favorite flowers and they normally start blooming at the end of March. But they are going to be late this year for several reasons. Of course, the cold 2015 winter has delayed lots of flowers including the ranunculus. But they are also temperamental (translate, difficult to grow). They stop blooming if it gets too hot and...
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Hardening-Off Transplants
March 22, 2015
Large seedlings started under workshop lights have been living in a protected environment and are not ready to be directly planted in the field. They need a gradual exposure to real world growing conditions to toughen up or be "hardened off". Over 7-10 days, transplants are gradually exposed to sunlight, cooler temperatures, wind and less frequent...
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8 Inches of Snow in Hillsborough
March 03, 2015
The snow predictions for Hillsborough were right on….6-8 inches of heavy snow. And that’s what we woke up to on Feb. 26 th. I had to fight my impulse to throw on my boots and coat and go out to see if any of the low tunnels had collapsed under the weight of the snow. But our power continued to flicker on and off for about 30 minutes and then it rem...
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Winter Hardy Flowers
February 18, 2015
So, what flowers are growing (or maybe freezing) under our field row covers in February. Our spring bouquets contain winter hardy annual flowers that were planted in the fall, grow under the row covers all winter long and are harvested in April & May. These bouquets usually contain a combination of flowers including bachelor buttons, agrostemma, sn...
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Soil Blocks for Tiny Seeds
February 15, 2015
Most home gardeners are familiar with large flowers seeds like zinnia and cosmos. However, a majority of flower seeds are tiny, some so tiny it is difficult to see or hold the individual seeds. For starting tiny seeds, I like to use soil block makers that form sets of potting soil blocks that act as both the container and soil for growing seedlings...
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Starting Seeds
February 13, 2015
Most of our flowers are started from seed, some purchased, some saved from flowers at the end of their growing season. We either direct sow our seeds into the field or we start the seeds indoors under shop lights. We get a jump start on the summer growing season by starting our flower seeds indoors in February and March and transplanting the seedli...
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