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 the temperature in the sun. 

As a flower farmer, I try to be outside by 5:45 am and by 9:30 am, it just too darn hot to stay out any longer.  And I start working outside again around 5:30, following the shade as it develops and stay outside until it’s really dark.

Any really young plants are very stressed by the heat as their roots are just under the soil surface that heats up the most.  So, another good use of our low hoops and row cover is to provide some shading for the new transplants, but they’re still struggling in this heat as are many of the mature plants. 

The good news….the berries are ripening really fast!

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, starting the summer annuals and transplants and going to market which occupies most of Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday (just recovering).

So instead of trying to back track and go into detail about the past 2 months, I’ve decided to start blogging about what’s happening now, the end of May.  This is a photo of one of our zinnia rows and Ray tying up the tomatoes. Both zinnia and tomatoes are plants that prefer warm soil to grow and as a result transplants were planted around April 15^th and covered with row covers to protect from any late frosts. 

So here we are 6 weeks after the transplants were planted into black plastic.  It’s incredible how much growth has taken place in that period of time.  Two different types of supports are used to prevent the plants from being blown over.  Ray ties the tomatoes to a 7 foot tall fence by weaving cord between the plants and the fence. 

The zinnia are supported by a double row of horizontal trellis.  The zinnia have already grown through the first layer of trellis and by the time they are growing thru the 2^nd row, I’ll be cutting lots of long stems.  Notice the shiny reflective tape above the zinnia.  This is “bird scare” tape and hopefully it will discourage the flocks of yellow finches from landing on the flowers and pulling them apart.  If it were just one or two finches, it wouldn’t be that much of a problem.  But we seem to get flocks of over 30 birds settling in the trees around the field waiting to swoop down onto the flowers. 'Course if the sun's not out, then the bird scare tape isn't very effective as I discovered this morning.

This year, only about one third of my ranunculus survived.  Most of the bulbs rotted in the cold, wet soil.  I ordered lots of ranunculus bulbs this year encouraged by the success of last year's crop.  But what grows well one year doesn't ensure success the following year.  This raised bed is normally full of ranunculus plants but all of the empty spaces represent places where the bulbs did not grow, but rotted.

Take another look at the picture of the raised bed where the ranunculus are growing.  Notice the chicken wire around the edge of the bed.  What you can't see is that there is chicken wire under the bed. Why chicken wire?  I'm not trying to keep birds out of the bed.  Nope, I'm trying to deter voles.

Voles look like large mice, but act like mice on steroids.  They are fierce plant eaters and they love both ranunculus bulbs and plants. Mice nibble, voles attack and decimate.  Cut leaves are strewn around; the the plants are chomped down to the ground.  Look closely and you can see the missing stems on the plant in the photo. One large original leaf was left on the plant.  The plant did start regrowing new leaves, but as of this date, they have been devoured also.  Seeing ranunculus in bloom is a gorgeous site.  Seeing ranunculus demolished is not! 

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 watering before being planted.   Here's Jenny guarding the "babies" or is she wondering if there are any worth munching on?

Field with Row Covers

On warm winter days, the plants and the weeds continue to grow under the protective row covers.  Ray hand weeds the rows to make sure the weeds aren't winning the growth contest!

So, let's jump in time from past years to the present, 2015.  Most of the flowers that we cut in the spring are actually planted in the fall and protected from harsh winter weather by low hoops.  We use pvc pipe to form the hoops and they are then covered with light weight row cover. On warm sunny winter days, we remove the row covers so that we can easily see the progress the plants (and weeds) are making.

At Breeze Farm, we learned about growing crops organically, how to nurture the soil and minimize disease and pests using environmentally friendly techniques.  The soil at Breeze was wonderfully rich and all our crops grew amazingly large, which at times, created a challenge in harvesting.

As a result of my internship at Breeze Farm, I was transformed from a backyard gardener into a flower farmer.  After completing 2 months of workshops led by local farmers, writing a business plan for growing crops at Breeze, Ray and I rented a ¼ acre of land on which we grew flowers and vegetables.  Growing crops in a field is significantly different from growing in a small, decorative garden.  Rows were plowed, drip lines laid down, and plastic mulch covered the rows.  To learn more about Breeze Farm, read an article that appeared in the Independent Weekly Magazine, http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/plant-breeze-farm-incubates-a-new-generation-of-growers/Content?oid=3076290