On the threshold of Spring
February and March are always a mystery in Downeast Maine weather. The soil can be ice solid one day and turn into chocolate soil only to switch into rain or snow by next sunrise. Usually we keep a closer eye on the weather during the growing season but with new experiments in the farm we are more watchful this winter and spring. In the fall of 2021 we decided to embrace the dormant season with new projects in the hopes to fill you up with earlier flowers.
Caterpillar Tunnel Experiment: Snapdragons
This spring our eyes have been mostly tuned into the signs of life on the resilient snapdragons that we tucked in as little seedlings back in October. We spy nervously under the layers of row covers particularly after the fluctuations of temperatures that marked February with the range of 30 to 40 degrees within a few hours! So far, things look promising.
Farming requires high tolerance for risk. As we enter our eighth year at Salt Farm Flowers we decided it was time to dive into new experimentation. We have no control of the weather patterns or the temperature and all of what this implies but we are determined to grow earlier blossoms while keeping our usual planting patterns as a backup. If all the snapdragons take a hit from shifting temperature fluctuations we have a dedicated row of snapdragons to be planted early spring as usual. We also know that more and more farms in Zone 5A are experimenting this way and we can compare notes and experiences while following the Johnny’s Selected Seeds Greenhouse Trials. We are very excited about this project and we look forward to sharing these beautiful long lasting flowers with you. [(https://www.johnnyseeds.com/growers-library/flowers/snapdragon/video-v191.html)]
On The Dahlia Front
The spring of 2022 will mark our third planting in the High Tunnel. The soil is starting to develop a nice structure and it is showing a life of its own. In its first year ranunculus, anemones, lisianthus, tuberoses, eucalyptus, and a few annuals did well. In the spring of 2020 we rotated plantings so the dahlias got planted in the center two rows whereas the outside rows were dedicated to early campanuals, ranunculus and anemones followed by our signature flowers, lisianthus. The dahlias bloomed profusely, grew big healthy tubers, and we were able to furnish several weddings later in the season.
In the fall of 2021 We experimented here as well. Our team left the dahlia tubers in the ground and tucked them in well with lots of loose straw and blankets of heavy duty Agribon. We also did a little whispering to deter hungry winter rodents but recently added Coleman-style vole traps.
This experiment is even more risky than that of the snapdragons because these starchy tubers which are native to the highlands of Central America and Mexico do not tolerate freezing temperatures. Our Winters in Maine, however, have changed so much that the risk was worth it to learn something new. The fact that the ground of the unheated High Tunnel did not freeze in the winter of 2019 served as enough evidence for us to give it a try. Time will tell if we will get earlier dahlias as it takes about one month for them to sprout after planting them, but, we believe that if the tubers survive well they will sprout when the conditions are warm enough to do so. And yet, if the tubers were to freeze we can quickly implement the method we used last year which provided us with abundant blossoms earlier and longer than the dahlias planted in the field.
All this experimentation meant that we needed to hold back more tubers in case our experiment failed as we can’t control the freezing temperatures. This also meant that we needed to delay the 2022 tuber sale date until we could examine the conditions of our High Tunnel. We therefore want to reiterate our apologies to all of you who were looking forward to purchasing tubers from the farm cart and our mail order. As soon as we assess the grand dahlia experiment we will post news on the sale date and hope that we have enough for everyone interested.
Last fall we also cut back (after much deliberation and pain) the number of varieties that we will cultivate aiming at 20. This has been a long arduous process from the start but one that makes more sense for us as a farm business. In eight years we went from 67 varieties to almost twenty! Although we love all the dahlias we have to select varieties that are favorable for designing with, that have strong long stems, and that display other important characteristics. We came to terms with the reality that it is best to grow fewer varieties while increasing the planting area for each. We still have a few listed as trials because at Salt Farm Flowers the rule is to give each variety a 3-4 year window of adaptation including time to rule out environmental factors that affect performance. And although we selected twenty varieties we still kept a few stellar dinner plates and a few other specials that may not be very productive but that we simply can’t let go of. We also added a handful of new varieties of dahlias because we are passionate about all things dahlias and we couldn’t resist testing a handful at a time as cut flowers.
Last but not least, we hope that you are all doing well as we enter the Spring. We invite you to follow our farm news on social media where we will post our dahlia tuber sale and our first buckets of flowers. We are also excited to show you our new workshop building. In the meantime we will continue to plan weddings and other events, sow hundreds of seeds in trays under growing lights, plant lilies, ranunculus and anemones, and get the ground ready to plant one more row of perennials, sweet peas, and other beauties. We are looking forward to the day when we can share with you the fruits of our efforts in the form of beautiful, long lasting flowers.
