Greetings, I hope all is well with you. I’m not sure that I’ve gone into detail about my perennial garden. We have a bit of space near the milk house, there’s a concrete apron that comes off of it and just beyond that there’s a bit of ground, not much, but enough to stick a few things in. The flower grave yard has been there for the last two years. so there was a bit of a pile of very large sunflower stocks. When I chatted with Joe about the possibly of using that space he said it would be fine. He also suggested that possibly I ask his brother to run the tiller over it – a 10 minute project for the machine, but a full day and a half for me to clean it out. It worked out super well, turns out the soil is super nice over there, I made a horse shoe kind of pattern with two of the five lavender that I grew from seed and my Hydrangea in the middle with a few sages’ that I propagated, and several items that a new garden friend gave me from Ferndale; Asters, Shasta Daisy’s, Campendula, and a few Iris’s. I’m looking forward to having blooms that will come back year after year! I’m sure that space will look better and better as I get out there and work it. I know some of those things will spread, so I will need to learn a few things about how to take care of them. They are looking great, still green and happy – so that’s encouraging!

I’ve been eyeballing the space on the other side of the milk house also, I thought it would be a good place to put some Lily’s, but it doesn’t get morning sun right away, but gets a ton of afternoon sun and with the concrete walls so I think it would be too hot for Lily’s or much else other than some herbs! So I will do some investigating and see what I can find that likes heat and tolerates drought. I don’t want to hedge in the milk house too much, but that part of the barn is supposed to be staying, and it’s been chatted about that I can use it, but sometimes things change. What’s the worst that is going to happen….I’ll need to move things? That’s not a horrible thing, we grow while we wait for the new space.

I’m still getting blooms from the garden – super crazy really, but super nice. I sold three bouquets last week. Dahlias, herbs, 1 Zinnia, Statice, Yarrow, Verbena, Strawflower, Snap Dragons, and Autumn Joy. My big idea of planting Zinnias out mid July was a great idea – if we lived some place that wasn’t cold at night. I’m not sure why I didn’t clue in – I know that when Zinnia’s are put in the refrigerator they turn brown – so of course Jade dear – they are not going to like the chilly — wet nights we have in lovely Western Washington. My duhh moment!

I’ve been sorting through the seeds putting them in alphabetical order – but the cat knocked the box over, so I’m considering putting them in order of planting time. I’m still running with only 5 rows, that’s more than enough to do 5-9 bouquets a week. I’m looking through the book of plugs and preparing my order for those to meet the early bird deadline! I ordered Stock plugs last night, a good price, but in order to get that price I had to buy 375…..what in the world…!!! I only need maybe 75! I’m sure I will be able to find some local flower farmers that wouldn’t be opposed to having some Stock seedlings-and I’m thinking even if I sold them for as little as 3$ it will more than cover my cash investment of the pot, dirt and seedling. I’m hoping to avoid the three tables – with 12 flats and the lights – in the house in February-maybe one table with only 4 flats. We’ll see how I do!

Not only avoiding some things, but working smarter, not harder. What are my goals – are my goals to grow every single thing by seed, or is my goal to have flowers to enjoy – and how do I go about doing it in a smart way, not in a way that I dread – sowing seeds in the cold milk house in January/February isn’t super exciting or glamorous and maybe my time is spent better in a different way. There will certainly be plenty of seed sowing to be done in March in the milk house, but if I can avoid super hard work with little to no pay out by a few weeks I think I will take that route.

The young lady I met with this summer reached out to double check that I was still planning on doing her wedding next year….that was encouraging! I’m not counting on it, things happen, the one I was supposed to do this year didn’t happen the way she thought it was going to, so I didn’t provide flowers for that one. I’m already growing things that the bride-to-be wants, so I’m not too worried about doing too much “extra”, but I will be prepared if it does happen.

Twice in one week? I must have a few moments on my hands to take a few minutes to blog-or maybe detailing the changes at the ranch have reached a tipping point that it’s a priority. Maybe the garden will bump up this week too?! Enjoy the rest of your week! Until next time – hugs to you!