MORE FLOWERS

i am in love with spring this year. maybe it is because it is our first spring on the farm. whatever the reason, it doesn't matter. everything is blooming... apple trees, lilacs, wild strawberries and who says dandelions aren't beautiful. after all, the bees love them.

the propagation area we set up inside the greenhouse is at maximum capacity now. actually, over maximum capacity. this is the crunch that happens when i get carried away sowing seed for all those varieties of tomatoes, eggplant and peppers. i start them in trays with 288 cells just for germinating. then i pot up each plant into larger pots. the tomatoes and eggplant go into 4" pots while the peppers get potted up into trays with 50 cells. next thing i know, i have 400 pepper plants, 80 eggplants and nearly 200 tomatoes starts. gathering this information to determine how much space we need will help us to plan better for next year. we are contemplating building a small propagation house closer to the farm house for easier access in late winter/early spring. it would be also more efficient to heat a much smaller space.

i am really excited about growing sunflowers this year both for seed oil and as cut flowers. spencer purchased a corn planter for $100 the other day which will be perfect for planting sunflower seed as well as black beans, popcorn and sweet corn. our farmer friend, ken, has worked with a few others on a grant to purchase an oil press. it is set up and ken has been pressing soybeans to see how it works. we hope to use this press to make food grade sunflower oil. wouldn't that be awesome! i am also growing an exciting flower garden that will include over 12 different varieties of sunflowers. i just started all 610 sunflower seeds in the greenhouse and will transplant them next month. this will give them a jump on our short growing season.

tomorrow is another big day of farm work.