Garden Gambling
Happy April!
Whether you’re a flower farmer or a gardener, April is a super busy time. We’re all itching to get out and make things pretty again but we’ve also got an eye on the weather! Our average frost free date here in North Carolina Zone 7B is around April 15th. Traditionally this means it’s “safe” to plant warm season crops like zinnias and tomatoes after this date. In recent years; however, our crazy weather patterns have made this more of a gambling game, one which I’ve lost a couple of times! Rest in peace, little Joe Pye babies from 22!
At any rate, I’ve been planting for weeks. Just not zinnias and tomatoes! They’ll go in very last. There are plenty of other seedlings that can be planted early and if we do get another frost they’ll be just fine. Snapdragons and Queen Anne’s lace come to mind. I actually planted the bulk of these last fall and they’ve thrived with little to no attention. But I did add a few more rounds last month. And Sweet peas, poppies and larkspur all went in back in January and February. All of these plants can be started in late winter and moved into the garden (or in the case of the poppies, sown direct).
There is another garden favorite that I am taking a bit of a gamble with - sunflowers! I’m trying to program them for my May subscription customers. Did you know that sunflowers can actually take a little bit of frost? Luckily I am a small scale farmer, meaning I’m growing in small numbers and I can run out and cover these guys if we get a late frost or freeze and they need it. I’m just gambling that they won’t. The early sunflowers don’t grow as tall and the flowers typically aren’t as large as the main season. But I actually don’t love those big honking flowers in a bouquet anyway. I space the plants super close so the flowers max out at @4” diameter. And I plant ‘successions’ of sunflowers every couple of weeks so I can mix up the colors and so I don’t have 1000’s of them come into bloom all at once. Although yes, 1000’s of sunflowers is always a gorgeous sight to behold! So if you’re a subscription customer in May and June, I hope my April gambling pays off for you!