This year, a mid-March windstorm + very frosty nights led to a high tunnel calamity… which was the end of most of our flower seedlings ????
In the moment, it felt like a disaster. In time however, a new and better idea emerged.
Each year, we plant dahlias in our fields in long, 200-foot rows, and beautiful annuals in between the varieties. This increases biodiversity in our fields, and gives a hard stop between dahlia varieties, reducing the chance that weâll forget to switch variety tags on our crates at tuber harvest time.
So even though we lost our flower seedlings (so much beautiful stock, phlox, scabiosas and more! Groan!), we still needed something to plant between our dahlia varieties.
As I was scrambling to source new seed in March, I had the idea to plant our most reliable annual – the gateway flower that started everything for us at Triple Wren – SUNFLOWERS throughout the field. Sunflower seeds are readily available year round, grow quickly, and can be programmed (forecast to bloom in a specific timeframe). They are great for pollinators, thrive in our droughty summers, and delight everyone. Beyond this, I realized that by planting one variety of sunflowers, sprinkled all over our fields, Iâd get to conduct a huge field fertility test!
Our crew planted thousands of Procut Plum sunflowers the last week of June, so they should open just in time for our guests to enjoy at Cultivate Evening (August 26) and Dahlia Festival (Sept 1-2). Iâll be able to watch them all grow together all season, and spot out any sections of our field where fertility is poor or where thereâs not enough organic material in our sandy soil. I’m already taking notes comparing how they grow.
I feel like this was a fantastic pivot after losing our treasures in March!
Itâs incredibly interesting to me that disasters like this almost always end in fascinating projects or experiments for us here at the farm. Maybe it’s because we are curious, maybe it’s because we’re *not* risk-averse, but we are pushing the boundaries of our expectations to see what will happen!
Have you experienced calamities that youâve pivoted into WINS yet this year? Iâd love to hear about it!
