We'll be honest: we're a little late, and we're still cutting our teeth on all of this. We're in the middle of a drought, so the rain we finally got this week felt like a gift. The snapdragons are in full bloom, the champagne cosmos are sending up their second flush after the first cut, and the calendula is just starting to open.
This is our very first newsletter, so thank you for being here at the start. Every other Thursday we'll send a short note from the field — what's growing, what we're learning, and a few things worth knowing whether you grow your own or just love having flowers on the table.
From the Field
The big project these two weeks was getting ahead of the dry spell. We laid drip tape down the rows and covered the beds with black mulch fabric to hold what little moisture we have — a long, hot afternoon of rolling fabric, but the beds are already happier for it. A small win on the side: we successfully moved some wild milkweed from the driveway into the garden bed, so the pollinators have a reason to stay.
And a problem we're still working on: our dahlia tubers are finally sprouting, but something is eating the new leaves. If you garden in Zone 5b and have a trick for protecting tender dahlia shoots, we'd genuinely love to hear it — just hit reply. We'd rather tell you what we're stuck on than only show you the pretty parts.
3 Tools for Summer Jobs
Harvest snips — clean cuts, all season
Harvest Snips
A sharp, clean pair of floral snips is the single most-used tool this month. Dull blades crush stems and shorten vase life; clean blades make a cut that drinks. We dip ours between plants to avoid spreading disease down a row.
A clean bucket of cool water, always ready
Collection Buckets
Flowers go straight from the plant into clean water — never a dry basket. We carry a couple of light buckets with a few inches of cool water right into the rows. Stems cut at peak and hydrated immediately are what let a local bouquet outlast a shipped one by a week.
A sharp hoe beats weeds before they start
A Good Hoe
July weeds grow faster than the flowers. A sharp stirrup hoe, run shallow along the soil surface once a week before weeds get established, saves hours of hand-pulling later. The trick is doing it while the weeds are still tiny — slice, don't dig.
In the Cart This Week
Snapdragons — Tetra Mix, in full bloom on long straight stems
Champagne cosmos — second flush coming on after the first cut
Calendula — Fothergill's pot marigold, just starting to open
Coming soon — the first dahlias and zinnias, once they shake off the heat
You can always see what's in the ground this season on our live planting list.
Around the Farm
Laying mulch fabric
A swallowtail in the meadow
Primrose by the barn
Know someone who’d enjoy following along? Forwarding this is the kindest thing you can do for a brand-new farm.
See you in two weeks,
The Hardy Hill Farms family
