Week 1 Garden Practicum

Week 1

The first day on the farm went great. It was nice to get to hear some brief background on some people that I hadn't met before providing some easy segway into conversations while pulling weeds. Today we pulled red root amaranth that had over run the flower bed. In studying the flower sections I’ve come across a few things I don’t understand or can’t picture what they’re saying. For instance, the Ageratum family is great for summer boarders, is this implying using them for borders on your vegetable beds or flower beds? Or both?
It says extreme temperatures inhibit flowering what classified as extreme temperatures? I think I will most likely find my way back to the coast which is generally hotter and more humid climate so I try and find things applicable to that climate so I can sort of learn both.
Since diversity is important do you recommend small farms having fresh cut flowers to supplement income?
What is a good way to estimate income per acre or how can you know how much flower beds will produce?
A few that I found interesting and would want to grow are the Zowie! Yellow Flame, which is a Zinnia and Annual known as youth and old. This is interesting to think about as the writer said they had been growing it as a child and has grown older. I hope to find plants that I look at this way and will always find a way onto my land. Hopi Dye Sunflower OG is another one that sounded really cool, especially since they pay royalties to the indigenous peoples who created them. This is a rare heirloom that the Hopis used as a natural dye, also edible, produces several smaller blossoms that make great for cuts.
Another question I came across was intention and purpose, are the flowers primarily to feed the pollinators? Make our land more pleasing to the eye? Or to supplement income providing fresh cut flowers? All three? Some potential issues I was thinking was being a smaller farm I.e 10 acres or less, is it still worth it to diversify and grow these or would it be better to maximise on producing more cash crops?
Another Flower that was interesting was the Seascape being able to tolerate poor soil and some drought. As I said earlier I am thinking of being on the coastal side of NC or near coast in general, It would seem growing plants like the seascape would be easier and more beneficial, normally when I think of good quality soil I think of darker browns, that being said can you build up sandy soils to be good quality?
One that I hope to incorporate unless I find issues is the PO Phacelia OG or the Fiddleneck, It says it provides high quality pollen and nectar making it a popular insectary plant for honeybees, bumblebees and syrphid flies. What was most interesting and why I want to use it is it can be used as a cover crop or intercropped in row plantings.

Jordan Palmer

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