The Flicker Haven Farm Files-Starting Dahlias And Other Floral Delights

---

---

It's been more chaotic around here than in a truck camper full of cats! Over the last several days I have seeded and transplanted several thousand flowers.

And boy do my hands (and carcass) ever show it! There's scratches and sore points galore!

But I have to say, it's so nice to see the flower patch taking shape. The other night after transplanting a few hundred strawflower seedlings, I just sat and took it all in. Within a few weeks time, my rows of baby seedlings will be alight in all the colors of the flower spectrum. Yep, I might be excited.

That said, I also might be sore. But on a positive note, flower farming is really good for melting off any residual winter fat, holy weight loss!

And it wouldn't be a generikat post without some random experiment. The other night I was lying in bed reading yet another story about our nation's obsession with dahlias. Now, as beautiful as they are, dahlias are a pile of work. And expensive to get started. But, as chance would have it, I read how you could start dahlia seed, and breed your own tubers from whatever unique specimen you get from said batch of flowers.

A few days later I found myself in the kitchen sprouting dahlia seed I had ordered that night on paper towels.

Now, dahlias need 90-100 days to flower, so I am pushing it a bit with this experiment as it will be about mid September by the time the plants bloom.

I'm cool with it though, the experiment only cost me about seven bucks, and if it pays off like I think it could, well, I will have some really awesome dahlia tuber varieties of my very own to plant and multiply over the years. And to enjoy. Because who doesn't enjoy dahlias.

Plus, my face is pretty happy these days because the germination rate I am getting on all my seeds is in the stratosphere! Thank you unseasonably warm weather!

One side effect of the warmer than normal weather is a surplus of mowing. In fact, when I am done with this post, I have to go out and mow again, even though I just mowed a couple days ago, because you can literally see the grass growing. And if I don't keep up on it, well, it will be like an expedition through the Amazon just to get to the garden.

Okay, and I love listening to podcasts while I mow on my John Boy. My John Deere mower and I have been buds since 2006 when I had a logger come in and thin out all the lodgepole pine off of my homestead. The proceeds brought my trusty mower, and it's been a clip and roll partnership ever since.

Anyway, another thing I have been enjoying with the nice weather is my nightly after dinner strolls. Now matter how much work I have done or how many steps I have taken, I pretty much, almost always take an after dinner walk. It's usually with a contingent of cats and my Cora corgi-girl. Oh, and my murder of ravens. They have started hopping along with me too. Actually, my evening walks are kinda comical now that I think of it.

Weird animal parade aside, last night's walk gave me a gorgeous sight. The wild phlox is blooming! It's such a short time frame that I get to enjoy the shades of lavender and pink carpet of flowers under the bull pine on my southwest property line, but boy do I ever enjoy the phlox's appearance!

But now it is time for me to go, I have zinnias to transplant after I mow, along with calendulas and marigolds. They will join the Pro-cut sunflowers, cosmos, hollyhocks, and strawflowers already growing. I swear my existential joy is growing right along with them!

---

---

And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's most likely going to be amassing about a billion dahlia photos later this summer iPhone. The text divider image was made in Canva.

---