Hardy annual flowers or vegetables are plants that can withstand temperatures down into the high 20s and thrive being planted in the early Spring or Fall and overwintered. Examples of these vegetables are garlic, leeks, onions, shallots, kale, Brussel sprouts, turnips, rutabagas, cabbage, Swiss chard, broccoli, mustard greens, spinach, and arugula. These plants thrive in the cooler temperatures, growing strong roots and sweet leaves during the cool days of Spring. Start these vegetables and flowers such as rudbeckia, sweet peas, dianthus, snapdragons, and calendula now to be able to set out transplants six weeks before your last frost date, which for many of you across the desert is the end of March to mid-April. I suggest directly seeding spinach, mustard greens, turnips, rutabagas, and radishes, which do not transplant well.
At Moonstruck Farms, we are near the end of harvesting the first round of hydroponic tulips. These tulips are grown in what we call prick trays, where we press the bulb onto these prongs and then fill them with water and nutrients. We then place them in the cool room at 42 to 45 degrees to grow a strong root ball and then bring them out to temperatures of 65 to 70 degrees to bloom, which is our dining room in these cold winter days. This can also be accomplished under grow lights, but we have found that we have sufficient light coming into our dining room area. The field tulips are springing forth in mass, especially after enjoying the recent rains, which means we will have tulips in mass most likely in about four weeks, so we are considering starting our first subscription service where you can order a bundle of tulips every two weeks for pick up at locations in Wrightwood and Phelan. If interested, please email us at [email protected]. We hope this will help our tulips reach those who cannot reach the local farmers markets.
The local farmers markets are small, strong, and mighty at this time of year, with the farmers coming to market along with a variety of artisans. You can visit the Phelan Farmers Markets every Monday from 2 pm to 5 pm until March 4th, and then on March 11th, the market will switch from 2 pm to 6 pm until November 2024. The Wrightwood Farmers Market is every Friday from 3 pm to 6 pm.
