The Holidaze are here and the farm stand and farm grounds are open! We’re open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from December 1 through December 24, from 11 AM to 5 PM. Bees N Blooms is your source of unique lavender-themed gifts for the holiday season. We have some new products for you and some great gifts for that special person on your list. Plan on stopping by!
Unique Gifts
One of the special gifts Bees N Blooms has to offer is one-of-a-kind experiences. This season, we’ll be holding garden workshops and art classes:
Garden Workshops: For the gardener in your family (or for you!). We’ll be offering seven different Saturday morning sessions focused on expanding your horizons on different aspects of gardening, from seed starting to testing and amending your soil, setting up irrigation, and managing weeds, insects, and rodents, all with a focus on organic methods. Sessions start on January 13, 2024. Sign up for one or all seven! Check the schedule for detailed descriptions and links to tickets.
Art on the Farm: Do you know a budding artist that would be interested in learning more? How about a Sip ‘N Still Life Friday evening with friends? Artist Mel Mitchell-Jackson will be offering a series of art experineces this winter and spring. Details can be viewed here.
What’s Up at the Farm?
On the farm, we have several projects in progress that you can check out when you’re here.
Cover crop planting: When fall arrives, it’s time to feed the soil by planting cover crops. The rich green of the flower gardens lets us know that nature is at work feeding the soil microbes and adding nitrogen and organic matter to the soil that will feed our plants next year. We plant a mix of grasses—oats, barley, and rye—to build organic matter in the soil, and legumes—bell beans, vetch, and peas—which have Rhizobium bacteria on their roots that transform nitrogen in the air to a form usable by plants.
Lavender replant: We’re replacing older lavender plants in the Labyrinth with new ones and working to block the gophers from tunneling underneath them. We’re also replanting the lower part of the 1-acre lavender field in the North Block, where we are trying out some especially purple varieties of lavender—Twickel Purple, Hidcote Blue, Betty’s Blue, and more of our favorite, Folgate. We’re also preparing the lower part of the North Block for sunflower planting next spring by planting cover crops. We can’t wait to see the sunflowers blooming against the purple of the lavender field!
Gopher exclusion: Gophers are a significant problem in the Santa Rosa Plain and Fluffy just can’t keep up! When we planted the Butterfly Haven a few years ago, we had to do something to prevent the gophers from tearing it up, as that area was one of their favorite haunts. The solution was exclusion with an underground fence. We trenched 2 ft deep and put gopher fencing in the trench. We used special fencing with 16 gauge wire that is sturdier than typical hardware cloth and should last quite a while. So far, the results have been exceptional! We do have a few gophers that occasionally go overland and make it inside the Butterfly Haven, but we can quickly trap those out. This approach was so successful that we decided to apply it to the North Block lavender field. While gophers don’t eat lavender, they have tunneled underneath most of the raised mounds where the lavender is planted, which will often still kill the plants. It does improve the drainage though! So this fall, we installed an underground gopher fence around three sides of the 1-acre lavender field. The creek is on the fourth side, which is a natural barrier, so we will just keep a close eye on any gopher incursions from that side. Of course, we had to trap out the gophers contained inside the fenced-in area. We are nearly finished with that and will soon have a gopher-free lavender field. We are leaving some areas on the property for gopher habitat, as they are one of the primary foods for our hawk, owl, bobcat, and coyote friends. Did you know that a single female gopher can have up to 20 pups a year? Yow!
Tree planting: We are getting more trees in the ground to increase the shade in the parking areas and add bird and butterfly habitat. We still have a few trees left in the nursery—on sale for $10 per tree!
See you on the farm!
Possible gopher tip: I have seen them crawl along the ground for short distances, so you may want to research if say, even a 3” high barrier on the ground, that could easily be stepped over, would stop overland incursions. Good luck!
Thanks Steve! It’s a good idea, but we have to mow there, so we’ll just keep an eye out and trap those that sneak in overland!