We have lift off at Goebel Hill Farm! The dahlias have begun to emerge from the earth and we are on our way to having loads of beautiful flowers this summer. I’ve been using this helpful soil temperature chart authored by Washington State University to try to gauge the arrival of this moment because I left most of my tubers in the ground last fall.

In a normal year, I dig up and store every last one of my dahlia tubers for the next season, but last fall wasn’t a normal year for us around here and things still aren’t normal, are they? We adapt. I dug what I could manage at the time, left the rest in the ground, mulched the rows with chopped up leaves and said a little prayer. We have super drainage, I mean no standing water ever type drainage, so I knew that would help. I became impatient a week or two ago and dug up a few dahlias only to find them sprouting way down there 6 to 8 inches under the ground. I bury my tubers deep so they don’t tumble over in the rain later in the summer when they are heavy with foliage and flowers.

The experts say that the soil temperature should be 60 degrees before you plant dahlia tubers. So either the experts are wrong or this soil temp chart is, Granite Falls per se isn’t even on the chart, but who cares? They made it through the winter and so will we! We are off and running towards another wonderful growing season at Goebel Hill Farm.

With Mother’s Day just around the corner we are offering a limited number of “Flower Subscription Shares” with two options; beginning either in May, as soon as the ranunculus and peonies start to bloom, or August when the dahlias are in full swing.  Each subscription is for a total of four hand tied bouquets to be picked up at our farm every three weeks at a prearranged day and time with Covid 19 safety always in mind.  Each “Flower Subscription Share” package includes a beautiful, hand quilled card created by my sister Brooke!  The card is blank inside and each one is a frame worthy piece of art; you will find them in our online shop.  Order early, subscriptions are limited.

Happy May Day!

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