Helping Pollinators by Seeding Natives in February!

We all hear about how important it is to support pollinators in upstate NY, especially by planting native favorites that they rely on throughout the growing season. Plants like Milkweed (common, swamp, butterfly), Echinacea, Joe Pye Weed, Asters, Yarrow, Liatris, Rudbeckia, Sneezeweed, Cardinal Flower, Monarda, Goldenrod, and other native plants play a vital role in providing nectar and habitat. Well, it’s not too late to plant them from seed! It’s easy and anyone can do it.

Each year at Picaflor Farm, we seed all our planting area borders with many of these lovely flowers and let them grow wild and free. Our wetter areas have been seeded with swamp milkweed, cardinal flower, joe pye weed, and sneezeweed, while our drier edges are filled with common and butterfly milkweed, echinacea, monarda and yarrow. We either harvest our own seeds or use Sheffield Seeds in Groton. They have a great diversity of seeds, are available in bulk or in packets, and they deliver quickly. We also have lots of elder planted on our edges, but that’s for another blog!

All of these seeds benefit from cold stratification. What is cold stratification? Well, many seeds have developed safety mechanisms to survive the changing seasons in our region. So, they have evolved to ONLY germinate AFTER a period of cold and moisture. For instance, many milkweed species need at least 30 days of cold stratification to germinate.

So here we are in February wondering what we can do to help pollinators and enjoy our gardens. It has been so miserably cold that many of us have not even been able to think about our gardens, but February is a great month to start thinking about pollinators. Late winter is perfect for seeding some natives because it naturally provides cold stratification, right in time for spring blooming.

It sounds complicated. For years I avoided seeds that need to be cold stratified because I believed you really have to know what you are doing with these seeds. But nothing could be further from the truth.

How do you do it? Well, you can use your fridge … or even better, you can use our upstate winter. Ideally, it’s best to directly seed these native flowers in the fall! Prepare your bed (or an area that you are not using for anything else), get rid of the weeds and seed! Nature will do the rest.

But, if you didn’t get to it in the Fall, February is the next best thing!

Here are three ways to do it:

1.   Put on your winter jacket and head out into the garden to sow your seeds. Choose an area and prepare a corner by clearing away the leaf litter. Spread your seeds over the soil surface (mixing them with sand can help if they are tiny) and press them into the soil. Be sure to read the seed packet, as some seeds need light to germinate while others do not. If your seeds require light, simply replace a light layer of leaf litter (as long as it isn’t too thick) and leave the seeds uncovered. If they need to be covered, gently add a layer of potting soil or compost before replacing the leaf litter. Mark the area clearly so you can monitor it as spring arrives. And if the snow hasn’t melted, don’t worry! You can sow the seeds right on top of the snow and let nature take it from there.

2.    Prepare a Tupperware container, cut milk jug, or tray by poking holes at the bottom, and adding potting soil and sand. Spread the seed and read the packet to see how much light is needed to germinate. If light is needed, place the seeds on top, press down, and place outside in a protected area, but where snow and rain and cold can still do their thing. Monitor throughout the spring. As the plants germinate, wait until they are a few inches high before transplanting into their final spots.

3.    Throw your seeds in a baggie with a moist paper towel or sand and place in the fridge clearly labeled. Forget about them until the ground begins to thaw outside. Prepare your bed by removing all weeds and adding a bit of compost. Spread your cold stratified seeds and cover with soil only if needed.

A general rule of thumb is to cover the seeds to the depth of the thickness of the seed.

Cold stratification sounds complicated, but it isn’t! It isn’t an obstacle – it is a way to tune into our gardens and the changing seasons so we can work with nature instead of against it. It is introducing a little organized wildness into our gardens so we can attract and support more pollinators. 

Picaflor Farm is Hiring!

Picaflor Farm LLC is a medicinal herb and flower farm, apiary, and residential gardening service. The farm centers, values and uplifts women, gender-nonconformity, and racial and ethnic diversity, We provide pollinator friendly gardening services and cultivate a diverse array of pollinator-friendly flowers, medicinal plants, and herbs and keep a strong and thriving apiary so we can create value-added products sold at farmers markets, festivals, and our farm stand.

We are looking for a kind humans who are excited to work along with the Picaflor team as gardeners and gardening leads. We'll work at client's houses and at our farm creating and maintaining pollinator-friendly spaces. The gardener leads will interact with clients and other team members and will help Picaflor Farm educate clients and team members in creating pollinator-friendly choices. The ideal candidates will have strong work ethic and knowledge of working at a human scale to build gardens that attract pollinators. We do our best to work in quiet and non-commercial ways, and we do not use chemicals or large commercial power tools.

The candidates for gardening leads and gardeners will be inclusive, open, unwaveringly dependable, love working outdoors under all kinds of conditions (heat, cold, buggy, areas with poison ivy, etc..), and be willing to work independently (and collaboratively).

Gardening leads will guide and teach other team members.

All individuals MUST center, value and respect women, gender nonconforming humans, and racial and ethnic diversity within the work team and our clients. Creativity, independence, resourcefulness, and willingness to be flexible is necessary because we are a small team and our work is often unpredictable. We are excited to work alongside you as we make improvements to the farm and continue to grow and serve our gardening clients. The work season is from April - November.

Helping the Birds get through Winter

Lots of birds migrate south during cold upstate NY winters, but the ones that stay have to survive frigid temperatures and we can help! Here’s a few things we do at Picaflor Farm.

We provide fresh, clean water and put out suet, sunflower seeds, and peanuts in the shell.

We make sure not to cut down our grasses and seed bearing perennials and have lots of native berry plants and evergreens so that the birds have protection from the weather, are safe from predators, and have lots of natural food sources.

We don’t cut down old trees full of cavities and we have lots of bird boxes that the birds will use to keep warm. They pile in one on top of the other to keep warm on the coldest nights! .

What are some things you do to help the birds in winter?

Muchas aves migran hacia el sur durante los fríos inviernos del norte del estado de Nueva York, pero las que se quedan tienen que sobrevivir a temperaturas gélidas y ¡podemos ayudar! Aquí hay algunas cosas que hacemos en Picaflor Farm. Proporcionamos agua fresca y limpia y sacamos sebo, semillas de girasol y maní con cáscara.

Nos aseguramos de no talar nuestros pastos y plantas perennes que producen semillas y tenemos muchas plantas de bayas y árboles de hoja perenne nativos para que las aves estén protegidas del clima, estén a salvo de los depredadores y tengan muchas fuentes naturales de alimento.

Y también nos aseguramos de no talar árboles viejos llenos de cavidades y de tener muchas cajas para pájaros que los pájaros usarán para protegerse del frío. ¡Se apilan uno encima del otro para mantener el calor en las noches más frías! .

¿Cuáles son algunas de las cosas que haces para ayudar a los pájaros en invierno?

#picaflor_farm #birds #winter #aves