CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Those who grow plants need one key thing: Mother Nature to cooperate. Unfortunately, this year's weather hasn't been too kind to area farmers.
Spenser and Mike Zydlewski started their chemical-free Hidden Gem Farm in Chesapeake four years ago.
"It seemed like way more fun than a normal job," said Mike Zydlewski. "So I figured we would just invest in ourselves."
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At the farm you'll spot some vegetables, but the main event is the flowers. They sell cut flowers to florists and at farmer's markets.
"I just really wanted to do something that brought joy to people. I had a pretty tragic loss before my move [to Chesapeake] and I always tried to keep fresh flowers in the house," said Spenser Zydlewski. "It always kind of put a smile on my face."
Flowers, she said, are even scientifically shown to boost our moods.
So what's the couple's favorite flower?
"If I had to pick a favorite, unfortunately I would say it's the dahlias, the ones that got melted away," said Mike Zydlewski. "Not only are one of our best sellers but they're just a neat plant and have all different stages when growing them."
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They planted 1,500 dahlias this year, but just a handful remain.
June, the Zydlewskis said, was too dry. The News 3 weather team said our area had roughly three inches of rain that month.
"We have very clay soil in Chesapeake. With that when we aren't getting much rain it causes the root structures of the pants to not become very robust," said Spenser Zydlewski.
Then we had an above average 10 inches of rain in July, according to News 3's weather team. Spenser Zydlewski said the issue there was the rain came all at once.
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"And basically that just drowns the entire plant system and causes them to rot," said Spenser Zydlewski.
That meant the plants were destroyed and the stem and tuber sales lost.
"Growing anything in general is very trial and error. You can think that you know a crop really well and then the next year we can have weather like we did this year and it just decimates that entire crop."
"Every time you learn a new thing, you make a mistake, you plant stuff out, the weather destroys it and you realize, 'oh, probably shouldn't have done that, try a little bit different next year,'" added Mike Zydlewski.
This year's weather wasn't what they wanted, but they've pivoted to recoup lost revenue.
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"We just pulled all of them and planted sunflowers which are a really quick crop," said Spenser Zydlewski.
And they're planning ahead.
"I just got a pallet racker and have been disassembling pallets and then reassembling them into garden beds. I'm building as many raised beds as possible until next year so even if it does rain again we'll have a solid extra foot to keep our plants safe," said Mike Zydlewski.
Growing things is important, they said, because sustainable farming and gardening helps the whole area.
"The area's getting so grown up and there's constantly subdivisions getting built and with that comes more chemicals and less pollinators," said Spenser Zydlewski. "[Growing plants] is going to help the monarchs, help the bees, help the humming birds and just make you happy when you see them."
This year we will still see many blooms and next year, they hope for dahlias again.
"Oh yeah. That's our favorite. We're going to try again," said Mike Zydelwski.
