Tulip flower power comes early

ONE of Tasmania’s most picturesque farming operations is blooming a little early this year. 

A spell of warm weather during August has seen flowers at the Table Cape Tulip Farm burst into bloom earlier than expected this season. 

Farm owner Dave Roberts-Thompson said while the early start to blooming was slightly unusual the cooler weather in recent weeks had slowed things down a little. “The season has been brought forward this year,” he said. 

“The warm patch we had in August really brought the tulips on and it made us a bit worried. 

“We thought we might be flowering up to two weeks ahead of schedule because they really just flew out of the ground. It has slowed down since then which is fortunate so we’re still ahead of schedule but not two weeks.” 

The early start to flowering has prompted the farm to start its public tulip season early this year so people can enjoy the blooms. 

“We had opened early, and people are coming through,” he said. 

“We would normally open the weekend closest to September 26.” 

Mr Roberts-Thompson said the warm conditions during August had also boosted pasture growth across the region. While the state has seen significant wind and rainfall in recent weeks, Mr Roberts-Thompson said that usually down not impact the tulips too much. 

“The wind can be an issue bit only if they’re in full flower,” he said. 

“It can be a consideration, but the majority of our crop is well sheltered from those big damaging winds we had and they were still quite young then. It’s amazing how resilient they are too” 

Mr Roberts-Thompson said they had about 400 visitors to the farm last weekend and that number will increase over the next few weeks as the tulips come into full bloom. 

“That wasn’t a bad start considering we had only just advertised that we were open so it’s ramping up to be a good season I think,” he said. 

About 20,000 people are expected to visit the farm over the next few weeks. 

After dry conditions earlier in the year Mr Roberts-Thompson they were now struggling to get on to paddocks to sow other crops such as poppies, spring cereals and their lilium crop. 

“We’re about two to four weeks behind with the planting of some of our crops because we just haven’t been able to get on the ground,” he said. “Normally we’d have all our crops in by the first of October, but we’ve still got lots of hectares to plant.” 

One positive, however, has been the runoff which has replenished the farm’s irrigation supplies. 

Mr Roberts-Thompson said most of the bulbs are grown on raised beds which prevents waterlogging. 

Over the past few years Mr Roberts-Thompson has been managing soils across the farm differently using cover crops and minimum cultivation where possible. 

One of the benefits has been better soil structure and carbon levels which he said now allowed them to get machinery on to paddocks earlier than previously. 

He said while using cover crops and different management methods had been a learning curve, it was also challenging at times given their varied cropping program.

There are more than 100 different bulb and tulip varieties growing across the farm which make a spectacular sight when they are in full bloom. 

Mr Roberts-Thompson said they are continually importing new varieties of bulbs which makes flowering time quite exciting. Their bulbs are sold on farm during the tulip season as well as online and though wholesalers.

To find out more about the farm and tulip season go to the Table Cape Tulip Farm Facebook page.