Hey it’s me. It’s a new year, a good time for planning the flowers here at Midwest Cut Flowers.

Real life mess

I am going to go about this blog a little differently than I have in the past. Notice the title. It is week 5 of this year on the farm. It will be easier for me to log what I am doing every week, then lets say….a post on “how to dig dahlias” etc. There are plenty of great blog posts out there on that kind of stuff….I will for sure share links to that kind of fabulous education. There will also be a recipe every now and again for those who have been enjoying them. Believe me…a good recipe is a good recipe.

So…..are you ready??

Planning on a flower farm

Planning the flowers on a flower farm is a little comparable to planning your cutting garden, only on  a much larger scale. You want to have enough blooms along with plenty of foliage to make a nice looking bouquet.  This is how I plan for the next growing season.

Using the information on the back of the seed packet, I look to see if the seed company recommends direct seeding or transplanting. I put all the direct seed varieties into a separate pile. Next, I group all the seed packages according to how long before the last frost date they need to be sowed. Ex. if the package says sow 10-12 weeks before last frost, then all those varieties go into a pile etc.

Our last average frost date here is May 11th. So I plan according to that. I count back 12 weeks from the last frost date and enter the varieties that need to be sowed then on that week.  This procedure follows for the rest of my seeds. The next piece of information I want to know is, when can I expect them to bloom. Again, referring to the seed package, I count the days forward from the sow time to the amount of days it takes to bloom. Example the package says “days 110-120” this means it should take around that number of days to bloom.

Blooms Vs Foliage

This has been my biggest challenge so far. It takes quite a few stems to make a decent bouquet but you don’t want that bouquet to be just flowers or just foliage. So this year, I highlighted the expected bloom date for the flowers in pink and the foliage in green. Wabam! So cool to see what I can expect in lets say the 3rd week of July.  Farming is not for the faint of heart. It is a lot of work….and you are at the mercy of “Mother Nature”…you know she will blow at 30 mph just after your dahilas start to bloom….or decide to freeze just once more…but never the less…I love it.

Here is a little flashback from 2yrs ago! Wow, I have come a long way!!!

and as always….if want to watch more progress….subscribe. You will get my updates right in your inbox…ta da! Sorry no spam, just an update.