PLANNING MY FIRST FLOWER “FIELD”: WINS & WHOOPSIES

Dreaming of planting a big, beautiful field of flowers? So was I. 🌸 This spring marks our very first attempt at creating dedicated space for flowers in my garden at The House of Sugar Creek — and let me tell you, it’s been a mix of magical moments and messy missteps. Today, I’m sharing what’s working, what surprised me, and a few lessons I’m already learning as I grow my dream (one seed and stumble at a time).

Backstory

When I started dreaming about becoming a flower farmer (last fall) – I decided I was going to plant ALL the things to see what I would find success with. I ordered a variety of “cut” flowers and then extra for “just because” reasons. From seed I planted: dahlias, zinnias, forget me nots, sunflowers, agastache, cosmos, lavender, strawflower, basketflower, bunny tails, snap dragons, basil (a variety for filler), chamomile, yarrow, nasturtiums, bee balm, marigolds, craspedia, eucalyptus and many more that I cannot remember at the time of this writing LOL. I also ordered dahlia tubers. 
Ultimately, I wanted to know, in my first season of growing, what I could possibly make money from, how to harvest cut flowers, how to keep them fresh, what was easy to grow, what was timing like from seed to harvest…I wanted to know everything.

Wins

I’m calling it a win because everything is growing. LOL I did so good keeping my seedling babies alive until they were ready to go in the ground (for the most part). My cosmos bloom first. My sunflowers are beginning to bloom and I’ve seen a zinnia bloom (I sent a lot of my zinnia seedlings to their death on accident when I was overzealous in my thinking I could plant out more in a day than I was actually able to plant out – so they went unwatered and left out at the land on accident). Some had strong roots & are doing fine now (SHOCKED is an understatement), while the others were just plain toast.

Whoopsies

Definitely the biggest whoopsie is the zinnia deaths. I really haven’t had that many more whoopsies besides battling a tiny grasshopper problem eating at my sunflower leaves & dahlia leaves. I’ve been applying Neem Oil but may have to get some BT and do a combo treatment. I think the other “whoopsie” is that I really shouldn’t have tried to plant as many different varieties of flowers at one time. Because they definitely don’t all mature at the same time and I’m not sure I have planted out “enough” of each for a true cut flower garden experience — meaning I can make bouquets with the flowers. Time will tell.

What I’m Adjusting Moving Forward

I’m going to get everything planted out (just have flowers remaining) and see how this season goes. I really do want a cottage flower garden vibe within my vegetable/fruit garden. I think I have accomplished this, but until everything is in bloom, I don’t know if I have spacing correct, if I like what I planted, if I have enough flowers to start a flower subscription, etc. I would love to over a 6 week subscription that can be renewed a few times throughout the season – I just don’t really know what that looks like just yet. 

The other thing I’m considering is dialing back in on what I plant next season. Planting more of certain types (dedicating row space for more of the same type of flower).

My Encouragement for You

Listen – when I decided I was going to be a flower farmer, I had NO IDEA what I was getting myself into. Gardening is a lot of work. I already knew this from past experience. But weeding, just by itself, in a large garden area, is a daily chore. That you have to stay on top of. Especially if you’re not able to get your mulch into your garden right away. And something in your pathways.

Messy beginnings are normal and beautiful — it’s part of growing something meaningful. I’m going to encourage you to just start. Because it’s all one big gigantic experiment. You will have beautiful successes & wild messes. And some crazy failures, but it’s just all part of it.