6 Ways I Plan to Simplify Flower Farming This Season

Seasonal Reflection

There is always plenty of time for dreaming over the winter. I’ll be honest, when I shut down the flower farm in late fall, It’s easy to turn my mind off from growing. I’m able to shut down for most of December and reset. But as the days start to grow a little longer after winter solstice, the natural desire to start dreaming of flower farming comes back just as the sunshine does. I start flipping through my favorite flower farming books and review my crop plan from the previous year.

Last year, I decided to start a business phone number that I could text messages to when I was working out in the field. I needed an easy solution to send my thoughts and paper and pen wouldn’t cut it, but I usually have my phone in my pocket so texting myself worked well. This winter, I reviewed my texts to myself and it had a big impact on my business model. I realized the tasks I was putting so much effort into were not generating much income or joy. It encouraged me to step back and change a couple things that I have been dedicated to since my first year of flower farming. I needed to simplify flower farming.

The winter season is just enough of a break to make you forget how much you dislike certain things about the growing season. But it was extremely reaffirming to read heated texts from my summer self that blatantly said “don’t do it”.

Acknowledge and Embrace the life and growing season you’re in

My life and growing seasons look different than they did 10 years ago when I started flower farming. I didn’t have a home, husband, and three little boys to take care of.  My life has changed,  but I have not changed my practices or business model since that first growing season. We integrate so much of our life and homeschooling into the flower farming process and I am so thankful for that! However, I acknowledge that I cannot devote the time, energy, and mind space I once could to flower farming.  Therefore, I’ve concluded that I need to simplify my flower farming process.

This season I am focused on being a good flower farmer and a better mom (not the other way around). 

Last winter, I dialed into what was important personally and professionally (can I call this flower farm professional??). To simplify flower farming, I decided saying “NO” to several things was necessary. In previous years, I would have doubted myself wanting to scale back any area of the farm, I always thought more was better.

It took some serious self-control, but here are six things I’m saying “no” to simplify flower farming this year.

Six Things I’m Saying “NO” to on my Flower Farm This Year to Simplify Flower Farming

#1 Planting a Million Different Varieties

In my first year of flower farming, I felt like I had to grow every single flower known to man. I felt that industry standard convinced you to grow EVERYTHING. I had foliage, filler, supplementary flowers, focal flowers, disc-shaped flowers, spiked-shaped flowers, cone-shaped flowers, the list goes on. My crops were managed on elaborate spreadsheets with complicated planting schedules that I felt like a slave to.

Year after year, my favorite crops continued to be the tried and true, old-fashioned favorites. In the future, I see having the time to experiment with new varieties, but I do not have the capacity to do that now.

This year I am growing the following crops: tulips, ranunculus, sweet peas, cosmos, zinnias, sunflowers, giant marigolds and dahlias. There are also a handful of perennials growing that will add to my collection as well. I am saying “no” to snapdragons, bachelor buttons, stock, anemones, celosia, gomphrena, amaranthas, icelandic poppies and many more. I evaluated which crops brought me the most joy, appealed to customers and were tough enough to withstand a beating from a curious toddler. The best part is that these crops are quite easy to propagate. For more details on my five favorite cut flowers to grow, visit this post. 

#2 Drip Tape

I’d fall over if I totaled up the amount I’ve spent on drip tape over the years, let alone the countless hours navigating it to the field. It has never really worked for me. Me and my boys constantly trip over it as we run through the fields. I’ve read about many other small farms that love it and are certain it’s the best way to irrigate, but it’s just not for me. My beds are small enough that I can manage them with sprinklers. The majority of my crops don’t get damaged from overhead watering, so petal damage isn’t an issue for me. I have put a lot of hard work into organizing my farm design to accompany drip tape, but I’m over it and that’s ok. Maybe in the future, we will re-unite, but I’m content saying “no” to simplify flower farming this year.

#3 Labeling

I can almost feel the seasoned gardeners quivering when I say I’m not labeling anything this year. Seriously, NO LABELS! Why? Because my toddler pulls every single one out, every single one. Is it the end of the world, no. He’s 2 and that is a normal developmental process for him to want to pull cute little labels in and out of the soil a million times. I have tried in years past to train my boys to not do it, but those darn labels are just too enticing. I’m surrendering to the parental defeat and not worrying about labels this year. 

How will I keep track of everything? Well because I have scaled back my crops so much, I can identify what the plants are even as little sprouts. The varieties I’m growing are basic and I know them well enough to call them by name. I can’t tell you what a relief it is to let the expectation of a perfectly labeled farm go. 

How will this simplify flower farming? I don’t have to keep permanent markers and labels stocked. I don’t have to spend time searching for them because my kids found them and used them or I didn’t put them back where they belonged. And my favorite, I don’t have to pick up labels off the ground because my toddler was too enticed.

#4 Storing Dahlia Tubers 

I’ve stored dahlia tubers successfully for 6 years, multiplying my crop each year successfully. Until we had a winter of chaos that included our newborn being hospitalized for quite some time. During the chaos, I didn’t check on my tubers and they all rotted. I lost thousands of dollars of tubers, what a gut punch.

I LOVE dahlias and didn’t want to give them up but knew I didn’t want to battle storing them either. For context, I grow in northern Michigan and have two unheated double poly high tunnels. After reading about Jennie Love and her technique of overwintering dahlia tubers, I knew I could do it too. Therefore, last season I left them in the ground. In the fall, I cut them down and covered them with some straw for extra protection. The ground never froze and we had several weeks in a row well below freezing. We will see how they do this season, but as of now (early spring), they don’t look rotted. 

How will this simplify flower farming? Not storing them will save me hours of processing time in the fall, a ton of storage space in the winter, and hours of planting time in the spring. I do anticipate digging them up and separating them every few years. This will greatly simplify flower farming for me!

#5 Offering Flowers All Season

As a grower in Michigan, your growing season may seem pretty limited. The addition of a low tunnel and high tunnel are great tools to help extend the growing season. However,  with them comes the extra pressure to grow and do more. This can be overwhelming!

Now, an extended growing period that a hoop house provides is a total gift and it has been for me in past seasons. However, with the extra growing time I often found myself experimenting with crops that were beyond our growing zone tolerance. With this comes wasted time and growing space. Right now I don’t have the capacity to experiment and test different varieties I’m not familiar with.  This year I am confident leaning into the crops I’ve grown with the most success, even if it’s less than normal and leaves some weeks empty.

Last year, I made sure to diligently track my sales and expenses. What I found was that most customers enjoyed buying bouquets in spring and late summer or fall. In the heat of the summer season in late June through July, my sales decreased. It’s also harder to keep up with the farm during these times. It’s hotter, there’s more watering, I need to cut early morning to avoid wilty stems and it doesn’t take long for my kids to be hot and tired.

After paying close attention to my sales, I realized I was working twice as hard for half the money. The whole thing didn’t make sense to me, and I decided to plan my crops to be abundant in the “bookends” of the season, spring and late summer and fall. This aligns the time we enjoy the farm the most with the time customers enjoy purchasing the most. And it allows me to take my kids to the beach on the hot days of mid summer.

As a new grower, I would have never had the courage to do this.  To be successful I thought I had to produce bouquets every day of the growing season, this year I’m letting that go!  I will certainly miss crops like snapdragons and nigella, but I can always grow them next year.

#6 Comparing

In the last few years, I have followed some amazing small farms on social media. I love learning from experienced farmers and their flower farming journey. It is truly a delight to have the ability to learn from so many talented growers in an easy space. I have saved dozens of posts that I look back on over the winter to plan for the next season. While good things come from this network of farmers, it also causes many issues. 

Comparison is the thief of joy and creates an unrealistic baseline.

First, you are observing growers from all over the country, maybe the world. They are not growing in the same climate and conditions as you. So the gorgeous flowers you see them flawlessly growing, may not even be possible for you. 

Second, they are more likely than not under completely different life circumstances than you.

• Maybe they have a spouse who can help on the farm, and yours is not.
• Maybe they don’t have any children and you do.
• Maybe they have years of established soil and yours is basically sand.
• Maybe they have years of experience and you don’t.
• Maybe they are healthy and strong and you’re not.
• Maybe their full-time job is on the farm and yours is somewhere else.

You (and me) can not set our farming expectations to a baseline that is miles away from our own. Use social media as a tool, but don’t set your standards from it.

Third, you most likely aren’t seeing their trials but only their success. Flower farming and homesteading have seem to become a new “dreamy” lifestyle, advertised by women in sundresses with flowy hairm untangled hair. Again, be careful what you set your baseline to.

This year, I am saying “no” to following new social media accounts. I have a great group of farms I follow that I can gather useful information from. I will not be letting comparison steal my joy!

What have you said “no” to in order to simplify flower farming?

I hope you find encouragement to say “no” to the things that aren’t serving you well in this season, even if they are serving others well. You can always re-evaluate next year or even next month! Don’t put too much pressure on yourself ( been there), if it doesn’t feel worth it, put your efforts somewhere else this season.  I have a feeling next year landscape fabric will be something I say “no” to.