April 2017 -

5 Reasons you should love your spring garden.

I have written about 5 reasons to love your spring garden. There are actually probably 100+ reasons to love your spring garden but I settled on 5. I hope you enjoy the pictures and please leave me a comment about what your favorite reasons are to love your spring garden.

1. Tulips. Oh how I love tulips. These tulips poked up their heads up on February 26th. I was so shocked to see them so early. They are going to have to be divided and moved this year. We are adding on an addition and they are in the way. It is time they were divided. I am sure they have been here since the house was built. Tulips were imported to Holland in the 16th century and have kept us smiling all this time. This was an interesting read.

* The meaning of Tulips

Yellow = cheerful thoughts

Red =Perfect love

White= forgiveness

2. Sedum. Sedum is a staple in my garden. They are super hardy ( need these kind) and you can use the stems in flower arrangements. Sedum is a large genus of flowering plants in the family which are commonly known as stonecrop. The Sedum family has about 600 species! Maybe in a few years I will be able to name them all for you.

3. Bird feeders. This trusty feeder attracts all kinds of birds. My favorite is a cardinal pair. This pair has been back 3 yrs in a row! I will try to snap a picture of them and post it. I need to fill it as you can tell.

4. Shrubs. Shrubs are a staple to any landscape design. This guy was given to me last spring and I had to quickly plant it. It needs a new spot but we are enjoying the new red buds.

5. Peony. The burgundy shoots of the peony grabs my attention every spring. When they start to come up you can see an amazing difference every day. I have been reading a lot about peonies. There is a peony farm not far from me that I hope to visit this year. Check out the pictures they have. It looks amazing.

Our house was built in 1987, so I wonder if this peony plant was planted about then. I have to get a tree trimmed by it so it can have a bit more sunshine. I take out my camera with me when I work in the yard to try to capture the new things.

Chores for the flower farm this week

add compost to beds
add organic fertilizer
buy the landscape fabric
burn holes in fabric
build the sweet pea trellis
check on lavendar plants
finish sign for the flower trailer

Wow, that sounds like a lot. Somewhere in between I need to, do laundry, check homework, make meals….etc, etc. That is the thing with doing something you love. Somehow you always manage to fit everything else around it.

Starting Seeds indoors ” Not to do”

I thought I would share my seed starting failures today! Here is a list of 5 mistakes I made when starting seeds indoors.

1. Do not plant 2 types of seeds in the same tray. Why? Well my experience was that the 2 types of seeds grew at different times and grew to different heights. So when I adjusted the lights for the taller plants the shorter ones were then that much further away from the light source obviously, and now they are tending to grow a little spindly then I would like.

2. Do not plant too early. Why? I was so excited to start my plants that I started a few things too early. The package for the snapdragons said to plant 8-10 weeks before the last frost and the sweet pea package said 10-12 weeks before last frost. I think I planted them both about 12 weeks before out last frost date and they are getting so tall!! I moved them out to the garage in front of a north facing window and they are doing good out there, except that I think by the time I plant them outside they will be monsters in tiny little seed trays!!

3. Over water. Why? This seems so so obvious, but well I over watered a few trays. Low and behold. Root rot and damping off. I had to throw the trays away. It was so sad. I need to get over the fact that they are JUST seedlings and I can always regrow more.

4. Underwater. Why? Hello self,,,little plants need drinks too. After over watering and killing some, I under watered and killed some more.

5. Forget to label. Why? I thought I would totally remember what I planted where……oh yeah sure!!!

It has been such a learning curve. I am sure I will repeat some of these failures again and again. I probably could have did a list of 10 things or 20 for that matter. Oh well it has been interesting. I am learning a bunch. In my next post I will share what I did to have indoor seed planting success. So fun…see you soon

Starting a flower farm

Welcome!

I hope you enjoy this journey with me!

I am starting a new flower farm this year. It is a daunting and exciting process. I have thought about it for years and decided to jump in feet first!!! I thought it would be fun to document my progress and decided to do it in blog form. My little farm (puney) farm is called Midwest Cut Flowers. I am located in the wonderful state of Minnesota. I live about 30 miles west of the twin cities. We live on 2 acres…..so you are wondering if that is enough land to have a farm? Well according to Erin Benzakein from Floret flowers 2 acres is enough. I have read her new book Cut flower garden front to back. I have also bought a book The flower farmer by Lynn Byczynski and read that beautiful piece probably 5 times. Both books have great information of planting seeds, growing and tending the precious plants. I have loved flowers for as long as I can remember. So this sudden dive into flower farming does not surprise the hubby.

I have spent hours looking a seed magazines and trying to remind myself that I need to start at a reasonable….yes “reasonable” size. So I have decided to start with 6 20ft beds. Oh and I have a small plot up by the house and oh yeah I can stick some plants by the shop……see this could be dangerous. The kids do need some yard!! Don’ they????

I peeled up the grass…..what a pain in the back. I covered the beds w black plastic. Weed control. I am so excited about the soil. It is beautiful. I am adding compost and a few other goodies to it. I am trying a low till method of farming. I have watched this amazing guy and am trying to apply his techniques to my little dream. I am going to say this now and I will probably repeat myself again and again. ” This is a lot of work. Fun work. Hard work. but work no less” So please follow me and keep up with my successes and failures…..as there will be those…already has been those…but pull up the socks in my rubber boots and continue on.