No Till Flower Farming workshop
I had honor to attend the No Till Flower Farming workshop held at Love N Fresh Flowers. This was my second class here and it was such a welcoming and fun experience. Jennie’s willingness to share her extensive knowledge is amazing. I’m lucky to be only 45 minutes of her farm. There were flower farmers from along the East Coast that traveled to this class! I took 8 pages of notes (a trait of mine I’ve had since grade school- I won’t lie - I loved it!) on my handy-dandy clipboard. Here are a few notes I’ll need to reference to get things started for my flower farm journey.
- Deer fence/ guard system.
- Overwinter dahlias
- Water at night
- Plant sunflowers next to dahlias to help with a varied root system
- Don’t spray anything - Birds are natural pest control
- Leave roots in after cutting (i.e. dahlias), don’t yank them out - organic matter.
- Seeds purchased from GeoSeeds, Johnny’s. Organic when possible. Tubers from Swan Island, Sunny Meadows
- Don’t dig and divide if you an help it!
- Perennials - no irrigation! Establish long haul plants (i.e. peonies)
- Perennials to plant - flax, early crystal, mountain mint (she cuts and cuts again), lambada plants.
- Lawn - starting a bed from lawn - put tarp down to kill the grass 3-4 weeks. Compost + cardboard
- Starting/ Flipping a bed:
0) Cut crop
1) Add amendments (soil test if first starting),
2) broad fork
3) rake (drench?)
4) plant
- First time planting: Dianthus, zinnias, snap dragon, celosia, basil
- Long term investment field - woodies - “1st year they sleep, 2nd they creep, 3rd the leap!”
- Woodies - Smokebush (for perimeter!)
- Shade farm - hellebores, jacobs ladder, Japanese fern
- ASCFG - association to join
- April 15 - Transplants (sunflowers)
- October - Fall planting! Perennials
- March - plant straw flowers (cool annual)
Can’t wait to continue the journey. I met some great women today. Didn’t catch all their names/ businesses, but here are a few to refer back to:
Monica - Indigo & Ivy
Stacey - Slabtown Petal Pickers
Lori - Hello Green Thumb
Margot - Black Angus Flower Farm
Courtney - East Mount Airy Flowers
Kelsey - West Lane Flowers