Flower Farming 101 Fall – Aug Date TBD

A hands-on workshop where we’ll share what we’ve learned through the years about growing “cool flowers” for next spring and planning for next season. Our unheated hoop house is gearing down and getting ready to be fall planted. We’ll share what we will be transplanting this fall and when to start seeds, how and where to buy plugs, and how to prepare your beds now. We’re will be using Lisa Mason Ziegler’s book, “Cool Flowers” as our textbook and each participant will receive their own copy. We will also share some seeds that we have saved this year that can be direct seeded or started in trays. We will spend some time at our house where we can view some helpful planting videos from Johnny’s Seeds. We’ll also cover the basics of flower farming that we cover in our spring course but with an eye toward fall. Some of the topics include:

• What seeds can be planted now in our zone for spring blooms?
•  what flowers can be planted in late winter/early spring for spring blooms?
•  where can I get plugs to plant this fall for spring bloom? We may do a group order of plugs is participants desire.
• what bulbs, tubers, and corms can I plant for spring blooms?
• Seed starting – soil blocks vs trays vs transplants vs direct seeding
• bed preparation – soil prep and no till practices
• composting and fertilizing – compost tea
• Advantages of different plug tray sizes
• planting efficiencies – laying landscape fabric, popping holes, drip tape, labeling, planting
• support netting – when to use and how to attach
• books and tools – we’ll share some we find helpful
• Social media groups that help flower farmers
• resources – we’ll have lists of where we buy what
• Q & A