Hi Lisa,
i have been watching your you tube video,s and have been an avid gardener all my life, have a large perennial and shade and wildlife and asparagus bed, blueberry bed, strawberry bed, peony bed, japenesse iris bed,, vegetable garden bed, a hedgerow of flowering shrubs . I live on11.2 acres, mostly wooded, and have about 3 acres which we mow.I live in the country and have amish all atound me. I am 76 yrs.old and have a huge passion to become a small scale flower farmer. I have near 300 seed packs.i spend dawn to dusk outside in the summer, sweating and dirty doing hard work. I used to make arrangements for my church and made dried flower wreaths to sell and did have a tax number at one time and what a nightmare that was. I do not want to do that again. What I would like to do is make bouuets and sell flowers to local florist. But I have no business savvy and I am an introvert off the page, but I would like to supplement my social security somewhat and sell bouquets from in front of my house and do florists. At 76 I am not looking for greatness or a booming business, just a little more income. I can still bend and live in zone 5B which used to be five and now I believe it is zone 6. I have heavy clay which is heavily amended and is in good tilth. We used to have snow from thanksgiving to April, living at the end of the Erie snow zone. I made an 8 ft by 10 ft by 6ft high leaf bank this fall and a 6ft by 6ft by 5ft compost pile this fall. What can i do to achieve this dream?
Hi Lisa. I have been reading your cool flowers book, ordered my soil blocker and watching videos. Trying to soak it all in. But I am afraid I might be too late getting started. I live in NW GA zone 7. Can I still start transplants for fall planting? I am so excited to get started.
You are a saint! I love your “Cool Flowers” book and seed starting class. For the life of me I can’t get my snaps to germinate. I have them on a heat 70 degrees in my house, used your mix and seed blocker. I didn’t cover them. I live a very dry climate. I just wonder if they dried out? Should I spray the tops? Or cover with vermiculite?
Hi Andrea, On a seedling heat mat with a built in thermostat? If your home is 70 degrees– that would make the mat 85-90 degree– to warm. Place a cookie cooling rack on the heat mat and place trays on the rack to create an air space to cool it a smidge– yet consistently warm. Water dried out blocks each morning and misting won’t hurt in the morning too. This link has a watering video.
Hi Lisa – I germinate soil blocks in my house with heat mats and have good sucess. I then move the plants into my garage with heat mats and grow lights. The garage is cool (50-60 degrees F) and gets very little natural light. The plants seem to grow slowly. What temperature should I use for the heat mats in the garage? Do I need to raise the general temperature in the garage? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Hi Daniel, Plants need warm air temperature to grow. A seedling heat mat is intended to warm the soil not air unfortunately. For cool-season plants air temperature hovering around 70 is best. Warm-season plants 75-85 degrees aids them in the best growth.
LZ
Lisa, do you have a problem with your biodegradable film breaking down when you prepare your fall beds. I was wondering how well it held up when you started planting on Feb.
Thanks for all you do.
Susan Speed
I make the beds for Feburary plantings in October and cover with biodegradeable film. We have not had breaking down problems. We have learned to keep the deer from walking on the beds and making holes in the film by hooping and covering the beds as if planted. Love biodegradeable film. Lisa
Karen E. Reilly
Hi Lisa,
i have been watching your you tube video,s and have been an avid gardener all my life, have a large perennial and shade and wildlife and asparagus bed, blueberry bed, strawberry bed, peony bed, japenesse iris bed,, vegetable garden bed, a hedgerow of flowering shrubs . I live on11.2 acres, mostly wooded, and have about 3 acres which we mow.I live in the country and have amish all atound me. I am 76 yrs.old and have a huge passion to become a small scale flower farmer. I have near 300 seed packs.i spend dawn to dusk outside in the summer, sweating and dirty doing hard work. I used to make arrangements for my church and made dried flower wreaths to sell and did have a tax number at one time and what a nightmare that was. I do not want to do that again. What I would like to do is make bouuets and sell flowers to local florist. But I have no business savvy and I am an introvert off the page, but I would like to supplement my social security somewhat and sell bouquets from in front of my house and do florists. At 76 I am not looking for greatness or a booming business, just a little more income. I can still bend and live in zone 5B which used to be five and now I believe it is zone 6. I have heavy clay which is heavily amended and is in good tilth. We used to have snow from thanksgiving to April, living at the end of the Erie snow zone. I made an 8 ft by 10 ft by 6ft high leaf bank this fall and a 6ft by 6ft by 5ft compost pile this fall. What can i do to achieve this dream?
Lisa
Hi Karen, our course Flower Farming School: The Basics, Annual Crops, Marketing, and More! is what offers what you need help with. That course doesn’t open again until the fall but this free webinar may offer some guidance: https://www.thegardenersworkshop.com/webinar-request-what-it-takes-to-be-a-flower-farmer/
TGW Team
Rita Campbell
Hi Lisa. I have been reading your cool flowers book, ordered my soil blocker and watching videos. Trying to soak it all in. But I am afraid I might be too late getting started. I live in NW GA zone 7. Can I still start transplants for fall planting? I am so excited to get started.
Andrea
You are a saint! I love your “Cool Flowers” book and seed starting class. For the life of me I can’t get my snaps to germinate. I have them on a heat 70 degrees in my house, used your mix and seed blocker. I didn’t cover them. I live a very dry climate. I just wonder if they dried out? Should I spray the tops? Or cover with vermiculite?
Lisa
Hi Andrea, On a seedling heat mat with a built in thermostat? If your home is 70 degrees– that would make the mat 85-90 degree– to warm. Place a cookie cooling rack on the heat mat and place trays on the rack to create an air space to cool it a smidge– yet consistently warm. Water dried out blocks each morning and misting won’t hurt in the morning too. This link has a watering video.
Daniel Strum
Hi Lisa – I germinate soil blocks in my house with heat mats and have good sucess. I then move the plants into my garage with heat mats and grow lights. The garage is cool (50-60 degrees F) and gets very little natural light. The plants seem to grow slowly. What temperature should I use for the heat mats in the garage? Do I need to raise the general temperature in the garage? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks
Dan
Lisa
Hi Daniel, Plants need warm air temperature to grow. A seedling heat mat is intended to warm the soil not air unfortunately. For cool-season plants air temperature hovering around 70 is best. Warm-season plants 75-85 degrees aids them in the best growth.
LZ
Susan Speed
Lisa, do you have a problem with your biodegradable film breaking down when you prepare your fall beds. I was wondering how well it held up when you started planting on Feb.
Thanks for all you do.
Susan Speed
Lisa
Hi Susan,
I make the beds for Feburary plantings in October and cover with biodegradeable film. We have not had breaking down problems. We have learned to keep the deer from walking on the beds and making holes in the film by hooping and covering the beds as if planted. Love biodegradeable film. Lisa