Hoop houses, irrigation, and the layout of our cut flower farm

[@AnnaKincaid]

I LOVE your channel and I can't wait until you get our more videos. They are so helpful for me

[@floristsonfarms]

Yay! Thanks for being here Anna!

[@thecakepopsistars]

Beautiful property and layout! I just watched the interview with Jess you both are an inspiration and such incerdible resources 🇨🇦💐👩🏻‍🌾

[@floristsonfarms]

Thank you so much! It’s been a work in progress, all of those areas I showed were covered in blackberry thickets when we got here 10 years ago 😄.

[@UrbanCountryStyleByJudy]

I think this was my favourite video you’ve published so far. Super helpful (and beautiful!). Thank you 😊

[@floristsonfarms]

Oh wow! I’m so happy to hear that! Have a great day!

[@bluemerlinmakes]

This was really interesting! I'm not a flower farmer, but our gardens are taking over our yard (yay!) and I completely understand about needing a watering system!

[@floristsonfarms]

Yes haha! When we lived in town I had a couple of small gardens that I dearly loved to hand water. But when you’ve got other things to be doing and you start getting more gardens, it gets to be a problem for sure! 🤣

[@jesi89]

Your echinacea are stunning!!

[@floristsonfarms]

Thank you! I highly recommend echinacea!

[@janepeters5732]

Love the last garden your cottage garden. I grow my perennials mostly like this as well. Very pleasing to look at yet very productive for cut flowers bouquets. You and your hubby are phenomenal people! Wish you both success!😊😊😊

[@floristsonfarms]

Great minds and all that, eh? 😁 Thanks so much for your kind words and have a happy growing season!

[@margarethairsine8648]

Great information as usual Marie! I was scrolling KZbin a few days ago and I got excited when I saw Jessie had interviewed you! I enjoyed hearing your background story and learning more about how you choose to run your business. Cheers xo

[@floristsonfarms]

I have never done an interview like that before but I was in very good hands, Jessie is amazing! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@wandahuntoon8529]

Love your format. Great Information.

[@floristsonfarms]

Thank you so much and I’m glad it was helpful!

[@juliematthews5107]

Thanks for sharing. Cute that Steve joined you.

[@floristsonfarms]

You’re welcome! 😊 He was a good sport!

[@AniNikolova-kx5xt]

Thank you for sharing the beauty of your farm and the beauty of your work! I wish you a lot of success and joy!

[@floristsonfarms]

Thank you so much! The upcoming growing season is always full of such beautiful promises and anticipation! I’m looking forward to filming through my first full growing season this year!

[@vivherman2296]

I love your farm! What a great idea to cut the long greenhouse in half!! Lucky to have Steve to do those handyman things and help with irrigation, etc. That would be a luxury for me. Pretty much do as I can. But, I do love the size of your farm. Not supersized! I managed to get my stock planted out for market on Good Friday. Ahhh Spring!!

[@floristsonfarms]

Great job with your stock! I grow so specifically for direct to consumer designer florals that I need a smaller grow space with a higher diversity! Yes it’s so nice to be able to leave some things to Steve so I can focus on building the brand, sales, and growing the flowers. We are a good team around here :)

[@maychoulo1720]

Love your Channel, I am not a farmer I am a home flower grower but I love flowers I grow some perennial on just like how you did your, your looks so good how do you keep weeds of your? Thank you so much and keep on sharing .

[@floristsonfarms]

Thank you for your encouraging words! For the weeds, I’ve been finding that mulching once or twice a year has made the most significant impact for me for all of my beds. Another thing that really helps is keeping the edge of the bed clean as well as trenched somewhat. And finally, using Dutch hoes on the beds before I even see weeds is a great way to prevent weeds taking over (and a great big weeding job). Soil type is important too…I’m working my soils away from clay and into lighter more workable soil that makes it a lot easier to weed. Now that I’m writing this all out, I’m thinking I should do a video on this topic, eh? 😄

[@ollieoliver5013]

Thank you for taking the time to make this video. You are a great inspiration. I love your designs and ingenuity especially with foraging materials and working it to your designs. A great way to lower operational cost and appreciating what nature has to offer at the same time. I would love to see more of your perennial garden/bed especially when they’re in bloom, how you manage/maintain it and how you planned the placement of each plant all around your house. Did aesthetic play a big role with your planning?

[@floristsonfarms]

I would love to share in more detail about the perennial gardens! Aesthetic played a major role in thinking through the layout; but crop placements were more dependent on the microclimates within the gardens, and crop choices were based on what would perform well for cut flower production. I will definitely look at doing a video this summer about it, thank you for your request! 🙂

[@pammcnary2770]

What a dream! If you ever wanted to share a list (and quantity maybe in bed feet) of the flowers you grow, I’d be all ears. I’m sure it would take multiple videos. It would be interesting to see what you grow a bit of vs multiple rows of. A more specific question would be do you interplant daffodils and drumstick alliums with anything? Daffs with later maturing perennials or hot season annuals? I’ve only done the drumstick alliums for one season so far, absolutely loved them, but not sure what to do with the space after they pass. Do you plant the drumsticks really densely?

[@floristsonfarms]

I would love to share that, thank you for the request! In terms of interplanting, it’s going to change this year; but I have been interplanting my daffodils with my squash and pumpkin crops which has worked quite well. My alliums are all in my perennial gardens and I still haven’t found a perfect solution for interplanting something there (those are large footprints in the garden with 100s of bulbs). I think the best might be a perennial ground cover of some sort 🤔. Thr drumstick alliums are spaced at about 3”.

[@MichaelMotyer]

What spacing do you use for your dahlias in the hoop house? Great video it’s always nice to see how people set things up.

[@floristsonfarms]

Oh great question! I do two rows of dahlias per bed with one foot spacing lengthwise (planted on the drips) and approximately 16” apart between rows 🙂

[@sarahpopovic3860]

Loving this information. Are you willing to provide the brand info on your irrigation system. I am looking for something that is going to last as we have really hard water with lots of iron and I think this would be a better system.

[@floristsonfarms]

Sure, absolutely! It’s Netafim 🙂

[@OregonShearwater]

Great information! Thanks so much for caring to educate and share. Your property is beautiful!

[@floristsonfarms]

Thank you! It’s been a work in progress and a labour of love 🙂