Tag Archives: flowers

Becoming a Flower Farmer

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Okay, okay, so I’m hardly a flower farmer, BUT I have started a farming business and I am growing a few flowers amongst our vegetables, so I’m on my way. Right?

From 2006 to 2009, I lived in Ottawa and had a great job as a policy analyst for a non-partisan lobbyist group. I got an up-close-and-personal look at Canadian politics, worked alongside amazing people from the government and non-profit world, and truly had one of the most interesting and unique experiences of my life. A couple of years into that experience, however, I started craving a lifestyle like the one I have now and used to love daydreaming with some girlfriends about one day becoming a flower farmer. Imagining myself living in the middle of a sea of flowers and spending my days caring for them just seemed so idyllic. 

So here I am now, a few years later, spending my mornings watering our vegetable beds and celebrating the flowers that are finally emerging after their late plantings, water-logged conditions and battles with slugs. My daydreams are materializing!

Now, if I were a true flower farmer, I’m sure I’d know the scientific names and detailed information about all of the flowers in these photos. That’s not the case yet – but it will be! In the meantime, here are some of the BEAUTIFUL blossoms that are finally popping up all over the garden. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do. x

Poppies! I LOVE the gorgeous pink poppy I posted above with it’s delicate, tissue-paper petals. Below is another poppy almost ready to open. *Sigh* I seriously love poppies. 

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Sweet peas! So pretty and so fragrant and seriously popping out all over the garden now. 

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This is what happens when you leave a raddish in the ground. It produces these flowers as it’s going to seed. A very lovely transition period.

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An onion flowering and going to seed… 

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Tatsoi (an asian green) going to seed…

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Phacelia – a great cover crop flower for vegetable gardens that bees love! So glad Chris M. made a point of planting so many of these around the garden beds.

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Nasturtiums (red & orange below) are edible and attract the attention of aphids and other bugs we don’t want on our veggies.

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Blue Borage – a fully edible flower (and greens!) that attracts bees and provides a higher level of healthy fatty acids than Evening Primrose.

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Zucchini flowers: a precurser to the arrival of the veggie – always a good sign! Also edible, although I have yet to try them. Adding zucchini flower recipe research to my to-do list as I type…

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And finally, perennial lillies. I’ve got a variety of colours planted. Hopefully they’ll keep coming back every year…

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Planting spring bulbs in January

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This will be a bit of experiment (just like everything else we’re doing). We didn’t buy or plant any spring bulbs this past fall, so I grabbed myself some 50% off bags when I was at a local nursery a few weeks ago and planted them today. I’ve done some internet research and it sounds like bulbs often grow just fine even if they’re planted late. We’ll see how they do here. Since our weather is so mild (most of the time), I’m hoping these bulbs have a successful season.

It’s a beautiful day out today. The forecast calls for rain and I think it’ll start soon, but I spent a couple of balmy hours in the garden this morning, building more beds and weeding the flower bed we have that runs along the length of our chicken run. As I was weeding, I discovered that most of our old bulbs from last year have started sending up shoots again (no rotting – yay!) which means we may have a really full, really beautiful spring flower bed in a few months. 

New bulbs that I planted today: grape hyacinths, tulips (Princess Irene), crocus’ (Goldilocks), and large hyacinths (Hipsya Queen).

I’ll report back on how the late plantings do!