January 8, 2024
Spokane, WA
What used to take a month or more of planning is now crammed into about a week if I'm efficient, and I am...most of the time. No shame in my flower farming game. Last year, I had the great idea to do seed inventory which I suspect is less of a novel concept than what it was treated as. There are about 5 billion things I'd rather do, but the time was taken to squint into previously opened seed packets and give an educated, "50!...30!...Too many to count!" guess and that total was written next to the specific flower. Every. Last. One. Of. Them.
During the first seeding phase I would diligently cross off the quantity and write the new seed total for that type. The second seeding phase came, then the third, and gosh...I was SO disciplined! It really was a thing of beauty. Well my friends, sometimes beautiful things come to an end. At this point, the status of this inventory sheet is MIA.
So, left with little insight as to what seeds were in my seed storage box, I sat down and began again. This may seem ridiculous, but a little planning goes a long way and with that comes organization as well. Though, I'm pretty sure, "This is dumb" was the primary thought throughout most of this task. How was this not something I kept up on? So obnoxious, but inventory is now complete and if you hear me say I didn't keep up on inventory--you will get a free bouquet. Doesn't putting it out into the universe help with accountability?! I guess we will find out! If you are interested in beginning your own seed inventory journey or are just looking to keep a little better track of what seeds you already have, just enter your email below and you'll get a cute little seed inventory PDF packet right to your inbox!
I know you are all dying to know what's next! Well, once inventory finished, a tentative garden layout was made and the approximate number of seeds calculated so each bed can be filled. This is not as labor intensive on the math front as it may sound. Our beds are all 10'x4' and rows are 70' long. So within one row, there are 7 beds. The number of seeds needed is based on the spacing of flowers. We plant intensely to promote reaching of flowers for optimal stem length. For intense planting, we plant most flowers on 6", 9", or 12" spacing. With this spacing, our seeds needed is 140, 72 and 40, respectively. Once the garden is laid out, we place our final seed order. What I've found is that there really is no such thing as a "final" seed order, but an order was placed for a bunch of seeds none the less.
Then, the flowers are plugged in to a separate spreadsheet. This is the one we use to calculate our seed starting date and decipher when we anticipate flowers to bloom. If you have any questions on how we calculate this, our blog post "Simply Picked: Breaking Down a Seed Packet" linked here would be a great resource and even has a useful seeding calculator tool by Johnny's Selected Seeds linked as well.
From seeds to cut flowers. Snapdragons take approximately 120 days to maturity. If you don't start them early enough. You'll miss out! Making sure you have seeds, and making a plan is important. That being said, if you miss a planting date--just plant something else!
You don't have a flower farm? You're fine. These same principles can be used for vegetables, summer annuals, flower containers or baskets, or whatever else you plan to plant! Make a list of what seeds you have and figure out when you need to start them based on seed packet information. Making a garden layout is also helpful with deciding what colors you want in certain areas, height of plants, bloom time, etc. With just a little thought and planning you can have blooms or visual interest from early spring until the first frost.
Maybe this will help you give some thought to the plants you grow around your own home. Maybe you prefer to just keep watching Simply Picked Flowers in action. If so, head on over to our instagram and follow along there. Though winter flower pictures aren't exactly my jam, you'll get a good taste of flowers, animals and family happenings here on the farm.
Thanks for visiting!
~M
For questions or comments, please feel free to leave those below and if you've enjoyed this post just a little bit--feel free to like it as well! Thanks!
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