The Kokoro Garden Podcast

In this episode I share a little bit about how we decided to become small scale flower farmers and some of the lessons learned along the way

If you haven’t been hiding under a rock, you may have heard about (and purchased!) the very special zinnia, celosia, and dahlia seeds from Floret Flower Farm (bred by Erin Benzakein and her team). In this episode I’ll talk about why these original varieties are a game changer for the small scale flower farmer and why this is such a revolutionary time in flower farming

In this episode, we talk about scale, and what exactly the average size of a flower, farmers, and what small scale flower for me actually looks like in terms of size and scale

I’m kicking off 2024 with a renewed focus on small scale flower farming. In this episode I go into the reasons why I’m focusing on small scale flower farmers and why it’s helpful to all of us!

None of us want to fail in our flower farming ventures. But we also need to know what exactly does success look like to define failure. And does failure necessarily mean the end of the road for us? We’ll also talk about redefining success and failure and how I don’t really accept failures in flower farming for myself!

Some pieces of advice on starting a new flower farm, even if you’ve never grown flowers before. We’ll also discuss the importance of a business plan, different ways of making income from flowers and the importance of learning and growing with your business.

As we greet a brand new 2023 (and people are becoming new flower farmers) there are a few important questions you should ask yourself prior to starting your farm…

In this episode I talk about some of the advantages and benefits of being a small scale flower grower including the key point: flexibility and adaptability!

Spoiler alert: We are growing less than 1/4 of an acre of flowers and we are doing it part-time. In this episode I talk about the reasons for choosing small scale or part time flower growing and why this may be important for you to consider.

While growing cut flowers commercially brings to mind boots, tractors and rural settings, not all flower growers are growing on a large scale. In this episode I talk about why I’m focusing on providing resources on small scale flower growing and why small scale growers are important.

The pandemic changed a lot of things including the floral industry and flower farming. It also changed the way we viewed and worked with our flowers, and changed our business model for the better!

With the recent heatwave that is occurring in parts of North America, flower farmers and gardeners have been dealing with growing in extreme heat! In this episode I share our strategies for growing in a hot and dry environment including varieties of flowers that thrive i. hot and sunny and dry conditions.

Every flower farmer has to select their flower varieties they want to grow for the season. But what do you do when you can’t decide on your varieties or you don’t know if they are correct?

Extending the season is important as a flower farmer and gardener to get an earlier start on spring flowers and extend the beauty of your blooms into the fall as well. In this episode, I talk about many different way of season extension commonly used, their pros and cons, and the many fabulous uses of row cover. 

It can be hard to keep on schedule with seed starting and to keep up during the height of the season. Successfully starting seeds is important, and in this episode I share how we think of calculating successions and scheduling seed starting

Icelandic poppies are one of our favorite flowers to grow. Hardy, prolific, and breathtakingly beautiful, in this episode we discuss strategies for starting these hardy spring flowers from seed successfully, growing on, harvesting and designing with these cheery flowers

Hardy annuals are best started in the fall or winter to give them a long, cool growing period. In this episode we talk about when to start your hardy annuals and when to plant them out

Hardy annuals are some of the most romantic and beautiful blooms - poppies, foxgloves, bachelor buttons and larkspur. In this episode you’ll learn why you should start them now and how temperatures and growing zones will effect your scheduling

Direct sowing can be a really great way to grow large volumes of flowers like bachelor buttons, zinnias, and sunflowers. In this episode you’ll learn how to choose good varieties of flowers to direct sow and how to direct sow.

Some seeds such as larkspur and coneflower require a special treatment to germinate successfully. In this episode, I share my experiences with cold stratification and how you can use it to ensure more success with your planting plans

Soil blocking is great and very popular among vegetable and flower farmers as a whole. In this episode, we talk about the advantages and disadvantages of soil blocking, the type of flowers we start in soil blocks and how they can fit into your strategy as a flower farmer

We talk about the importance of seed starting, weighing the value of plugs vs seeds, and outlining our seed starting process

Chrysanthemums are an excellent addition to the flower farm, especially for fall. This episode covers mum varieties, propagation, growing out, harvesting and using them in design work.