5 Tips for Flower Crop Planning
Winter is when I spend time flower crop planning. There are a lot of things to consider when you are planning crops to cut and sell, so I wanted to share my list of top 5 things to think about.
Tip 1 - Cool Flowers vs. Warm Flowers
I have a seed sowing spreadsheet that I use to calendarize when I will sow my flower seeds and I have it sectioned into cool and warm flowers. Cool flowers, or hardy annuals, like to grow in cooler weather conditions and generally are spring/early summer blooming plants. These are the seeds that should be started first. Warm flowers, or tender annuals, cannot tolerate frosty temps and need warmer weather to stay alive so these seeds are started second. Mapping out the schedule for my cool and warm flowers allows me to plan and maximize the use of my growing space, I can gauge when the cool flowers will start to slow down and need to be cut back, and when my heat-loving flowers will begin to grow and take off. This allows me to potentially interplant crops, or plan for a quick crop rotation. So, the big takeaway here is to learn what flowers need cooler temps and which need warmer.
Tip 2 - Plan Your Space
If your garden is like mine, your growing area has a capacity limit. When it comes to planning my space I do two things. First, I sketch out on paper what my growing area looks like and write down the measurements of each bed. Second, I refer to my list of cool and warm flowers and I write down on the paper which flowers will grow in each bed, keep in mind your crop rotation plan for the cool to warm transition. I figure out how many plants will fit in each bed by determining the spacing requirements for each plant and then map it out according to which bed they’ll go in. I also consider how much sun or shade parts of my garden get, that helps me plant my seedlings in spaces they’re most likely to thrive in. I try to find extra space to grow in by thinking about what I can put into pots and what I can incorporate into the landscape, when I find extra space I also need to consider how the plants will be watered. This is where the hard decisions are made - you realize that you truly cannot grow them all, so you are forced to make choices.
Tip 3 - Annuals vs. Perennials
Tip 3 is a build on tips 1 and 2. With a limited growing space I really need to think about my plan for growing annual vs. perennial plants. Some perennial plants that I have bloom in spring and early summer and then die back when the weather gets hot. If the plants sit there and do not produce blooms throughout the warm season, is that a good or bad idea for my sales plan? Another big thing to consider with perennials is your yield forecast. Perennial plants tend to hit their stride and pump out blooms in year three, as the saying goes: first they sleep, then they creep, and then they leap! For example, if you are planning to harvest a ton of echinacea blooms in year 1 for an important wedding, you’re likely going to be disappointed with how many usable stems you actually have. Perennials can be a really great investment, just be mindful of how their growth patterns impact your plans. Another variety-related consideration is whether your flower is a one-and-done cut, meaning you cut it once and it doesn’t bloom again, or if it is cut-and-come-again, meaning you can cut the stem and it will produce more to bloom again.
Tip 4 - Sales Considerations
If you are growing cut flowers to sell you really need to consider what will sell best. No one can tell you exactly what your list should be, but it will depend on a few factors. If you are growing to sell retail your options are probably pretty open, you’ll need to think about a recipe for a bouquet (focal flowers, filler, greenery, color palettes, etc.) or consider if you’d prefer to sell straight bunches. If you are growing for wholesale you’ll want to think about many things like what your local florists need and want, and what they’d likely source locally vs. a big wholesaler that imports or ships flowers. Another consideration for wholesale is the quantity of each flower you plan to grow, usually florists will want more than one bunch of a variety. You’ll also need to plan for a storage solution, whether or not you have a cooler will likely impact your growing plans. Lastly, think about what you are good at growing! Each growing environment and grower skillset is different, so if you are really good at growing something consider that when you make decisions. If you absolutely hate growing something, skip it!
Tip 5 - Colors
Another thing to consider is what colors of each variety you’ll grow. This will depend on which sales avenue you plan to focus on, but some things to consider are what month the flower will bloom and what the color palette of the season will be. You might be growing flowers for a CSA or farmers market and want to offer a lot of variety to your customers so everything feels fresh and new, or you might want to focus on one or two colors of each variety to be able to sell quantity to florists. If you are someone who grows a lot of flowers for weddings, that is another color choice to make. Ideally, you know wedding color palettes and can plan your crops accordingly.