February 2024 Garden Update - Lisa's Two Cents

Good morning and happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a great weekend! We’ve been enjoying the long weekend and have been staying nice and cozy during the cold snap we’ve been having! This week I plan to share some things related to winter months, so be sure to come and check it out all throughout the week! I decided, today, I will start by sharing a February “garden update”. In air quotes because there is not much happening out in the garden right now! Well technically there is, we just can’t see those things!

During the winter months, it is nice to take a break from it all. The garden area and myself work hard during the summer months. By the time January rolls around, I am reinvigorated, ready for a new season, a new challenge and new possibilities.

I am thankful for my husband who has allowed me to turn this tiny little dream into a reality. Honestly, he started it all by advising me to sell my flowers at the end of our driveway! Forever grateful for that support. The initial investments are A LOT, but as I’ve heard, year 4 is when your “farm” can truly make some income. I feel that this year.

My expenses are starting to lessen, I am becoming smarter with what I truly need and do not need, I am building a stronger customer base and my name is getting out there.

While I am far from being a big name in the area, I am finding my sweet spot and knowing how far I want to push myself at this moment in time has been helpful. While I have my work cut out for me this spring (having planted 5,200 tulips) I am excited for that profit possibility and hope I can lessen my summer load because the kids are still young.

Summer flower subscriptions can be tough. I’m harvesting and putting together a lot of arrangements the same day (that chews up a big chunk of my morning) and the afternoons are spent delivering. To say my kids don’t love these days is an understatement, so I’m trying to figure out a system that will work as well as a NUMBER as to how many customers I truly want to be part of my CSA.

I’m beyond grateful for the opportunity to share and sell my flowers at a local farm. The relationship I’ve built with this family has been one I admire and appreciate. I’m so grateful of the opportunity they gave me to sell in their market. This has been huge for me in terms of getting my name out. It also gives me flexibility, I can drop off arrangements at my leisure and that is something I’m a little more drawn to this year.

Okay, enough business related talk, let’s chat garden stuff!

WINTER GARDEN TO-DO’S

Let me share some of my winter to-do checklist:
– Prune hydrangeas – again, this is NOT the mophead variety! This is the limelight (panicle) variety. I prefer the panicle hydrangeas because they are less finicky and have a better bloom time! If you don’t know which hydrangea you have, this is an excellent article!

– Prep seed trays for seed sowing – I like to do this in mass on a warm winter day. I get a big bucket of seed starting soil, fill it with water to moisten it and spread in my seed trays. I keep them out in the garage and grab whenever I need it

– Sow seeds – now is a great time to get started on select flowers and veggies for optimal harvest time during spring, summer and fall!

– Checking tubers – I am a LITTLE concerned about my dahlia tubers – I tried a new storage method on half, but think I let them out a little too long in my garage before placing them into storage. I ended up splitting my tubers in the fall, and I’m unsure if I should do that in upcoming years. I plan to take them out a storage and look them over. It’s good to check on them every month – I did last month, but didn’t want to open up all the bags because they were so well packed, so I’m worried about the ones I didn’t check on!

– Prep beds – this year I am trying to eliminate weeds so I’ve had boxes and our old plastic pool liner covering the beds. I want to smother and kill any weed under there and will remove the “tarps” when ready to plant.

– Order seeds – this one’s a given