Using and making natural fertilizer inputs for cut flowers

This past week we have been focusing on making natural inputs for our flower farm. I have been inspired by Jenny Love with Love ‘n Fresh Flowers, through her podcast, No Till Flowers, and her website. This week we made two different soil inputs, one for added calcium, and one for increasing the soil microbiology. These inputs should help my newly transplanted seedlings get a jump start, and hopefully avoid some of the side affects from transplant shock.

We have transplanted roughly 4,000 flower plants into our soil the past two weeks. We are growing many different varieties of flowers, but the main staples this year are sunflowers, cosmos, zinnias, and dahlias. Purchasing fertilizers, can get pretty expensive, and they can also be derived in ways that are harmful to the environment. Many large fertilizer manufactures import ingredients long distances, and the harvesting of those raw ingredients are not always done in a safe or environmentally friendly way. By making my own soil amendments, using locally sourced materials, this reduces some of the negative impacts that purchasing fertilizers can have, and also saves me money.

I am hoping to use my little micro farm to create high quality, and healthy local flowers to share. I am excited that my little farm will help us produce more local products, and reduce the amount of flowers that need to be shipped and transported long distances.