This season was a bit of a whirlwind. I was too busy to blog due to a lack of help on the farm. I’ll be doing some back tracking of this season in future posts. Over all it was a pretty good season. Weather was good, bug pressure moderate and weeds will be weeds but we kept up OK. Unfortunately I had a few crop failures, due to bad germination (too heavy of soil mix) and pests. All the other crops were robust.
We did some new things this year that really helped, including starting stock in crates indoors which was moved into the greenhouse. Spring was cold so tulips were 2 weeks behind and the stock helped fill in for early sales. More is better…we didn’t plant enough successions.
Our ranunuculus and anenomes were great but didn’t have enough to get them to wholesale markets, which is the goal of the earlier flowers. So I have 2-3 x more for this 2015 season.
Our peony crop was amazing…too amazing. I wasn’t ready for it and had to toss about 150 blooms which was heart-breaking. For 2015 I plan to ramp up on florist sales and try my hand at shipping via FedEx to southern states. Dahlias are kinda the same way, I can never sell them all.
All field crops did great. Our pumpkin on a stick had bad potato beetle pressure. Between chemical & organic pesticide and hand pick we did get a crop, though the plants were skeletons at points.
We did get an early frost (end of Sept) which is always a curse and a blessing. It allows me more time to wrap up the season. But I lose money.
Farmers markets were good; not as good as 2012 but every year is different. My crop failure in lisianthus and lack of oriental lilies was definitely a factor. I did more DIY-wedding bucketed sales. Weddings were steady with only a few crazy weekends.
Overall my 2014 take away is: I need to increase wholesale sales. I have to sell as many blooms as I can. So I am going to try my hand at FedEx Shipping. That what I am going to work on this winter. If you’re reading this and want peonies in July or ranunculus and anenomes in late May but don’t live locally to the Painted Tulip, stay tuned. We’ll also have Lilac in beginning of May and other blooms you can’t get locally. Or if you just want specialty cut flowers that are American-grown, with a personal touch, you should contact me and I will put you on the weekly availability email sales list.
This year my mantra has got to be “NO FEAR… JUST DO IT” & “IF YOU THINK IT THEN DO IT”! So watch out 2015 its going the be a great year, no matter what!
Leave a Reply