Everything We Accomplished in One Week on Our Urban Flower Farm

[00:00:05][music] >> Hey again from the garden. It's Christina from Sunshine and Flora. Well, it's mid-June. It's a very busy time of the garden. Not just harvesting and maintaining the garden, but I still have things to plant. So, in this video, I want to show you what a week on my urban flower farm looks like and the different garden tasks that I'll be doing. So, today is Monday and I'm starting off the morning with everyday's task of watering and it's a chilly morning out this morning. I'm wearing my sweatshirt. Uh but that means that it's going to be a very pleasant day to work in the garden.

[00:00:55]As you know, I'm also a professional photographer, so I don't spend all day every day in the garden. I try to work when I can or I set days aside. So, I just have a little bit of time this morning, so I need to get everything watered and then I've got some beds to weed. But first, I'm going to start off by watering. So, there's a lot of different areas to water this time of year. Not just all of my cut flower areas around the garden, but I have vegetable areas around the garden too that I need to water. We also are in a drought right now. Not as bad as our neighbors to the west of Nebraska, but it's been a while since we've had measurable rainfall and so I need to make sure that I am giving everything consistent drinks of water. That includes the hoop house.

[00:01:36]The hoop house is looking particularly dry right now.

[00:01:39]I was photographing a wedding over the weekend and we had a lot of other things going on and it lost my attention a little bit.

[00:01:46]Some of the things were starting to look not good.

[00:01:49]The campanula is pretty much harvested out and in my experience, the second stems aren't worth saving, so I'm probably going to be pulling all of that this week.

[00:01:58]The stock that I have planted in the hoop house also is not looking good. I don't think it likes the heat, so I might end up pulling that as well. But for now, we're going to get things watered, and you're probably going to see me pulling things on another day in this video.

[00:02:13]This year, one of the things that I was not very good at setting up was my drip irrigation. I don't have any set up yet.

[00:02:20]Uh now that I'm getting a lot more planted, such as my dahlias, it's going to be really easy for me to run my soaker hoses like I do every year, but I didn't get me drip irrigation set up in my hoop house like I have. So, I think I'm going to have to do that if I do some succession plantings because the hoop house especially benefits from the really deep consistent watering because it doesn't get the outside rain like the rest of the garden does. Of course, not that we are having any outside rain, but it doesn't get it even if we had it. All right, so I got my watering done for the day. That always is a task that feels good to get done. Now that I have that done, there's certain areas of the garden that I need to weed, and one of them is the hoop house bed. That is the bed that is just to the west of the hoop house, and while I have landscape fabric down, uh that particular area, part of it we did tarp last year, but it still gets some weeds. And so, I need to keep them under control so they do not take over the plants. Uh I have weeded this a few times, and so the plants are doing very well, but the weeds creep in, and so it's easy if I keep a handle on them and just get the little ones around the plants as they come up so they don't come out of control.

[00:03:33]So, this is the area that I'm going to work on first. I'm just going to go through opening by opening around each plant, pull the weeds, put them in my bucket, and get them in the compost pile.

[00:03:45]The next area that I need to work on, which is what I call definitely out of control, is an area that I haven't even planted yet and I need to plant it because this is where all of my celosia plugs are going to go. This is a newer area of the garden and the grass has got a little out of control last year and seeded themselves, which is completely my fault.

[00:04:08]And I haven't done anything with this area yet this spring. So, I simply need to just go through, pull all the grasses from these holes, maybe put a little handful of raised bed mix on top of each hole for some nutrients and some loose soil, and then I just need to come in with those plugs. I'm sure you'll see that in this video on a different day.

[00:04:31]Weeding is one of those chores in the garden that you have to do, but is your least favorite thing to do and I'm trying and trying to keep the grasses especially under control so that maybe every year it gets a little better, but honestly, it is a constant battle and especially with the drought, it seems like that is what grows the best versus my plants. So, here's to weeding and keeping everything under control and I'll get it done and tomorrow will be something else much more fun, I hope.

[00:05:02]Well, it is Tuesday midday and I got so much done yesterday on Monday in the weeding department, especially over in the bed in the area that I have not yet planted, which means today on Tuesday, I can start planting it. When I removed the weeds, a little bit of the soil came out and I would like to top off those holes and so I stopped down at the local hardware store today and picked up some bags of organic top soil and I think the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to put some of that in a bucket and I'm just going to walk along and top off those holes with this top soil.

[00:05:38]Sometimes I choose to use organic raised bed mix because it's loftier and it has some nice ingredients in it. However, um I am finding that maybe it's a little bit too lofty and I want to mimic the natural soil a little bit more. And I want it to be able to hold moisture a little bit more. So, I'm going with topsoil this time. So, you'll see me here just walking the bed, topping off the holes, getting them ready to plant.

[00:06:05]I should mention before I laid down the topsoil, I did go through and put down an organic starter fertilizer. Not Biotone because I am out of that right now, but one that I picked up at Menards. Um, and it it smells just like Biotone, so it's that might be those same natural ingredients, but it's a starter fertilizer and it's just going to give these plugs a boost.

[00:06:28]So, what I need to get planted today are some plugs that I just got in last week from Farmer Bailey. Let me give you a look at what they are.

[00:06:36]So, this is kind of my collection area of what I need to plant yet. Some annuals left over that need to go into planters, but I do have three plug trays, uh, right here from Farmer Bailey that have not been planted. They just came in last week. This first one is a celosia.

[00:06:51]Uh, the second one right here is Dragon Crest and the third one over here is a celosia as well.

[00:06:59]The Dragon Crest is a filler that I have always wanted to try and Crest for me starting from seeds sometimes does not work out very well. The two varieties of celosia, one is the Cellway mix, which I plant every single year. I absolutely love it for cut flowers. And the other one is Flamingo Feather, which I love for fresh bouquets, but I also love to dry that one because the flower itself is pink, but it dries an ivory color and it is gorgeous. I love to use it in dried flower bouquets, but also on my dried flower pumpkins in the fall. And those plugs, when they came, they were so flattened.

[00:07:37]I'm hoping they bounce back. They're they're starting to pop up, but they're kind of curved. I'm thinking once I get them in the ground, maybe give them a little boost of fertilizer, I'm hoping they're just going to shoot up. So, we will see. I'm crossing my fingers. So, this planting is going to be relatively easy. I'm using my hori hori knife to loosen up the soil, but again, I've already topped it off with a starter fertilizer and the topsoil, so there be should be plenty of soil in the holes. And these type of plugs, they're so small, they're 210 trays, they press into the holes and fit down in there so easy. I'm hoping I can get all of these plugs planted in under 2 hours. That would be amazing.

[00:08:20]And again, I'm hoping once these roots start hitting the soil, these plants will perk right up and start growing up nice and tall. They'll definitely have plenty of sunshine in this location.

[00:08:32]Now, we just need a little bit of rain for that natural watering to really perk everything up.

[00:08:39]Okay, so I'm getting a really good rhythm on my planting here, and I misspoke earlier. These are not 210 trays, these are 125, but if I zoom in, can you guys see how much those are laying down and they're flat from when they were shipped? The seedlings themselves are okay. They're just really really curved and kind of flat. So, what I'm doing is See the plug? Actually, that one isn't even too bad. I am planting these a little bit to the side so that they're going to be a little more straight up and down. Let me show you another one.

[00:09:17]Oh, yeah. See this one? See how it's totally going to the side? When I put it in the ground, I'm putting it like this, so it's facing more upward instead of sideways.

[00:09:29]Well, I'm done planting for the day. I got those two trays of celosia in. That feels really good. The crest I will probably do tomorrow morning. Uh there's one project that I have left for the day and that is just over here in the fenced-in garden. There's about a 5-ft area that is left open.

[00:09:47]Uh the 3-ft in the center, I'll throw a picture up on the screen, is where my tulips are planted. They got hailed out and I would really like to keep those in the ground and hopefully see if they will come up next year. But I want to cover that with topsoil and then I'm going to end up planting the foot on either side of where the tulips are or maybe even on top of the tulips. I'm going to direct sow some zinnias in there. So, the last thing I want to do is I want to go ahead. I got some of that organic topsoil left. I'm just going to spread that over that area and then probably direct seed that tomorrow.

[00:10:42]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Well, we made it to Wednesday of the week and as you just saw I was out in the garden harvesting some cut flowers.

[00:11:42]I have a client that every Thursday morning will pick up three large bouquets and I typically like to get those harvested out here from the garden on Wednesday morning just so that they have an overnight to hydrate in the cooler before that client comes and picks up the bouquets. And I was planning on doing a bunch more planting out here in the garden this afternoon, but we received a half inch of rain overnight which thank goodness. Like I said before in this video, we are in a drought and we need rain so bad. So the half inch of rain was super welcomed.

[00:12:16]However, it's a little bit muddy to do my planting. So that's just going to have to wait till Thursday morning. In fact, it's starting to sprinkle again right now. So I better talk fast. So the end of this video you'll most likely see me doing some more planting, but I do have one more project in store for today which is a fun one. So if you've been following along on my channel this year, you heard me talk earlier this spring about thrips.

[00:12:40]I had thrips in the hoop house and from talking with other flower farmers, it's the year of the thrip. A lot of flower farmers are having problems with thrips this year. I don't know if it was the mild winter um or what is going on.

[00:12:55]>> [clears throat] >> But it's the year of the thrip. So I actually shared this a few videos videos ago, but I did a course of some natural sprays and I did it I think two or three different times to try to knock the thrip population down and it definitely helped, but I still have some. They are not completely gone and so I want to try multiple methods to try to conquer these bugs.

[00:13:18]Uh I did the natural sprays. I also have been watering in beneficial nematodes into the garden, but today we are going to release ladybugs.

[00:13:30]Now, I ordered these online from a company called Okay, well, it doesn't say it on the label. It's the same place I got the beneficial nematodes from. I will put it up on the cross the screen. I will also put a link down below to their website.

[00:13:46]Um they are based out of Oregon. Uh they have the beneficial nematodes. They have a lot of different other insects you can order. So, I ordered four packets of ladybugs.

[00:13:58]And they are moving around like crazy.

[00:13:59]They are ready to get out of this bag.

[00:14:01]So, I plan to put these in different areas of the garden. One is going to get released in the hoop house for sure. Uh I think I'm going to put one in the fenced-in garden. I'm going to put one over against the brick wall in that new garden area. And then I'm going to put another one outside of the hoop house in the hoop house garden so that they're spread all around the garden. And ladybugs feed on a lot of different insects that are not good for your garden. But one of the things that they thrive on is thrips. They thrive on aphids, which I have not seen any aphids in the garden yet. But if they're there, the ladybugs can eat them. But I'm mainly putting these out for thrips.

[00:14:38]Now, you want to put these out when it is a little bit cooler, which this morning it's about 60° and it also helps to put them out after you have just watered or it has rained. And we just had that rain. So, I think this is a perfect time. So, let's step out here into the garden. We're going to cut this open and we're going to release these ladybugs.

[00:15:01]All right. So, here's the first packet of ladybugs. They are coming alive in there. And I think you actually can rip it open right here. I couldn't get it, so I'm just going to cut it with the scissors.

[00:15:11]Trying not to cut any of my little friends that are in there.

[00:15:17]And I didn't cut far enough.

[00:15:20]All right. Get away from the opening, ladybugs.

[00:15:24]There we go.

[00:15:26]Okay, so I'm ripping it open.

[00:15:29]Woah.

[00:15:30]Oh my goodness, look at all of them crawl around. So, what I'm going to do Oh.

[00:15:37]They are so ready to come out.

[00:15:40]Okay, so what I'm going to do is I'm just going to leave this little packet right here.

[00:15:48]And I am just going to let them emerge in the garden, and then I will come back later today, grab the envelope, and throw it away.

[00:16:15]So, I'm going to go around to the other parts of the garden. I'm going to release these ladybugs. And if there are thrips or any other insects that are not supposed to be in my garden, the ladybugs will eat them. Now, I am not sure how long or how many of these ladybugs will actually stay and live in the garden. They may be happy and stay here all summer if there is not a ton of insects to eat. They may venture on and find another home, but I should have enough that it will definitely make a difference at least in the hoop house where the thrips are. I'm hoping they hang out in there a while and contain the thrips.

[00:16:55]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Okay, you guys, we made it to Thursday.

[00:18:09]I am outside and my goal is to finish all of my planting today. Got my sun hat, it's sunny day. I have just started planting out next to the snapdragons with some dragon crest and I found a garden tool in in my garden tool area cuz I'm so organized. I've never used it before.

[00:18:30]This is the fastest planting I have ever done. I'm just going to set the camera up and let you watch me plant for a little bit, but this is going to go so fast. I am so excited.

[00:18:41]So, here's the area that I am continuing to plant. That's where the celosia went the other day. I've got a whole bunch of snapdragons right here. I need to do some Horta Nova netting, but this is the crest that I have to plant and I'm plugging it in along this space, which I'm pulling the weeds as I go, minus the self-seeded Bupleurum.

[00:19:01]But, this is where they're going and it's the fastest planting I've ever done. So, let's just keep going.

[00:19:20]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Okay, I'm moving on to the next thing. I got a whole bunch of plugs planted and then now I have another bed to clean out. The lighting is not the best, but let me show you what I'm working on now.

[00:20:27]So this mess of a bed was zinnias last year and I am going to put salvia in here this year, but it never got cleaned out in the fall. So that's what I'm working on now.

[00:20:44]>> [music] [music] >> All right, I'm getting this cleaned out.

[00:20:59]I actually thought I set up my phone to do a time lapse while I was cleaning, but I don't think I actually turned it on. So I've got a little bit in the corner left. There's a self-seeded rebecca here that is looking amazing.

[00:21:10]I'm going to leave it and then we're going to get this filled with the celosia.

[00:21:20]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> All right, the celosia is done over here.

[00:21:52]This is going to look so great and I ended up laying another piece of landscape fabric here cuz there's some tulips under there.

[00:22:00]These are raspberries that just need to be kept separate. So, then I made this little planting space here for the rest of my celosia and then I direct seeded the rest with zinnias. And then no dahlias coming up yet, but I bet it will be soon.

[00:22:17]The lisianthus are looking really good.

[00:22:19]And these zinnias are looking awesome.

[00:22:24]The strawberry bed also got watered in and I am so happy with how this looks.

[00:22:32]And then this area I think is entirely planted. So, we have celosia all the way down to there. Sorry that kind of got out of focus.

[00:22:42]Uh this first bed these are the snapdragons.

[00:22:49]More snapdragons, second succession.

[00:22:52]And then I ended up adding a few more that I had here. I got my crest all planted.

[00:22:59]I got some bupleurum planted.

[00:23:02]Uh this I will take a little bit of fabric away at a time. You know, maybe a stretch like this and that will be sunflowers.

[00:23:09]But, this is all celosia to here. And all these little spots that look empty are actually direct sown zinnias.

[00:23:20]This is going to be so beautiful. So, I only have one spot left to plant.

[00:23:25]And it's this triangle right here that is currently full of weeds.

[00:23:30]This is real life. This is the only spot in the garden that is not weeded. So, this will probably take me a whole 5 minutes to clear out. Then, I'm going to add a little bit of uh top soil to it and then this will get sown with my Queen Lime Zinnias.

[00:23:44]I also am happy to report the French drain we put in is doing its job and these beds are working nicely.

[00:23:55]So, I'm going to cut this probably very long video off here. Thank you so much for watching. Please subscribe to the channel and we will see you in the next video.