The way your flowers are grown matters
We believe quality flowers start with intentional growing practices aimed at restoring soil health.
It All Starts With Soil Microbe Health
Healthy soil has been shown to lead to healthier plants. In cut flower production, this means bigger, more beautiful flowers. There are a couple of simple steps we take each season to insure that my soil stays healthy. We never use chemicals. We add carbon (soil microbe food) in the form of compost. We keep the soil covered for as long as possible and minimize soil disturbance (tilling) as much as possible. All of these steps help to encourage the growth of a healthy soil microbe community. A healthy microbial community makes nutrients bioavailable and retains more water in the soil, resulting in vibrant beautiful blooms!
Organic growing practices
You shouldn’t have to worry about getting a dose of pesticides when you sniff a beautiful bouquet. Those same chemicals wreak havoc on the soil microbiota limiting the amount of nutrients available, while also killing off beneficial insect species that keep my flowers healthy. We value our health, your health and the health of the environment. For those reasons and more, no chemicals are ever used in the production of our flowers.
Soil Fertility
When we cut flowers and make them into bouquets we take fertility away from our farm. It’s therefore critical to replace those lost nutrients with compost. Compost also feeds the soil microbes and keeps them happy and active. We partner with Paonia Soil Co. to bring in the highest quality, biologically active compost to amend our fields.
Minimizing Tillage and Keeping Soil Covered
Minimizing soil tillage is important because tilling breaks up little soil aggregates, or small clumps of soil, that microbes create. These aggregates create pockets of air within the soil that give the soil “structure” and allows water to infiltrate. They also help to retain water within the soil for longer, acting in a similar way to perlite. Mulching the soil surface enhances water retention while keeping soil temperatures low, reducing evaporation and creating a more hospitable environment for microbial life. All that is to say that tilling less and keeping soil covered leads to less water use, better soil structure and cooler soil temperatures, i.e. happy plants!