February Garden To-Do list

February

• Double check your seed packets and order any last minute things you might have forgotten. I always fins one or two that I forgot to plant or another farmer reminds me about. Seed FOMO is real!

• Set aside an hour and really plan your seed starting days. Seeds vary in how long they take to sprout and grow large enough to brave the elements. Some take just 4 weeks while others are slow little things that need up to 12 weeks before they are happy to go outside. You want to avoid planting all your seeds at one time and having some get leggy and root bound while others lag behind.

• Stock up on compost tea ingredients or soil amendments. My favorites are Azomite, Green sand, feather meal and blood meal. Soil amendments should be added only after you have had a soil test done. If you are planting in a raised bed with potting soil, the potting soil mix will likely already have all the nutrients your plants will need but if you are planting directly in your ground you’ll really want to do a basic soil test. They are relatively inexpensive ($50) and can save you a lot of time and headache.

• Start slow growing seeds that say “sow 12-10 weeks before last frost date” like black eyed Susan’s, dusty miller, and chocolate lace flowers.

• If you ordered new chrysanthemums or dahlias you can pot them up and start taking cuttings of them as new shoots appear or from the main stem as soon as it has 3 or more sets of leaves.

• If you have any bare root roses or shrubs this is a great time to get them into the ground.

• Make sure you prune back any established roses and fruit trees before they break dormancy and start new growth. Valentine’s day is a great reminder day for getting any last minute dormant sprays on your fruit trees. We use a copper spray that’s organic and acts as a natural fungicide to help prevent Peach Leaf Curl and other stone fruit fungus problems.

January Garden To-do list

What’s on my Garden To Do list this month? 

January

• Making a wish list of all the plants I want to add or expand in my garden/farm

• Look through seed catalogs and start placing seed orders. My favorite place to shop seeds are Johnny’s selected seeds, Peaceful Valley, and Baker Creek Heirloom seeds

• Start creating a garden/farm plan and write down when to start seeds on the calendar

• Order summer flowering bulbs like dahlias and gladiolas

• Clean and organize my seed starting area. Wash any dirty seed trays with soapy water and sanitize with either 10% bleach solution or hydrogen peroxide solution. I’m a mess during summer so trays and pots end up all over the farm. January is a good time to collect them all in one cozy place again and get them scrubbed up for fresh plants.

• Start growing slower hardy annual plants like poppies, snapdragons, and sweet peas in a greenhouse or indoors with grow lights. We have a sun room on our house that is perfect but you can use any sunny window sill or even an old closet if your family is willing to entertain your love of plants!

• Stock up on seed starting supplies like potting soil, plant tags, seed trays, humidity domes and replace any broken hand tools. I know every year my husband breaks at least a few shovel handles so I take this time to inventory and budget for replacement handles or new tools as needed.

• Sharpen and oil garden equipment like pruning snips, hedge slippers, blades for mowers and saws. It might seem like a waste of time but keeping your garden blades clean and sharp is super important! Imagine trying to cut a beautiful ribeye steak with a kids plastic knife…that’s how much harder you are making using your garden tools if you don’t keep them sharp.

• If you have the space and are just a glutton for punishment you can try sowing lisianthus seeds along with me this month! Lisisanthus are a weird little plant that LOVE long cold winters but bloom in the peak of our boiling summer heat. They look just like roses but are a million times more hardy and last in a vase up to 2 weeks!

I’ll just be over here dreaming of all the seeds we’re going to plant in 2023

Holiday Gift Guide, Local Style

Want to know where I shop for the holidays?

Word of mouth is still THE BEST way to grow a business. I can't tell you how much it makes my heart sing to know that most of you reading this are dear friends or friends of friends! You continue to share all about our farm and it truly means the world! If you're anything like me, once you find a good business, you never let go. So I hope this guide is helpful. As I mentioned recently on social media, I'm a huge supporter of consumable gifts. Things like food, drink, flowers, soaps, etc. Items that are useful and can be used up rather than take up space, end up in the garbage or forgotten in the back of a closet.

These small Sacramento area small businesses get my money year after year because they provide the best of the best! Everything from my favorite wineries to the best place to spoil myself with new clothes. Most of these amazing growers and makers are so small they only really have a presence on social media or by showing up to your local farmers market. It’s tough running a business and a website (I’ll save that soapbox for another day) so if you need any help connecting with one of my favorites send me an email and I’ll get you in touch!

We also have lots of options if you are still on the hunt for the perfect gift. We have Jumbo Amaryllis bulbs in adorable birch and wood planters, grab bags of designer tulips, and our signature flower subscriptions all listed on the website shop here.

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I know we have all the flowers you could want but if you’re on the south side of town out in Elk Grove please check out fellow flower farmer extrodonair Sanctuary Blooms. Nicole and her team grow amazing flowers and offer everything from subscriptions to one time deliveries. Her growing standards mirror ours and I fully trust she will give you an amazing bouquet.

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Need flowers shipped? Even though we are too small to manage the logistics of sending flowers to your loved ones far away Menagerie Farm & Flower has you covered! Felicia ships amazing roses and tulips when in season and also has a to die for rose nursery full of all the unique varieties. Her barefoot rose sale is coming up soon and you can always gift a gift card for the avid gardeners in your life.

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Fashion your calling? I’m covered in overalls and mud most of the time but when I need to spoil myself or want something special for an event the first place I go is Mas Bueno Boutique & Salon. Kayci and her dream team spend countless hours thrifting and sourcing high quality slow fashion pieces that are guaranteed to make you a trend setter. They also carry athletic wear and the SOFTEST lounge wear brands.

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Booze your thing? I know it’s hands down my favorite thing to get! Track 7 brewing company has 2 locations in town, one in Natomas and the other in Curtis Park. The Natomas location has been hosting us along with several other local businesses every Thursday Evening this spring and winter for their Natomas Night Market. Their dedication to seeing local community thrive is unparalleled!

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Wine more your thing? Aaron and I have been wine club members for a decade or more at 2 very special wineries. Although they are a bit of a day drive from Sacramento you will not regret the quality of wine, service and friendship you will get when at these wineries.

The first is Cantiga Wineworks in Somerset. Thy are a true family operation that craft their wines in the old world style. Just grapes, natural yeast and time. Meaning their wines can be cellared, stored for decades and still taste delicious. They don’t do a secondary fermintation that most wine makers do so thier wines are free from sulphides and have never left me with a headache.

Second is Storybook Mountain Vineyards in Napa. This award winning family operated winery is one of the top wineries in the world. The farmer and wine maker, 85 year old Jerry still brings in each years harvest himself! Organic and free from additives their Zinfandels have absolutely spoiled me.

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Looking to be a bit healthier and on the hunt for a veggie box? Give The ReFarmery in Rio Linda a try. They have year round CSA boxes, meat & egg add on options and the owner Jon makes the best sourdough bread. They can deliver your veggie boxes or you can pickup from the Natomas farmer’s market or one of their other drop sights.

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Looking for healthy, quality, pasture raised meat ? I am a dedicated customer of Conder Ranch in Rio Linda. They raise beef and pork for those that love to buy bulk but also are dedicated to high quality, ethically raised protein.

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Need Photos? Jill Carmel is THE BEST! She is the one responsible for all the gorgeous new pictures you are seeing on my website, facebook and instagram. Not only are her photography skills out of this world, she is the sweetest person and so much fun to work with. She helps you look and feel your best during a photo session and captures all the magic.

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Not necesarrily in the relm of a “company you can get a gift from” but still worth mentioning because they are owned and operated by literally our two best friends! If you find yourself struggling with pests making themselves into your home this winter or spring and are in the Natomas, Antelope, Elverta or Rio Linda area give Rio Linda Pest a call! The techs are amazing and always use the least harmful but most effective methods available. They will offer you advice on how to handle your situations and never up sell you on serviced you don’t need. The second company is Ruffled Feathers Bird Control and you should definitely keep them in mind if you have pesky pigeons roosting under your solar panels. They will insure all that gross poop gets cleaned up and the birds fenced off so that you won’t have to keep waking up to those annoying sounds every nesting season.

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Have a favorite local business you think everyone should know about? Let me know in the comments or through email and I’ll add them to the list!

January Garden Tasks

I’ll be real, my raised beds look like crap! While I’ve been tending to the rows of flowers that are happily growing over the winter I’ve completely neglected the small space of veggies beds we have in the backyard. They are full of chest high weeds, F***ing Bermuda grass and moldy tangled messes of dead pumpkin vines. It’s in need of some serious TLC and even though we are in the middle of winter, NOW is the time to start dreaming and scheming about what I want our little family garden to look like. So here’s a list of my top “To DO’s” for our garden this month.

Overgrown veggie beds. I told you they were a mess! yikes!

January Garden Tasks

1.     Make wish lists of seeds or plants you want for your garden. Make sure you are choosing plants you love to eat! I mean that rainbow chard looks super cool but are you actually going to eat it? Have you ever cooked chard before? If the answer is “No” then maybe don’t add it to your shopping cart and add another packet of spinach you’ll actually eat.

2.     Start creating your garden plan. What kind of space do you have to work with? This will determine how many seeds and plants you should buy. Do you need to create the space or are you working with an established area? If making new beds make sure you plan for soil, amendments, and hardware if you’ll be making raised beds.

3.     Clean and prepare your garden area. Bust out those gloves, pruners, and shovel. Clear out all the debris from last year if it’s an established garden. Mark out your new space if creating new beds. I love laying down cardboard, “Hello, amazon boxes!”  and cover them with mulch to help with weed suppression.

4.     Stock up on potting soil, plant tags, seed starting trays and other supplies you might need. Or you can just swing by your local Rio Linda Grange Plant sale on March 26th to get your hands on some unique heirloom veggie starts. I’ll make sure to have more info about this on my social media pages so watch for that.

5.     Place your seed orders, this is the exciting part! My favorite places for ordering seeds are Johnny’s seeds, Peaceful Valley, and Baker Creek. They are all great sources for heirloom seeds! If you are looking for flowers I have a beautiful blush mix of specialty tulip bulbs and cheerful ranunculus for sale at the farm stand. Now is the time to get them in the ground, so don’t delay too long!

6.     Start sowing anything that is listed as “cold hardy.” This is a small list of flowers and common veggies that are cold hardy but by no way is a comprehensive list. Veggies: spinach, onion, garlic, leeks, broccoli, kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, lettuce, arugula, fava beans, radish, peas and turnip. Flowers: poppies, delphiniums, sweet William, snapdragons, black eyed Susan’s, dill and bachelor buttons.

Happy Gardening Friends!

Three Fun Dried Flower Crafts for Kids...or Yourself

I was talking with a mom friend of mine this week who was extremely anxious about the current limbo her kid’s school is in. With the new covid variant exploding in our area, she was having to make tough decisions (or having decisions made for her) about her kids would be going back to in person or distance learning on Monday.

I can’t imagine the stress you must be feeling. Trying to keep your children focused on zoom for 4-6 hours a day, while trying to also be productive yourself is mind-blowing to me. You all know I am not a parent but I sympathize so much with you amazing people raising your own tiny people.

I want to help in any way that I can, so I came up with a small list of dried flower crafts you can do with your kids or leave them to do themselves if trusted with the glue unsupervised. My hope is this will save a small portion of your sanity in the coming weeks. We would love it if you snapped a few pictures too and tagged us on social media with the finished projects. You can also email us the pictures directly.

Project 1:

Who doesn’t love a handmade card?!?! For this project you’ll need:

A sheet of paper (any size)

Glue or paste

Flower confetti

Something to draw with like crayons, colored pencils, markers, etc

Any other craft supplies you want to trust your kid with…dare I suggest glitter 

HOW TO:

This one is pretty self-explanatory…go crazy. Let your kids glue the flower heads, petals, bits and pieces to the paper and decorate with crayons until their imagination is content. Heck, dump glitter all over the thing if it makes you happy and keeps them quiet for 5 minutes. Just maybe do the glitter outside unless you want to look like a sparkly vampire for the next 4 months with glitter on every surface of your house. LOL

Dried flower card

Project 2:

Floral hair pieces! For kids that are a bit older and trustworthy you might let them use a hot glue gun for this. For this project you’ll need:

Flower confetti

A piece of blank or repurposed jewelry or hair accessory

Glue (a hot glue gun works best for this so supervise as necessary)

Start with any pack of headbands, barrettes, earing or necklace bases from the dollar store or repurpose one you already have! Just lay out your design ahead of time on the table until it’s perfect and then glue them to any surface in the same order. You’ll have your own unique fashion jewelry and hair accessories. This is a fancy cuff corsage I did for a wedding this spring but same idea!

Wrist corsage can easily be made with all dried flowers

Project 3:

For a more advanced kiddo you can help them make a flower wreath for spring. For this project, you’ll need:

A wreath base of any size. I usually like 4-6”

A hot glue gun or floral adhesive (found at most hobby stores)

Flower confetti and other bits of nature

To start this project you can go for a short nature walk in your neighborhood or local park and collect anything that catches your eye. Cool leaf? Grab that sucker. Neat looking branches? Put them in your pocket. Acorns? SCORE! Anything short of coming back with pockets full of vegetation that would make a squirrel jealous with rage is unacceptable. 

Lay out all your hoarded garbage, I mean beautiful bits of nature your kid made you carry for 3 miles and add the flower confetti to make a sweet spring display. Once it looks cool get to work gluing the individual bits on the wreath base with your chosen weapon of adhesion. Here’s a wreath I created a few years back to help with some inspiration.

Dried flower wreath using his, strawflower, globe amaranth, lisianthus, marigolds and statice

Above all: Have fun, get creative and I hope this entertains your kids for a few minutes so you can down that glass of wine between your “lunch hour” and that 1pm zoom meeting while picking smashed goldfish crackers out of your keyboard. We won’t tell anyone, promise. 

Why Local Flowers are Important

Hello Flower Fam! 

The farm is slowing down for the year, the spring plants are getting tucked in for winter and now I have time to work on all the beauty I want to create next year! For those of you who just signed up or are new here, welcome! I’m so excited to have you along for the journey. We have had an amazing year of growth largely based on word of mouth. You guys all love our flowers and every friend you tell helps our flower family grow and it’s been glorious to be a part of! I thought a little re-introduction of Redhead Flowerbed might be in order to explain some of the more nuanced parts of our operation and why I might say “sorry, I can’t do that” to some requests.

We are ALL about LOCAL flowers here!

You will never see me use an imported flower in my arrangements and if I don’t grow something or can’t source it from another local farmer or a farm somewhere in the United States I will tell you “sorry, I’m not the right person for you right now.”

Why is using locally grown flowers THAT important to me?

Redhead Flowerbed was born out of my love for the land and desire to get back in connection with it after years of sterile lab work in an industry with high stress and even higher waste creation. I mean we tossed gallons of horribly caustic chemicals into 55gallon drums daily and I would go through a minimum of a dozen pair of plastic gloves a day. We are talking gobs and gobs of waste that get burned and buried every day. It’s not sustainable. So I needed something to give back. Something to leave the earth better than how I found it or at least try in any small way I could to slow the creation of more waste. That’s always going to be a moving target but one way I feel better about my usage is by being a good Stuart of the land I have worked so hard to live on and own.

Just how bad can flowers be?

The cut flower industry (the ones that go into bouquets, vases, arrangement etc) is a $13 Billion dollar industry in the US alone. And 82% is imported. 82%!!! That means we are dumping $10 billion dollars into other countries for a product that, unlike food is held to little or no standard for pesticide, herbicide, and preservative usage. Flowers are grown in greenhouses year round in countries like Columbia and Ecuador where workers are paid little to no money and in horrible conditions.

 But they just die anyway so why worry?

First off, everything dies, that’s part of this beautiful thing called life and why it’s so important to face the mortality of it. Quality is one reason you should care about local flowers. Flowers are highly perishable but a locally grown bouquet is bound to be more unique and last for longer while bringing no harmful chemicals into your home. Those bouquets you get at your local grocery store are generally cut from their plants three to four weeks before you get them. They’re dipped in all sorts of preservatives so that they don’t die while they are left out of water, stuffed into boxes, put on giant cargo planes , land in one of our major ports, are then left on loading docks, put back in refrigerated trucks eventually and then distributed across the US wholesale markets. There is absolutely no comparing a bouquet of my fresh from the field flowers next to a chain grocery store bouquet that is three times as old and smashed into a plastic wrapper. I get lovely comments all the time about how gorgeous our flowers look two to three weeks after they go home with you. When you’re getting something fresh from the source of course it’s going to be leaps and bounds better than something that’s been shipped thousands of miles around the world.

All this to say…

Buying local flowers makes a huge impact on reducing the waste we create, they last longer, are safer to bring into your home, touch , handle and smell, AND they are SOOOOO much prettier.

We still haven’t frosted yet and the flower fields are still giving us a spectacular show. If you would like a hand wrapped bouquet reserved for your table for thanksgiving send us an email and we’ll get you on the list! Flower wraps will be available to pick up from our farm stand this weekend for $35. Delivery available for $15.

Farming is hard...but we can do hard things

Farming is hard... but we can do hard things!

It is easy to romanticize flower farming and farming in general. Often times my farming is confused with gardening. Thought to be casually going about my day tending my land, playing with flowers and maybe dealing with a broken irrigation pipe. And I get it, it is easy to romanticize flowers. They by nature of existing are the epitome of romance. But flower farming is hard. It’s one of the hardest things I think I’ve ever tried to do. Mentally and physically.
 

You have to have a plan, otherwise you are 100% going to fail. Even having that plan doesn’t mean you’re going to have success. You better have a Plan B, C, D and maybe even E. Crops will fail, die because of an unseen hole in the irrigation, get rooted up by the neighbors pigs that break the fence or come into full glory just to be attacked and decimated by lygus bugs.

It’s not just dreamy field walks and harvesting gorgeous flowers. For every hour I spend out in the field planting, weeding, digging, cursing in the sun, I have to spend an equal amount of time sitting behind a computer screen figuring out how to actually sell the stuff that I hope grows, ordering, and planning.

When spring hit this year I thought I had a plan. I knew I had dramatically scaled the farm up and had over 5000 tulips, 600 anemones and around 1000 ranunculus in the ground just waiting to bloom. But when the ranunculus started blooming in March I couldn’t juggle all the balls. There’s marketing, harvesting, seed starting, weeding and planting that all needs to get done in a very short window in early spring in order to have a successful season. While working a full-time off farm job I only had time to successfully do a few of those necessary tasks. So planting and weeding fell to the wayside which means I’m here in May looking at a field full of basically just weeds, filler flowers and perennial greens. Not very exciting stuff and not really what I would call “romantic flower fields”.

Luckily, in Sacramento you’re guaranteed to find a small scale flower farm if you take a few minutes searching one of a few amazing data bases. 

First is the Sacramento Valley Flower Collective at www.sacramentovalleyflowerective.com

Similar to Farm to Fork, there has been a growing trend of "Field to Vase" in the floral industry. That’s one of the key pillars of my business model, sharing and educating you about the amazing seasonal bounty that we can get from our local farms. Seeing a need for community and support amongst small scale flower farmers the Sacramento Valley Flower Collective was started. Now an organization of 40+ members that I have the honor and privilege of being the president of, this amazing group of humans has become my lifeline and will be for the next month or two. When I didn’t get plants in the ground in March it caused a big gap in my flower fields that I won’t recover from until late June when the lisianthus start to bloom. But luckily the Sacramento Valley Flower Collective has my back. It means I have to spend a Thursday morning at 5 AM driving a few hours and about 100 miles round trip to pick up flowers from another farmer friend but it’s a cost I’m willing to take on to ensure you get the best in season product I can give you.

By fostering and nurturing some amazing relationships over the last couple years I can easily fill gaps in my field plan by sourcing amazing flowers from some of my favorite people doing the same thing that I’m doing. I can buy amazing sunflowers from Pixie Dust farm just up the road in Yuba city. I can take a drive over to Rainwater Ranch in Winters to get some super adorable Gerber daisies when a friend wants a perfect pop of orange for their baby shower arrangements. And I can also call on Alcott Botanicals for whatever random goodness she wants to give me along with a big hug.

I can’t grow it all, all of the time but I do know who can and I will always make sure that I am promoting the best flowers around grown by the best people that I can find, keeping your money in our local economy. If I can't make your flower dreams come true the first place I will refer you too is someone from this amazing organization.

Other resources for finding local flowers near you include:

Slow Flowers

Floret's Farmer Florist Online Directory

American Grown Flowers
 

If you are on the fence still about signing up for one of our monthly subscriptions just know that your money will never go further than I can drive in an hour and I will always know the person who grew the flowers! 

Exciting News and Mother's Day

Hello Beautiful Flower Friends!

It’s me, Amber. The woman behind all the beautiful blooms of Redhead Flowerbed and today I have some amazingly terrifying news to share with you!

I quit my job!!!

You know that one where I was the supervisor of the histopathology lab for the top Vet school in the world, #ucdavis The one with the benefits, paid sick leave, vacation, steady salary, security and a window spot(!) but always felt just a little off, like a pair of cute shoes that are 1/2 a size too small. Yes, THAT ONE!!!

Why?!?

Because you guys are AMAZING and have supported me and my farm to the point that I am either going to give myself a serious medical condition trying to keep doing both or I need to dig deep, be afraid and take a leap of faith into full fledged flower farmer and small business owner!

Eeekkk!!! What am I doing?!

I feel like I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out. It’s worth the leap. It’s worth the risk. You all have shown up for me time and time again and I know you will continue to do so. In 4 years we built a thriving, profitable, sustainable small scale specialty cut flower farm in podunck little Rio Linda and had our best year of sales DURING A FREAKING PANDEMIC!

I cannot express how excited and overcome with joy I am that my love of tending the land has connected with so many of you. That your love for my flowers and me will be able to support a dream. I never could have imagined my life being here. I was raised you go to school, get a degree, get a pension, then you can have fun when you retire. Having fun and being fulfilled wasn’t meant for careers in my previous mindset. But as the farm has grown so have my ideas of what might actually be the key to making my life more fulfilling and intentional. So here I am...35, leaving a career path of 17 years (good lord that snuck up) and ready for all the amazing things that are going to happen next!

And for all those wanting to support us this Mother’s Day here’s how you can do that:

1. Sign up for our June CSA subscription. May booked up before I had time to even blink but June is wide open! I can email you a printable gift certificate to give your mama and you can swing by the stand or one of our pop-ups and pick up a fresh bouquet to give her the day of. Just be early because I can't take pre-orders or pre-purchases with all the things that are happening this coming weekend.

2. We are popping up Mas Amor salon Saturday May 1st from 3pm-6pm in downtown Sacramento. Swing by and check out the vendors and shop their Mother’s Day boutique sale. They are located at 2231 Jst.

3. Stop by our self serve farm stand. Located at 5725 26th street in Rio Linda our driveway stand is a fully self-serve, contact-less way to just "grab-and-go". Venmo and Paypal links are posted at the stand for electronic payment or you can drop cash in our black locking mailbox right next to the stand. Just be sure to push the cash all the way back so that it falls off the ledge into the secure area. I will try to keep it stocked but when we are out we are out. No reservations or pre-purchase on bouquets at the farm stand please. You have to show up, see what’s available to buy.

4. Saturday May 8th and Sunday May 9th I will be pushing petals and slinging bouquets at Heringer Estates Winery from 11am-5pm. This sweet family run winery in Clarksburg has the most amazing 150 year old barn and all sorts of open space for the perfect safe and fun tasting experience. Reservations are required so head to their website and book your reservation today. https://heringerestates.com

Again, Thank you for your support! Thank you for your business! And Thank you for loving Local Flowers as much as I do!
Love,
Amber

Getting Ready for Seed Starting

Put down the seed packets!!!

It’s unusually warm here in the Sacramento Valley for this time of year and it’s making everyone’s hands itch to get into the dirt. Gardeners beware though! This is one of many false springs and starting seeds right now could lead to a spring disaster if you aren’t paying attention to the back of your seed packets. Although it might be tempting to rip open those bean, cucumber, squash and zinnia packets please put the seeds down and slowly back away! Starting plants that aren’t cold or “frost hardy” right now runs the risk of your plants becoming too “leggy”, root bound or sickly. Plants want to have nice open dirt to spread their roots out in and the longer they spend smashed up in seedling trays plants become unhappy, depleted of nutrients and increasingly susceptible to disease and pest pressure.

Where to start?

So how do you tell if you can start something now or if you need to glare anxiously at the packet for a few more weeks? First off, look to see the plant hardiness. Does the packet say annual, hardy annual, tender perennial, or perennial? This will let you know how much cold a plant can tolerate. Annual means the plant has a one season life cycle. It will sprout, grow, bloom, go to seed and die at the first frost never to return again. Hardy annuals have much the same life cycle as annuals but they can take a light frost and maybe even a freeze depending on the plant. Our farm is in the USDA Growing Zone 9b which means hardy annuals often do very well if planted out in the fall. We keep an eye out if the temps are going to drop below 32 for an actual “freeze” and cover the rows with a light weight frost fabric. You can find frost cloth at all the major garden centers. Tender Perennials are plants that come back year after year but don’t like too much cold. If we have a deep freeze they would benefit from being covered but most likely will bounce back with no issues in spring when temperatures start to rise. Perennials are my jam and what we are currently focusing on growing more of this year. They grow back year after year as long as they get enough water, light and nutrients.

Germination Requirements

The next most important thing is to consider the germination requirements. Some flowers only germinate if they are completely blocked from light (pansies) others you shouldn’t cover at all because they need bright light to germinate (poppies). The germination temperature is also a big factor. Seeds have a temperature range they need to be in and it’s not always 70-80 degrees. Nigella and Orlaya prefer being cold to germinate 55-60 degrees. You should always note the date you sow your seeds. If my time as a gardener taught me anything it was to make sure to check the days to germinate. So many times I’ve sown faster sprouting seeds along with slow pokes and been frustrated that half my seeds “didn’t work.” All along it was that I hadn’t given the slow poke flowers enough time and I ended up tossing perfectly good seeds in the compost pile that just needed a little more time to push out of their shell. Germination days can be as short as 2-3 days and as long as 14-20 days. So be patient!

Do your packets lack information?

What if the seed packet has none of that information on it? This has definitely happened to me before and I now have a few internet resources in my back pocket to search for the information. Johnny’s seeds is one of my go to sites for buying and learning about seed requirements. Their packet information is as detailed as it gets. Floret Flowers also has a great amount of information available on her shop page and blog. I could go down a rabbit hole and waste days learning from her blog posts.

So what can I start? I really want to get in the dirt!

I can’t really help you much with veggies because we are totally #teamflower over here. But the flowers I’m starting right now can start now are Craspedia, Calendula, Bachelor buttons (corn flower), Poppies, Snapdragons, Scabiosa (pincushion), Foxglove, Larkspur, Sweet peas, Black-Eye Susan, Dill and Yarrow. In a few weeks (mid-February) we’ll really get going with most everything else. Zinnias, sunflowers and cosmos will hold off even longer because they only need 3-4 weeks before being transplanted and they also grow beautifully when directly seeded into the ground, saving us a step of starting them indoors.

What if I kill everything and am a horrible plant parent?

Don’t worry, I got you! We will have more flowers than we can plant in the ground for sure (and maybe even a few veggies complements of the local Rio Linda Grange). We will be doing a plant sale the end of March to try and find happy homes for all our wayward flower babes. Keep an eye on your email for that announcement in mid March. And there is always the option to just let the farmers do the work for you and sit back and enjoy a beautiful bouquet delivered to your door without the hassle of dragging bags of dirt home from the hardware store.

Newly sprouted snapdragon seeds in soil blocks