Tips on Making a Tiny Flower Farm Work in a Small Space
Growing in a small space is not without its challenges - many of which are constraining factors based on the size of your growing space of course, but it’s also important to know that there are some solutions to the issues and ways you can make your small scale farmer effective.
Here are a couple tips (no particular order) on working with a flower farm in small space or scale
Be realistic about your scale
One thing I had to change with my thinking with a small scale flower far was the idea of doing everything. I think it’s partially because I always equated doing more with more success, and partially because I’ve equated the more successful flower farmers with larger scale operations.
When we moved to a small scale operation, it took a LOT of discipline and a lot of self-coaching to remind myself that I did not have to do everything, that we didn’t have to continue to branch out or diversity to make things work.
I also realized that it likely wouldn’t ever be able to provide a full living for me - and I was okay with that. And the way things turned out, it worked out just fine. That doesn’t necessarily have to be your case - this can either lead you to expanding to a larger farm, or it can remain as a side hustle/part time gig.
Coming to peace with this was super important - probably the key to our success and continued future success.
Work on your design skills
A finished and value-added product will help you to get more dollars for your flowers. As I’ve mentioned previously, even just a bunch of the same flower that has been cleaned up, cut to uniform height and tied and packaged together will present as more of a finished product than just loose stems in a bucket.
If you’re able to create a nice mixed bouquet, that can be sold for a higher price. And if you’re able to make a lovely bridal bouquet or elegant centerpiece, even better.
This is all based upon the increased perceived value of your flowers. It’s kind of like if you tried to sell me flour, yeast, eggs, milk, salt, sugar and water - even if it were organic and locally sourced and of the finest quality, I might not value it as much as if it were made into a lovely loaf of chocolate babka - or even better, a pan of pecan rolls. Not only is it a good with higher perceived value, it also can be experienced by a wider audience as a finished product - because anyone can enjoy a pecan roll or a beautiful floral arrangement.
Good design skills can also make your flowers go further as well - you know exactly what you need, which means that you don’t add too much or too little, and are extremely efficient with the flowers that you have available. I’ve often challenged myself to see if I can make an arrangement with as few materials as possible, just to give myself some creative limitations (if you haven’t done it before, give it a try - you may surprise yourself with your ability!)
Work on your crop selection
Everyone’s growing conditions and needs are different, but if you can grow crops that perform well for you, you can grow a surprisingly large amount of flowers in a small space.
We’ve tried to grow a lot of flowers over the years but found that a lot of them either didn’t work or we just didn’t use them when designing. By being ruthless with the crop selections, we’ve been able to cut out the poor performers and hone in on the varieties that grow best for us and also work best in our hands.
Knowing your growing environment is helpful in this regard. For example, I know that our springs are generally short and heat up quickly, so ranunculus and anemones don’t grow well for us while calendula and Icelandic poppies do very well (whereas if I had long and cool springs, I would probably plan for a larger proportion of spring blooming flowers).
Conversely, I know that I can utilize every single stem of mountain mint that I can grow - so as much area that I can spare for them, I give them full sway of the area.
You don’t have to rely 100% on the flowers from your farm
Something that I also learned along the way is that if you’re doing floral design - especially wedding design - you don’t have to rely only on the flowers that you grow.
Perhaps it’s the idea of adhering to a commitment to local flowers, or the idea of self-sufficiency, or the concern over profit margins, but there are a lot of farmer-florists (aka flower farmers who are also doing design work) who refuse or don’t know about ordering in outside materials to help them create designs.
Can you design 100% from the farm? Certainly. And in many cases this will work well. But it may not work out if you don’t live in an area with the perfect environment for flowers the majority of the year (we are more limited in early spring, late summer, and late fall in terms of our materials) and it certainly may not work if you have clients who are requesting very specific asks such as particular color palettes or specific flowers.
If you’re a designer you can just grow the flowers that will be most effective or cost-helpful for you. For example, I wouldn’t grow cheap flowers like bupleurum or snapdragons or sunflowers, but instead focus on high-value flowers like dahlias and peonies as well as unique and interesting flowers that you can’t get elsewhere - rare zinnias, cosmos, sweet peas, unique foliage and filler plants.
And if you have to order in Quicksand or Juliet roses or enough eucalyptus to fulfill your orders and create your designs, that’s okay. Even if 50% of your arrangements are grown on your farm and are local, that is a huge win.
There are of course some designers who create their designs 100% from what they grow and have available - a sort of “farmer’s choice” option. I love this idea, and while I’m not quite brave enough to execute on this right now, it’s something that I’m looking into in the future.
Invest in a wide range of perennials
Perennials can offer a lot of variety and interest and seasonality even in small amounts, but don’t necessarily take up a lot of space otherwise. We like to grow our perennials in one of two ways - either in a large border (which if planned like an herbaceous border can result in a nice seasonal display where something is always in bloom) or tucked in and amongst other plantings - even in and amongst your home or personal garden or landscape.
Because they are only in bloom for a short amount of time, we generally don’t devote a lot of space to them. For example, in the same small bed we have lamb’s ear, peonies, catmint, ornamental grasses, sedums and a whole lot more crammed into a very tiny space. As each material comes into season, we will utilize them as needed and then bid them farewell until the following year.
Generally we don’t use them for a large amount in each arrangement, but are enough to add a little variety to designs. A little sprig of this here, a new bloom there makes for a lot of interesting texture and seasonal interest in our arrangements.
Choose your workhorses
There are certain flowers and materials that can produce well and create 80% of your material for your arrangements. For example a small patch of basil can create the greenery framework for all our arrangements starting in June all the way through until frost, which is a must-have for us when making arrangements.
Similarly, calendula and Icelandic poppies provide a lot of the focal interest in spring, and we cut heavily from them up until the zinnias start blooming. Everything else added is just interest and variety so long as we have those flowers - you can swap out foliage, supporting flowers, accent and textural materials and create a new design every time, but so long as you have your focals in solid supply, you’ll be good.
We plan for the workhorses to comprise at least 50% of our planting by volume. This ensures that we have our staples in good supply, and then the other 50% is for variety - still important as supporting elements but not quite as important as the workhorse varieties.
Get creative with your space
Even if you don’t have a lot of in-ground or unobstructed space doesn’t mean that you can’t still grow a large amount of flowers. For example, we grow in a combination of separate beds scattered around our property as well as in containers and pots in addition to our traditional rows. Large plants like bachelor buttons and zinnias are grown in-ground, while smaller accent flowers like violas, sweet peas, phlox and love-in-a-puff vine can be grown in containers.
There are some flowers and materials that while not particularly useful or easy enough to grow en masse can be useful in smaller amounts (especially in those cases where you’re trying to finish off a bridal bouquet and you just need a little bit more of something to pull it all together, but you’re not sure what exactly it is).
If you also live in a harsh environment - where things are colder or hotter or drier or wetter than ideal, which I think is most places at some point of the year - growing in containers and planters can be helpful in growing small amounts of flowers that might not do well otherwise. They have the additional bonus of being able to be moved around as needed - so if they need more shade or more sun or to be warmer or cooler, you can pop them around.
Also, love in a puff vine is completely different when you grow it in a tall container or planter. Absolutely brilliant way to grow it because it cascades over the sides of the container, allowing for you to simply reach out and cut off the length that you need instead of pulling it off a trellis or untangling it off the ground.
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I hope you found these tips useful! Remember that you don’t have to have a large farm to be successful - and that success may look very different for you compared to a larger scale farm. The important thing is to be effective at what you do for maximum impact and maximum efficiency.
Here are some more blog posts on small scale flower farming you may find useful: