Planning Your First Garden
A series for gardening beginners
Hello! Happy New Year, and welcome to my little corner of the Internet! I’m so glad you’re here and hope this blog series (and ones to come) will be helpful to you in your gardening journey!
A brief bit about me and the farm:
My name is Michelle, and I own and operate Willow Creek Flower Farm, a cut flower farm near Winnemucca, Nevada, that I started in 2021. I’m a farmer’s wife, mom to 3 littles, and a hobby pianist. But once my babies stopped being babies, I needed a positive way to occupy my time, a way to be imaginative and create something.
The beauty of flowers plus the grounding nature of farming was the perfect fit.
The farm was born in the middle of winter when there was little to be done but plan. Since then, I’ve discovered that the planning is one of my favorite parts about this business! I’m all about lists and schedules, dreaming and scheming. There is SO much out there about planning your garden, from the Internet to bookstores to your local garden center, and while most of it is helpful, it can also be very overwhelming.
I’ve tried every method of planning…
from notebook lists, penciled diagrams, and hand drawn layouts to Excel spreadsheets complete with color coding and fancy formulas. What I’ve ultimately found to be the most helpful is actually a combination of all these, listing my goals on paper, hand drawing a layout, filling out a calendar, while letting a spreadsheet do all the math.
The result is a system that is both visual and hands on, automating the most overwhelming parts, and is easily adaptable to your individual needs or last minute changes.
Pre-made layouts or seed sowing plans aren’t always a great fit for YOUR garden. Frost dates and garden layouts vary widely, and it makes the most sense to find a plan that works for YOU. This system has worked great for me, so it would be a shame not to share it with you!
Join me this month through this Beginner Cut Flower Gardening series as we work through terminology, techniques, and strategies with helpful (and free!) planning materials and WITHOUT the overwhelm.
Your excitement about your garden or small farm doesn’t have to wait until spring - it starts now with dreaming and drawing up plans!
