The Future of No-Till Flowers? & Love's 7 Steps to Her Bed Prep
Season one of No-Till Flowers has come and gone. Insert crying face emoji.
For the past more than a few Wednesdays, Jennie Love of Love N Fresh Flowers has graced us with her flower-centric conversations—and infectious laugh—with some of the best flower growers around in hopes of imparting some knowledge, exposing us to some new ideas, and just maybe bending the course of our farms for the better.
And it’s been a labor of Love, folks.
She, like us, did not realize how much work went into putting together a podcast and managing the social media from such a responsive audience (ahem, y’all are the best). Even so, she over delivered and is already scheming some bonus material for y’all over the growing season. We couldn’t be more grateful for a resident flower expert and can. Not. Wait. For what she’ll do for the flower growing community here on out.
Be sure to keep up with Jennie’s work on Instagram for flower growing inspiration and be on the lookout for some Summer surprises in your podcast feed. If you have a flower grower you’d like to hear from in season two, drop Jennie a line. Last, check out Jennie’s farm blog for truly informative posts like this one…
7 Steps to No-Till Flower Bed Preparation Using Cardboard & Compost
1) Cover crop (a mix of rye, vetch, triticale, and clover) that was sown in late fall and grew vigorously when the weather warmed in the spring was maintained with bi-weekly high-deck mowing until a given bed was ready to bring into production, at which point, the cover crop was “scalped” with a mulching push mower.
2) Four foot wide woven black landscape fabric was put over the freshly mown bed and pinned in place with landscape staples. The fabric remained on the bed for about 10 days to weaken the cover crop.
3) A single layer of 36″ wide corrugated cardboard was placed on top of the bed. The cardboard was sourced in rolls from a packing supply company, which made it very easy to place on beds.
4) A 2-3″ layer of well-aged compost was spread on top of the cardboard the full length and width of the bed.
5) Five lines of drip tape are placed on top of the compost. Lines are spaced 6″ apart and double as a guide for planting transplants in a straight line.
… for the last two steps, head over to Jennie’s blog.