In my first season of Gwen’s Greens, LLC, I set out to do everything “the right way.” It was Floret Farm’s Cut Flower Garden that infused me with the inspiration and motivation to make my garden into a business; so, I followed Erin Benzakein’s recommendations 100%.
- I bought the landscape fabric and made a template to burn holes for each plant
- I ordered seeds from Floret and planted them exactly how the package instructed
And I was successful!
When it came to starting seeds indoors, I relied on our family’s experience gardening over the past 20 years and did a lot of searches on Google. I was most intrigued by @nctomatoman on YouTube and ordered his book: Epic Tomatoes. I modeled after Craig’s seed starting process and even tried planting in grow bags like he does on his driveway! He got me started on a journey of staking and pruning tomatoes. I had no idea how this would increase my yields!
I share this with you, because it’s important to note that following an expert’s guidelines and advice has been incredibly valuable for me. I won’t share all the web links and books I reviewed and even patterned some of my practices after, that didn’t lead to success. And here’s why: not every good idea will work for you (it didn’t for me). But continually reading and following gardeners online and in your community will help you determine your own process and save you time by avoiding years of trial and error. As you research, you will uncover experts or true “sages” to model after, like Erin and Craig are for me.
This year I’ve discovered Lisa Mason Ziegler who shares her insights and resources on @gardenersworkshopfarm on Instagram. And she has introduced me (and her 27.7K followers) to soil blocking!
As soon as 2021 rolled around, I ordered some soil blocking tools and this week I am going to try them out! I can’t wait to share what I find out with this new process. It promises to be easy, take up a fraction of the space that typical cell trays do, and gentle on those seedlings I will transplant to their homes in the outside soil.
I may be late coming to the party! Have you tried soil blocking? What have you learned?
Gwen's Greens 