Hey there Phaedra, Thanks for the share. The last 3 years I have moved back to São Miguel Azores Portugal. I had lived in Canada for 31 years with a dream to return home. I still need to earn a living. I find that being self employed is something I enjoy more. Because I can choose my hours and days that I want to work. Not working on Sundays is important for me and most jobs here do not respect that. I have always loved flowers! I cry with deep emotions when looking at beautiful landscapes filled with flowes, I know, weird. 😅 So lately I had a stark realization: I have land already so why not try flower farming! I have watched hours of flower farming videos, created a flower list, I have somewhat of an idea how I want the flower farm to be, I bought lots of seeds, I have some tools like: wheelbarrow, fork, shovel, hoe, gas weedwacker, etc. No tilling tools yet... I have started businesses before so I do know about the fear of the unknown and conquering such fears. I am however still fearful. Although I have moved back to my homeland I do feel like a foreigner and its super small here on the island as a market place. I am a little confused as to when to plant my seeds in the ground since we do not suffer from frost. Anyway, I still have much to learn. Any advice for my climat growing conditions for zone 10b 11b? Thank you. How did your husband get his name, Moroni? 😊
Hi Paula! Wow what a journey you’ve been on! Just get started with flowers and learn how to grow them and work out what grows well where you are and what you like. Our first year we grew a little bit of a lot of different seeds to start working out what we liked, what we didn’t and things like that. As for your timing, that’s something you need to work out as climates vary so much! But some tips- start taking note of what you see flowering in nature and others gardens and when that is. You can then find out how many days to flower that variety is and count back from there for when to plant. Also look at the germination temperatures of flowers you’d like to grow. I’d suspect some of the “cool flowers” may not love your climate so don’t focus too much on those for now, even though many online do focus on them first. Did you see my most recent video? It’s a recap of our past 5 years growing flowers!
Thank you for this video. I really like how practical and down to earth you are. Some really useful advice. Also wanted to say I have just found you and I am really enjoying all your videos. I’m thrilled to find an Australian “vlogger”.
G'day Phaedra I found this video very helpful loads of info love your honesty too I'm a fellow gardner it is hard work but rewarding. Lots to consider. thank you so much. 👍🏼👍🏼
I would add to this. For those that are thinking of quitting their job to grow enough flowers to live full time off of. Ask themselves "what are the plans if they sprain their ankle, break a leg, hit menopause, get incredibly sick, etc. etc." These things happen and when they do you can't always work those 12+hr days to make the flower farm work and be profitable. Who will harvest the tulips in this scenario? Who will go roadside? Who will plant the 100s of seedlings you have ready to go? These issues need to be thought of. There are no sick days when self employed and I have found that people who are used to getting a paycheck no matter what, don't fully appreciate what that means. That also means no paid holiday time.
That is a very good point Evelyn, if I make a part two one day I'll add this point in! I think you are right that people dont quite understand how that plays out.. it's also difficulty when family and friends don't understand either. They think you can just drop everything whenever you like because you work for yourself. Saying to them "if we don't work, we don't get paid" really doesn't make sense to them. It can feel a bit lonely sometimes!
@@phaedragardenessAs someone who has been self employed since my mid 20s, I would say I have been very lucky in that my friends and family have always understood. Possibly, I just pushed the point and most definitely I had no problem saying "sorry, I'm working that day."
Thank you great advice! I think it would be so much better for those that buy in flowers to sell from their flower farm, disclose this. as I think the general public are unaware that not all flowers sold from a business are their actual flowers.
I’m not sure how common it is. I know others who buy in flowers but they buy from other local flower growers (which we also do). The model we use is more so because we run a professional local florist business also and it needs to run year round. Sometimes there isn’t enough variety in flowers growing locally.
Thankyou Phaedra for such a wonderful video (Im not truly sure if that is what these are referred as) I have started my journey late in the season due to circumstances I couldn’t control, and Ive grown everything from seed. You are very correct when you say that the cream rises to the top, I found that in my 15 years as a candy store owner with a competitor in the same village who still to this day has my business name plastered all over his shop front to confuse consumers. I always remembered the comments of my customers telling us that my shop felt comfortable, homely and welcoming and that is exactly what I am trying to achieve with my strawberry and flower farm. You talk about grit….I call it resilience something I learned I had during and after the black summer bushfires. I lost every single flower I grew at home and in my shop gardens, my stock to sell, the roof on my house, my sheds, storage containers, my fruit trees, my landscape, BUT I never gave up and I wont give up. Im all in, spending the money to purchase an 8 metre high tunnel and the tractor but felt that as my husband and I are starting this journey later in life our bodies aren’t as young as they used to be so decided we needed a hand with the heavy lifting. Anything that we get now going forward into the end of the summer season will be a blessing, but my true hope is that with the hard work will come rewards next Spring and that alone fills my heart with excitement and anticipation. I don’t quiet understand the TH-cam world, Ive watched for years when Ive wanted to teach myself something (ie building an interior wall, or a stairs in our old gardens) and Im not sure what patreon actually is and how that works. Your videos are wonderful and I am really grateful that I found another fellow Australian to learn from. Cheers Theresa xx 🥰
Theresa wow, what a journey you have been on. It must have been heartbreaking to loose everything, im so glad you won't give up. Yes, but all the things you can afford to protect your bodies!! We would have purchased a tractor from the beginning if we could have. In all honestly we probably still will down the track, there are just so many tasks they make lighter work of. Your candy store sounded beautiful and I bet your strawberry and flower farm is too. Such a nice combination. xx
I grew everything for many years in the dreams of one day having a farm. 2 years ago we got it. First year was testing, last year was our open. We learned a lot and hope to grow this year. We moved to a new area 3 hours away from our previous home so we had to insert into a new community. It's been hard but wonderful. Thanks for sharing your journey! I need to get back to TH-cam videos for mine!
Great advice, start to finish. I for one can tell you right now, I would have never had the grit to farm your land. You guys have my great admiration to just get it done, rocks and all. A quote from Cher from decades ago..."this ain't no dress rehearsal, live your life how you want"...yep.
Oh I love that!! Yes... every time I move any shovel of soil im reminded of our rock problem. I should have called the channel "flower farming in rocks" haha.
Hi, Phaedra! I got the Lunar Planting Chart a couple weeks ago. I’ll be putting out a mail call video soon. Great info in this video! I would love to be my own boss one day 💘
Awesome informative advice Phaedra. Love your analogy that the cream rises to the top and about providing great customer service. I like buying flowers but stopped going to local florist coz they were always quite abrupt and rude tbh. So I travel further to a much nicer florist now.
Hey there Phaedra,
Thanks for the share.
The last 3 years I have moved back to São Miguel Azores Portugal. I had lived in Canada for 31 years with a dream to return home.
I still need to earn a living. I find that being self employed is something I enjoy more. Because I can choose my hours and days that I want to work. Not working on Sundays is important for me and most jobs here do not respect that.
I have always loved flowers! I cry with deep emotions when looking at beautiful landscapes filled with flowes, I know, weird. 😅
So lately I had a stark realization: I have land already so why not try flower farming! I have watched hours of flower farming videos, created a flower list, I have somewhat of an idea how I want the flower farm to be, I bought lots of seeds, I have some tools like: wheelbarrow, fork, shovel, hoe, gas weedwacker, etc. No tilling tools yet...
I have started businesses before so I do know about the fear of the unknown and conquering such fears.
I am however still fearful. Although I have moved back to my homeland I do feel like a foreigner and its super small here on the island as a market place.
I am a little confused as to when to plant my seeds in the ground since we do not suffer from frost.
Anyway, I still have much to learn. Any advice for my climat growing conditions for zone 10b 11b?
Thank you.
How did your husband get his name, Moroni? 😊
Hi Paula! Wow what a journey you’ve been on! Just get started with flowers and learn how to grow them and work out what grows well where you are and what you like. Our first year we grew a little bit of a lot of different seeds to start working out what we liked, what we didn’t and things like that. As for your timing, that’s something you need to work out as climates vary so much! But some tips- start taking note of what you see flowering in nature and others gardens and when that is. You can then find out how many days to flower that variety is and count back from there for when to plant. Also look at the germination temperatures of flowers you’d like to grow. I’d suspect some of the “cool flowers” may not love your climate so don’t focus too much on those for now, even though many online do focus on them first.
Did you see my most recent video? It’s a recap of our past 5 years growing flowers!
Thank you for this video. I really like how practical and down to earth you are. Some really useful advice. Also wanted to say I have just found you and I am really enjoying all your videos. I’m thrilled to find an Australian “vlogger”.
This is spot on!
I'm currently watching this in a quiet patch while selling Valentines day flowers in NZ, hope you guys are super busy and sell out!!
That is so cool Sarah!! How did you go with Valentines?
G'day Phaedra I found this video very helpful loads of info love your honesty too I'm a fellow gardner it is hard work but rewarding. Lots to consider. thank you so much. 👍🏼👍🏼
I would add to this.
For those that are thinking of quitting their job to grow enough flowers to live full time off of. Ask themselves "what are the plans if they sprain their ankle, break a leg, hit menopause, get incredibly sick, etc. etc." These things happen and when they do you can't always work those 12+hr days to make the flower farm work and be profitable.
Who will harvest the tulips in this scenario? Who will go roadside? Who will plant the 100s of seedlings you have ready to go? These issues need to be thought of. There are no sick days when self employed and I have found that people who are used to getting a paycheck no matter what, don't fully appreciate what that means.
That also means no paid holiday time.
That is a very good point Evelyn, if I make a part two one day I'll add this point in! I think you are right that people dont quite understand how that plays out.. it's also difficulty when family and friends don't understand either. They think you can just drop everything whenever you like because you work for yourself. Saying to them "if we don't work, we don't get paid" really doesn't make sense to them. It can feel a bit lonely sometimes!
@@phaedragardenessAs someone who has been self employed since my mid 20s, I would say I have been very lucky in that my friends and family have always understood. Possibly, I just pushed the point and most definitely I had no problem saying "sorry, I'm working that day."
Thank you great advice! I think it would be so much better for those that buy in flowers to sell from their flower farm, disclose this. as I think the general public are unaware that not all flowers sold from a business are their actual flowers.
I’m not sure how common it is. I know others who buy in flowers but they buy from other local flower growers (which we also do). The model we use is more so because we run a professional local florist business also and it needs to run year round. Sometimes there isn’t enough variety in flowers growing locally.
Thankyou Phaedra for such a wonderful video (Im not truly sure if that is what these are referred as) I have started my journey late in the season due to circumstances I couldn’t control, and Ive grown everything from seed. You are very correct when you say that the cream rises to the top, I found that in my 15 years as a candy store owner with a competitor in the same village who still to this day has my business name plastered all over his shop front to confuse consumers. I always remembered the comments of my customers telling us that my shop felt comfortable, homely and welcoming and that is exactly what I am trying to achieve with my strawberry and flower farm. You talk about grit….I call it resilience something I learned I had during and after the black summer bushfires. I lost every single flower I grew at home and in my shop gardens, my stock to sell, the roof on my house, my sheds, storage containers, my fruit trees, my landscape, BUT I never gave up and I wont give up. Im all in, spending the money to purchase an 8 metre high tunnel and the tractor but felt that as my husband and I are starting this journey later in life our bodies aren’t as young as they used to be so decided we needed a hand with the heavy lifting. Anything that we get now going forward into the end of the summer season will be a blessing, but my true hope is that with the hard work will come rewards next Spring and that alone fills my heart with excitement and anticipation. I don’t quiet understand the TH-cam world, Ive watched for years when Ive wanted to teach myself something (ie building an interior wall, or a stairs in our old gardens) and Im not sure what patreon actually is and how that works. Your videos are wonderful and I am really grateful that I found another fellow Australian to learn from. Cheers Theresa xx 🥰
Theresa wow, what a journey you have been on. It must have been heartbreaking to loose everything, im so glad you won't give up. Yes, but all the things you can afford to protect your bodies!! We would have purchased a tractor from the beginning if we could have. In all honestly we probably still will down the track, there are just so many tasks they make lighter work of. Your candy store sounded beautiful and I bet your strawberry and flower farm is too. Such a nice combination. xx
I grew everything for many years in the dreams of one day having a farm. 2 years ago we got it. First year was testing, last year was our open. We learned a lot and hope to grow this year. We moved to a new area 3 hours away from our previous home so we had to insert into a new community. It's been hard but wonderful. Thanks for sharing your journey! I need to get back to TH-cam videos for mine!
Wowww! Congratulations!!! Thats a lot of change by the sounds of things. Im happy for you you are finally living your dream!
Great advice, start to finish. I for one can tell you right now, I would have never had the grit to farm your land. You guys have my great admiration to just get it done, rocks and all. A quote from Cher from decades ago..."this ain't no dress rehearsal, live your life how you want"...yep.
Oh I love that!! Yes... every time I move any shovel of soil im reminded of our rock problem. I should have called the channel "flower farming in rocks" haha.
Hola, muchas gracias por el contenido. Saludos desde Pisco Elqui, Chile. ❤
Muchas gracias po! Me da gusto que el video te gustó :)
Hi Phaedra, Thank you for another awesome teaching. 😊
Hi Helga! Thank you for your nice message :) Im glad you liked it!
Thank you for all the information, needed to think about all this. You are very generous sharing all this.
You are welcome! I hope it helps you work out the best way forward for you!
Hi, Phaedra!
I got the Lunar Planting Chart a couple weeks ago. I’ll be putting out a mail call video soon.
Great info in this video! I would love to be my own boss one day 💘
Hi Nicole!!! Yayayayay im so glad it got to you ok! Im trying to think how long it took it must have been a few weeks!!
Awesome informative advice Phaedra. Love your analogy that the cream rises to the top and about providing great customer service. I like buying flowers but stopped going to local florist coz they were always quite abrupt and rude tbh. So I travel further to a much nicer florist now.
Hello! I would do the same.. I'd much prefer to support a business with nice customer service.