While flower farming has a growing season and an off-season, running a farm is still a year-round job. Depending on the farm’s location, the weather that given year, and what is being grown, the when tasks are done my vary slightly from one farm to another, but overall are pretty similar. Here at Menkveld Farm we grow lavender, sunflowers, dahlias, and over 45 other varieties of flowering annuals and foliage. In time, we may add more perennials and spring-blooming flowers like daffodils and tulips, but at this point we don’t grow those on the farm.

In Middle Tennessee, our frost-free season is generally April 15 - Oct 30. Since everything on our farm is field grown anything planted out before April 15 has to be able to withstand a frost without protection from a green house or hoop house. Any plants that can’t tolerate those temperatures get planted out once all danger of frost has passed. During our growing season, we focus mainly on cultivating and harvesting flowers, while the colder months focus mainly on preparations for the next growing season.

January

The days are cold and short, so I try to complete as many indoor tasks as I can during January. I really dive into planning for the upcoming growing season and start figuring out all the logistics for both the farm and who that will work with our family’s schedule (like needing to be out harvesting and also getting kids ready for school at the same time). This January I am:

Finalizing plans for the flower fields. We have a couple more seeds and bare root plants to order, and I am checking to make sure we have enough buckets, snips, trays and bags of seed starting mix.
Preparing the new flower farm space. Our house has pretty limited storage space, so we are getting a shed delivered and putting together a dedicated flower space this year. Yay! We are going to have new shelving and tables, add a wash basin so we have water close by, and we will set up a larger space for starting seeds.
Check on Dahlia Tubers in storage. Each month I check on the dahlia tubers we are storing to make sure they are not molding or dehydrating.
Start hiring help for the growing season. Nathan and I used to run the farm by ourselves, but as our family has grown and we have expanded our flower fields, we need help to successfully run the farm. My goal is to finalize our job descriptions and start having interviews before the end of the month.

February

February is another cold month with short days, so it’s still a great time to keep working inside. There are always things from January that spill into February to work on. Plus we are also just two months away from our frost-free season.

Planning for summer events. We host multiple events during the summer and fall on the farm. While it may seem a bit early to start planning these, getting as many details in place as possible before the growing season kicks off is a huge help once things get busy.
Check on dahlia tubers in storage again.

In past years I have also started seeds indoors in February. This year I decided to buy plugs for things I would generally have started this early. We have a lot going on in life so the extra money for plugs seemed well-worth it to have one less thing to manage in February.

March

March is when I feel like the growing season really kicks off. The days are getting longer, and daylight savings time means the sun sets an hour later each day.

Seed starting. I start seeds the first week of March, and plant them out 6-8 weeks later. We use both soil blocking and plastic trays for our seed starting.
Propagate dahlias. There are a couple dahlia varieties I have fallen in love with and want as many plants as possible. Since I have a stock of these tubers already, I plant these tubers in pots and let them send up shoots. I can then propagate more dahlia plants from these shoots before planting the tubers out in May.
Flower bed preparations. When we have nice days in March, I make sure to take advantage of it by starting to prep beds. Bed prep includes: adding compost or other soil amendments, running drip irrigation lines, and laying down weed barrier. I also will sow a spring cover crop in any beds that won’t get planted until summer or in paths between the beds.

April

Things are really starting to happen in April! Seedlings are growing and the weather is warming up! April 15 is considered our last frost date here in Nolensville, so a lot of plants are getting put into the ground too!

More bed prep. Preparing the flower field for planting is an ongoing task. We get started on this in March, and continue prepping beds for planting until June, and then we jump back into it in the fall when we plant our hardy annuals.
Lavender field maintenance. Overall, after the initial preparation and planting of the lavender field, it is pretty low maintenance. However, because our climate is less than ideal for growing lavender, we do loose about 1/3 of our plants each growing season. In the fall we buy plugs and we have them arrive in early April so we can fill in gaps in the field.
Transplanting and direct sowing seeds. Once April 15 arrives it’s all about getting plants in the ground. We transplant the seedlings we started indoors begin to direct sow the rest.

May

I am always antsy for flowers by the time May comes around. I have seen the daffodils, tulips, and peonies blooming on other farms, and I can’t wait to start seeing flowers on our farm.

More bed prep, transplanting and direct sowing seeds. We succession plant every 2 - 4 weeks to ensure we have flowers blooming until our first frost at the end of October.
It’s finally time to plant dahlias! I wait extra long to plant out my dahlia tubers in case of a late frost. I usually aim to get them in the ground around Mother’s day.
Begin harvesting some flowers! What more can I say about this? It’s so exciting to finally have flowers.

June

June has always been a big month for us on the farm. It’s really the beginning of the flower season here, and it is also when our lavender field is in full bloom. There is something going on at the farm everyday.

Lavender blooms! As I mentioned already, our lavender fields are in full bloom, which means each Saturday we have a uPick event, and we are booked every day for photo sessions in the flower fields.
CSA and Farmer’s Markets. We start our flower subscription in June when the lavender blooms, and also start attending the Nolensville Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings with fresh bouquets.
More succession planting. We do our last round of succession plantings in June for fall flowers.
Weeding. June is filled with lots of weeding. The weather is warm so the plants are growing like crazy, which also means the weeds are too. At this point the plants are still too little to block out the sunlight and prevent weeds from growing, so we carefully weed the beds so our plants don’t have to compete for resources.
Make sure to have a bouquet of flowers on the table to enjoy! When things really start getting busy I often forget to cut a few extra stems so I can make an arrangement for myself to enjoy. This year I am making a point of having flowers on the kitchen table every day!

July

By the time July arrives, the growing season is in full-swing on the farm.

Flowers are really starting to come in! We are outside harvesting every day. I also have some plans for more uPick events in July, so stay tuned!
Plants are continuing to grow. We have plants at all stages of the growing cycle. There are seedlings that we planted in June, plants getting ready to flower, and those shooting up blooms. We are busy watering, weeding, and controlling pests and disease.
Bouquet arranging for CSA and Farmer’s Markets. We are make bouquets for our CSA Monday - Wednesday each week and then spend Friday making bouquets for Saturday’s farmer’s market.

August

What can I say about August. It is a hot and hard month on the farm. It’s the time of the year when I miss the Midwest summers from year’s past, but we continue on the course. August is very similar to July in terms of tasks on the farm: cultivating, harvesting, and bouquet arranging. It is also when I really start looking forward to Fall.

September

When September arrives, I am anxiously awaiting cooler weather! And with September arrives some of my favorite flowers.

Sunflower at Menkveld Farm
Photo Credit: Andrea Farmer Photography

Dahlias start to put on a show. Once the heat dies down a bit, our dahlias really take off. I harvest every bloom I can and never have enough.
Sunflowers bloom. Each year I plant a lot of small successions of sunflowers so we always have some in bloom for bouquets. However we also do 1 or 2 large plantings of sunflowers and host events during this time. This year we are planting our 1/4 acre sunflower field so it will be blooming in September!
Planting hardy annuals. As flowers finish blooming, we begin pulling them out and either getting the bed ready for winter or planting hardy annuals to overwinter in the field.

October

In October, a lot of the plants have slowed down, but we still have flowers blooming, particularly the dahlias. Our lavender also gives us a second flush late in the month.

Continue to harvest all the flowers we can and make bouquets.
Clear out more beds to plant either cover crops or hardy annuals.
Sow cover crops. It is so important for your soil to always have roots in it. We sow cover crops in any beds that won’t have flowers in them over winter. We also sow cover crops in the paths between flower beds and in the sunflower field once that has been cleared
Order lavender for next year. We take inventory of the field as the season is slowing down to see how the plants faired and determine how many new plugs need to be purchased for the following spring.
Planning out our cut flower field for the next season. I find it very helpful to plan out our next growing season while we are starting the wrap up the current one. All the notes are fresh in your mind about what you liked growing, what you won’t grow next year, and what you felt was missing from your field that needs to be added next year. Once I have finalized my plans, I usually start ordering seeds from my different suppliers.
Take as many pictures of dahlias as possible! I went a little crazy last October taking pictures of dahlias every day. I just couldn’t get enough of them!

November

Whether we have had our first frost by now or not, I am ramping down for the season. Hardy annuals are tucked in winter and there are still lots of miscellaneous fall cleanup tasks to do, but the pace slows down a bit. It’s a welcome change of pace after a busy season. However, we still have one big task that we do on the farm in November.

Dig up, divide, and store dahlias. Once our first frost comes, I cut the foliage off all the dahlias and let them sit in the ground for a couple weeks. After that we dig up all the tubers, clean them off, divide them, and get them ready to store for the winter. It’s a big process that will get bigger every year, but the beauty the dahlias bring is well worth it.

December

December arrives and the farm is put to rest for the winter. I switch to focusing on taking care of things at home that have been put on the back burner during our growing season and spend more time with the family. This is probably our slowest month in terms of farm tasks.

Launch CSA subscription for the following year. We start taking sign-ups for the following season’s flower CSA in early December. The CSA stays open until all the spots are filled.
Check on Dahlia Tubers in storage. Now that the tubers have been stored away for a couple weeks, I go down and check to make sure everything is looking good. I want to make sure there are no signs of mold or drying out to ensure healthy tubers in the spring.

Flower farming is definitely a year-round job at our farm, but I appreciate how the tasks change with the seasons. I find that just as I am tired of working on my computer, spring is here and we are ready to get outside. Then just when I am done with the hot and humid weather, fall arrives and the gardens slowly start to get ready for winter. While it might not be the easiest life, it certainly is a beautiful one!

A Year in the Life of a Flower Farmer