It’s been a few days now, but I’m still head over heels for this new addition to Yellow Cottage Neighborhood Flowers! I have a shed! And once you have a shed, I’m fairly certain you’ve passed the point of no return! No turning back now, eh? Yep. That’s what I thought :).

This local-built shed is absolutely darling. I love, love, love. the cute and homey design—I hope the porch will be great for market bouquets pickups and also for photo shots—but the real value is the wonderful space it provides. My flower supplies used to be spread far and wide, tucked into corners of our house and basement, the cottage, the greenhouse, and anywhere I could put them, so it’s wonderful to have a unified place that they can all call home.

I don’t have inside photos yet, but I’ve set up a little sitting space, too. It’s nothing fancy, but I have a bit of a bookcase with some inspirational/study material, notebooks, sketchbooks, etc. I want that seat to be a place when I can sit and work, but also dream! And I don’t think the dreaming part will be too hard because the front window overlooks what will soon be my main flower patch! Talk about beauty overload!

I have a thought that someday I’ll insulate the shed, run power to it, and add a refrigeration unit to turn the shed (or at least the back half) into a flower cooler. My plan right now for keeping flowers cool before delivery is a couple of empty refrigerators, but we’ll see how things expand out over time.

On a non-shed note, I spent part of the morning starting the germination process on some seeds using little Ziploc bag “greenhouses.” Doing some early germination tests will give me an idea about the viability of the seeds I have on hand. (I’m sure they’re fine, but I always have this irrational fear that nothing will sprout!) I’m starting seeds earlier than usual for me, because I have the greenhouse porch this year, so that SHOULD ensure that everything has room to stretch their stems a bit before their big journey out to the garden. Here’s hoping!

Anyway, I’ll report back soon about strawflowers, dahlias from seed (Floret’s Bee’s Choice and Petite Florets—I CANNOT wait to see what these mystery seeds will bring to the garden!), Marguerite daisies (those have a whole story behind them that I’ll share one of these days!), and marigolds. That’s all the room I have on my heating pad at the moment, so I’ll add more in as those sprout. I have snapdragon and delphinium seeds in the freezer waiting their turn!

Isn’t it wondrous how, within a few months, these minuscule seeds will be strong plants, loaded with beautiful blooms? The thought never ceases to amaze me…

Happy growing!

-Angela