Let’s just clarify, I’m talking about paper logs. Wait, logs ARE made from paper…or rather paper is made from logs, but logs ARE composed of the cellulose needed to make the paper upon which I will be writing when I fill in these…QC sheets. Let’s call them that. Or record sheets? That probably more accurate. Basically, it’s the documenting side of this little flower business, it’s what I’ve been working on past week. It sounds dry, but, believe it if you can, it’s been quite fun!

I had the lab in mind when I sat down to think. In lab work, it was important to keep track of all the details, log everything, be able to look back on the environment in case there was ever an error and see why things worked and why they didn’t. Thankfully, there’s less pressure and more room to relax when growing things, rather than making slides where people’s medical decisions and particular treatment hinge on everything being done exactly right.

But there was something comforting and rewarding about documenting everything at the lab. You could always piece together a basic idea of what happened on a given day because of the record-keeping process. That’s valuable.

I’d like to be able to apply some of the same techniques to flower growing (and hopefully selling!). I think it will help me learn and remember better so I’ll be less likely to repeat the same mistakes over and over. It’ll also give me solid information (not theoretical) about MY PARTICULAR land, flowers, business, and customers. Every single flower business has a different situation, so I think it will be useful to start recording what happens on my little parcel of land and what it produces and encounters, right from the get go.

So, what kinds of information and I going to track? First of all, weather. I made a monthly sheet to document weather, high and low temperatures, and any odd ball issues that arise. That’ll take seconds to fill out every day, but it’ll help me follow and keep track of weather trends and potential growing issues over the season.

Then there’s a Daily Task check list. It lists all the basic things that need to be done on a daily basis, starting with a Sunrise Scan, which is a basic early morning glance over the flower beds to find/record any glaring problems that need attention ASAP. Then are the basics: Weeding, watering, de-budding, picking, selling, taking photos. I’ll check off when they’re done and try to jot down the amount of time each job took.

I also made a Weekly Sales Sheet. This has all the potential sales channels I’m trying to pursue. It will help me keep track of the sales that are most and least profitable, and I’ll be able to see at a glance from week to week what is working and where I need to work harder to hit goals. Or what I need to remove.

And then I made Bouquet Recipe sheets! These will help me keep track of the type of bouquet I made for a particular buyer. I’ll know what flowers I used and how many, and I’ll be able to evaluate whether the colors, flowers, and arrangement worked or needed some help. Because of the way the sheets are set up, I’ll also know ahead of time how many of each type of flower I’ll need for the project, so I can harvest those at the right time and get them into cold storage so they’ll be ready for my twice-a-week bouquet-making days.

That leads me right into the Weekly Harvest Sheet. I listed every type of flower/greenery I’m hoping to have available, and typed out the kind of water treatment/flower food needed, how long the bloom can be stored and at what temperature range, how long the stem should be cut, etc., etc… I also came up with an abbreviation for each crop, so I can shorthand it quickly and consistently when documenting. I’m quite proud of this sheet! It took a fair amount of work upfront, but it’s gonna save me a gazillion head scratches until all this information becomes second nature! And it will allow me to look back and see when each plant started producing and how much product they produced this growing season. Used in conjunction with the Bouquet Recipe sheets, I’ll also know how much of each flower type I actually used.

I also worked on and nearly finished a price list (how much each flower will cost for retail and for the different types of bouquet work that I have in mind) and started a weekly growing log to keep track of what height and stage of development plants are at every week.

It’s exciting, but I’m starting to get nervous. I’m having loads of fun, yes, but the questions and unknowns are starting to take up a lot of space in my mind. And the more I think about things, the more I realize how clueless I am, and the more I see the 1001 ways things could go wrong…

Like yesterday. I realized I should start hardening off the snapdragons. (Yes, it’s the snaps again! They’re giving me fits this year!) Actually, I realized I should have started hardening them off LAST week. If I’d done that, I could have planted THIS week. Oh, well. I figured I’d start the outdoor time immediately, just for an hour or so. It was a good time of day, mostly cloudy, so I’d put them under a tree for some indirect dappled sunlight.

So, without looking at the weather forecast, I grabbed several trays and took them outside. IMMEDIATELY, the wind picked up. We’re taking 29 mile per hour gusts! Fortunately I was still there when the first gust came, so I threw my body in front of the trays and got them shielded and back inside the greenhouse, but it wasn’t quite fast enough.

They were so even and beautiful before, and now they’re bent in every imaginable direction! I mean, they’ll recover, thankfully, but I’m pretty sure they’d have been goners if I’d gone inside even for two minutes and left them to fend for themselves out in the elements.

Just like that, with one silly error, all my efforts up to this point could have been extinguished. There wouldn’t be time to regrow them for this summer, and I’d have had to wait a whole year before having the chance to try again. (Yes, I recognize that in the grand scheme of life this isn’t a big deal, but it would have been a blow to my little dream. And my little dream means a lot to me for so many reasons!)

I have more to write about, but I’ll save it for another post! I’ve been experimenting with stem and leaf cuttings from dahlia pinchings, trying to see if they’ll take root. At this point your guess is as good as mine (I have no idea how much rooting power a tiny leaf node has), but I’ll keep you posted as the days go by.

May your days be filled with growth!

-Angela