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Hope to see more of your videos.

Have faith in your product. $20 a bouquet is on the mark. They will come around.

What was the date of this installment? When did you plant the seed ? If they are not plugs.

Just learning about lisianthus --love watching this and the detail about the roots growing down! Wow--4-5 weeks from last frost? So planting is VERY early! At the end you mention its 30 degrees. So these babies survive that! Crazy! You said they "don't like to get wet" and you covered them. But are they more rain tolerant as older plants? They obviously have to have SOME water.We are in NW Oregon and it is dry all summer but spring we have LOTS of rain.

I’m new to soil blocking this year…love this video. What brand of vermiculite are you using?

I am also in Missouri and I had a terrible infestation of blister beetles last summer. They completely took over. Yikes! Not fun.

Thank you for sharing. When did you start the seeds to germinate (date)? Time from planting seeds to removal to outside?

Do you grow cosmos?

Not Cornell bronze must be the honey one😊

Some mint as well

Great job and thanks for sharing- have you done any winter sowing? Or early spring?

HOw did your lisies end up producing last yr - were these seedlings pre-treated with Root Shield, or do you not find fusarium an issue in your area with these flowers?

Hello… I’m new to flower growing and just starting out. I’ve purchase both the 3/4” & 2”… My first seedling are snapdragons, sweet peas and Lisianthus.. And I found that 2” blocks work well. I’m a little heavy handed and moving them or transplanting they don’t fall apart on me. I get great ROOT development ✅ I was going to use the 3/4” and then when the seed root develop transfer to the larger box but it fell apart on me, So I just stayed with the 2”…

Beautiful view

sweet peas add a beautiful smell x

💜 I’m so sorry to hear about your Dad and thank you for reminding us to protect our selves. This is a reminder to go in for a Dr. visit also. ~Pam~

Many flowers or parts of flowers have some toxicity-it is surprising all the ones that do and people aren’t aware of it.

Imam želju proizvodit al ovdje progone ljude koji lično šta proizvedu i hoće to prodat Jel tamo tako

ad sugar into water and your flowers will open up sooner

This year definitely hasn't been ideal. I'm making more money off of my pressed flower items than I am from fresh flowers. Pressing the flowers is more work but I can make frames and bookmarks over the winter to have a decent inventory for next year. I can also try selling them online. Thus isn't what I expected my flower farm experience to be but you have to go with the flow I guess. Good luck with the rest of your season!

Hang in there Carmen! Thank you for walking us thru your approach to get rid of these nasty bugs!

Sorry for your flower damage. I have been defeated by thrips this year. Next year I will focus on prevention of pests, if that is even possible. Hope your other flowers fare better❣️

Oh dear, not only have you killed your ‘little old bug’ now you have obliterated everything else in your garden. You’ve lost a sub and I won’t be watching anymore of your videos. Good luck to you!

I’m so sorry. The terrible irreversibility of loss. Lovely photo- nothing better than a girl and her Dad. xx

Thank you so much for sharing this important message even though it stirs so much pain. May you find solace in the garden and happy memories.

Those dahlia are pretty ❤ what do you amend your soil with?

Good luck. Where is your Farmers Market located? State?

Blessings Carmen.❤

Thanks for showing how to cut your dahlias - and I am dealing with bug damage too! I bought net bags to put over some so we'll see how that goes.

So sorry for your loss, and never apologize for your tears and never hold them back it’s all part of the grieving process. Thank you so much for sharing that information, I had never known that about that type of cancer. Hopefully your garden will bring you some peace. Take care of yourself, something I’m sure as a nurse you know how to do but often forget to do for yourself. It’s especially important at this time to make yourself a priority.

Normally for us in Nort Europe is it more normal to be dry than moist but we have had 2 week strait of cold weather and rain, today is the first day of 27 celcius weather.

I am so sorry for your loss. You cry all you want. I know it doesn’t seem like it now but someday the sadness will be replaced with happy memories. Trust me. I know.

I’m so sorry.

My dad passed away in 2018, I was 63. I remember thinking how lucky I was to have him in my life that long. My husband's father passed when he was 31. He knew my father longer than he'd known his own. No matter when the loss comes, healing happens at its own pace. Thank you for sharing. For me, my dad is another angel in heaven I know by name. So sorry for your loss. A side note: I watch a youtuber who talks about some kind of hornworm that you can rarely see during the day but if you take a black light out at night they glow in the dark. She says they can decimate a plant in no time at all. Don't know if that's your problem, but the black specs (posssible feces) on the leaves I think is another tell tale sign. And they do attack tomato plants.

Don’t you just love the reseeders.😊

Very sorry to hear this, Carmen 😢

❤❤❤Carmen 🙏 Your celosia looks like my amaranth and Hollyhock. I see a moth. small. orange/brown. It leaves the others alone.

I’m so sorry to hear about your dad. Life will be very different for you but you will get through this. Let the garden be your refuge. I lost my oldest daughter, suddenly, 2 years ago and I just didn’t think I could go on. She was the first person to be so excited for me and so proud of me when I told her of my plan to grow and sell flowers. The Spring of 2021 was my first season to grow. The seedlings were all planted but she never got to see it come to fruition. I have found the garden to be my time of meditation, my time of dealing with the grief. I know she’s watching over me and cheering me on just as your dad is you. I have found it to be my place of healing. Maybe you will find the same to be true. That will be my prayer for you❤️

Condolences to you and your family. I'm trying so hard to have a good sunscreen hygiene in the summer. I keep putting it on my kids and get out the door. I too didn't know that skin cancer could become metastatic. The more you know...Thanks for bringing awareness to this.

Are the soil blocks placed on the heat mats with or without the grow lights turned on?

Hello. Could you share how the verbascum southern charm are doing in your landscape now? Thank you 😊

Check out the swift blocker! It's great they have different sizes.

CZcams probably has 30 channels about soil blocking. Soil blocks can dry out every 12 to 24 hours. Cell tray don’t dry out as fast. I changed to soil blocks to reduce plastics. I have 20 1020 black trays that will be washed and stored. My biggest issue with soil blocks is humidity control keeping the blocks moist long enough to produce germination So far I get 20% germ with blocks and 90% with cell trays.😊

I dislike cell trays for starting seeds because the seedlings are difficult to pot up

Soil blocking!! I have a lot to say, I'm so sorry. 😅 I love soil blocking but I am very pro plant-all-the-ways. Whatever works best and is easiest for you! So I think you definitely might be right about the 1.5" being the sweet spot. I'm really eyeing the new Swift Blocker Mini 27...it's an investment for sure. Last year was my first year with the 3/4" and it's pretty great but a bit of a learning curve. I totally over watered at first and didn't realize it's good for them to dry out. I've been using the same 2" blocker since 2015 and everything grows like a dream. Space issue is the downside, only 50 blocks fit per 1020 tray. Some people also don't care for how much soil it takes but I look at it like it's helping to amend my soil! I have always used Eliot Coleman's soil blocking recipe but have also found that my local Walmart carries a Pro-Mix Organic Garden Mix for only $12/2 cubic feet that works really well for the blocks. I only have to sift it for the mini's, otherwise just pull the big sticks out and you're good to go with the two incher. So much easier than mixing your own. I have Zinnias started in both sizes to see the difference in DTM. Last summer I trialed direct sowing Zinnia's vs the mini's and the DS were at least 3x bigger/healthier. Pumpkins and tomatoes are so great in the 2"... Morning Glory, Nasturtium, Green beans, anything fast growing or with a large seed goes into those. Sunflowers too, my first couple successions are in big blocks to get as much of a head start as possible. Mini's are mostly used for when I have many varieties of one thing. If you have a seed problem like me and ordered eight different Asters, the mini's are your best friend. They're also perfect for small successions because you can fit 12 different species, 20 seeds each into a single 1020 tray. The problem with mixing so many crops into one tray is that you cannot count on using grow lights. They will all germinate and grow on at different rates and some need drastically different temperatures, (I have a "Soil Blocking Compatibility List" 😅) so I only do this when there are enough daylight hours for them to grow on outside in the low tunnel. I'd say that is my biggest complaint about the mini. If growing under lights I mostly use smaller trays (I get two sizes from the dollar store and love them!) and plant one species per tray or know exactly which ones are compatible to be planted together. My preferred method is actually to sprinkle seeds into a 1020 tray. It's so fast and easy, esp for tiny seeds like snaps. I can fit 2-300 seeds into one tray and they actually grow very well that way. Even though they are crammed in close together they grow much better than in the mini soil blocks. I do not prick out, you can thin them out a bit but mostly I let them stay just how they are. It's very easy to pull them apart at planting time, I've found more so than taking plugs out of cell trays. The trick is a very sturdy tray, and the deeper the better. I use Bootstrap Farmer's extra strength 1020s for this and they are totally solid and worth every penny. The trays need to be able to be moved around easily esp when hardening off time comes around. I can easily balance two full trays at a time, one arm under each. If you watch Georgie from Common Farm Flowers she plants the same way and has amazing, sturdy/deep trays that I can't find anywhere in the US. But I'm always on the lookout. Cell trays get used pretty much only for sunflowers around here because I need a solid head count on those guys. I don't have as much success using that method and also I would much rather make soil blocks than fill cell trays up with soil any day of the week. Once you get the blocking down its very fast. I've noticed a lot of people don't have the soil wet enough. You should be able to pick the blocks up easily to move around. I think that is all. 😅🌻 Oops, nope P.S. Forgot fertilizer - makes all the difference in mini's! I didn't used to fertilize seedlings but last year joined in on Nicole's Fertilizer Friday...oh which is today! Happy Friday! So I can definitely see a difference and think it's very important especially for mini's since they do not have much soil to pull nutrients from! I use an (odorless 😉) worm tea sourced from my farmers market. It can also be used as a foliar spray which made a huge difference on my dahlias last summer!! ❤️

Agree with all you said! I quickly went to soil blocking for space saving. I never even knew about the 1.5 blocker until i saw it from blossom and branch. She is full of info, and believes most things do best it that size. I want to ry it also. Same thing with my snaps. After plant the the bigger ones out, i stuck the small ones in cells and they look great. Thanks for sharing 😊

I started out soil blocking but I have been starting things in trays this year and it seems it’s a 50/50 on which is best. I’m just going with my gut and see what I get. Love you videos Carmen.

I love soil blocking, but 100% agree on potting them up. I used soil blocks for my lisianthus this year and around 8-10 weeks bumped them up an they took off. I didn’t bump up my snaps and the roots were so grown together that when I planted out I ripped alot of the roots. It definitely has set them 2 weeks behind schedule for blooming.

I tried blocking for a few months. Too much time in comparison the method I use now. I use a 1020 tray and cast the seeds across. Let them grow to 4 leaf level then transplant to a 72 or 128 tray.

I have actually come to the same conclusion that you have. This is my first year of growing a lot of floral seedlings, and I was really excited about the soil blocks and how that would allow me to grow more with less room than a plug tray. But in looking at my growing conditions in my seedling room, I don’t have that intense heat or light to give these soil blocks what they need to survive and thrive. So I started potting up my soil blocks, and like you I think this is going to be the way that I go. I will not use the larger soil block. I will just pot up into the plug trays. That seems to be working for me and my situation. I love your videos, you’re larger scale than me, which helps me see what can be done with a little bit more land devoted to florals. So thank you for all that you do and sharing everything that you’re doing I do appreciate it.