Gardening Goals: How I Did Last Year

Looking at these, I'm happy to have had some success last year!

2018 Gardening Goals Recap

1. Successfully grow the vegetables we like to eat.

We did! We had peas, carrots, beets, tomatoes, and squash. Even some cantaloupe and watermelon!

2. Grow enough produce to make salsa, tomato sauce, pickles (a new canning adventure!), and some vegetables to freeze or can for future use.

I actually did make homemade tomato sauce this year, but I was heavily supplemented by my parents' tomato harvest to have enough. I also helped my mom prepare and freeze a whole bunch of corn (of theirs), which we are still eating. As our cucumber crop was a total bust this year, pickles continue to elude me.

3. Get my herb garden started.

Well, let me think. I got several feverfew starts from a neighbor that survived all summer.

Didn't use it as an herb though! 

I really tried on this one. I planted dill, oregano, chives, and basil more than once and have nothing to show for it.

Next year!

4. Plant grass in the "aisles" of the orchard. Prune/stake trees as needed.

Didn't get the grass planted. Managed to weed whack the knee-high weeds down to respectable levels end of June, and that was about it! 

I did a lot of pruning last spring. I'm hoping this spring the trees will just need more of a touch-up.

5. Prune lilac bush.

Yes, I did this, but not as thoroughly as it needed it.

However, I have since purchased a pruning saw for myself and plan to put it to good use on the lilac bush come spring. There's a lot of dead wood in the middle that needs to come out.

6. Get irrigation system set up for garden and orchard.

Sort of. We had a long pipe dropped off by the guy who fixes our sprinkler system, and it has threads on one end for a hose, and I never did use it. So I do need to figure it out for this year.

7. Start as much as I can from seed, either winter sown or in my greenhouse.

I tried. Boy, did I ever try! Decidedly mixed success on this one and a lot of lessons learned.

Flower Farm Goals

1. Figure out licensing/zoning/permits.

Get what I need to be legit.

Did it! Yay!

2. Write a business plan. Do my market research and figure out pricing, etc.

Business plan is still about half written. Hoping that's a project I can get on this month, after I get my taxes paid.

3. Decide on a name and register for the web domain.

Yes! Bluebird Flower Farm. 

Currently working on a getting my website up and running at--you guessed it: bluebirdflowerfarm.com

4. Purchase the basic supplies needed to get started.

Yes to this one too!

5. Grow enough flowers to cut bouquets all summer and fall!

You know, I did grow enough. In fact, I didn't sell nearly as many as I cut.

6. Make back my startup costs, plus $2000.

HAHAHAHA!

That was quite optimistic, as it turns out.

I will say, though, that I grossed more than I expected, and since the startup costs included finishing the greenhouse I can't be too disappointed about not making them back.

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I've got another post coming about this year's goals and more about my business.

Stay tuned!