Market Farming

[wakely11 AT swbell.net]

Lori,

    As far as bank loans for starting up a flower farm--I guess it
depends on your bank.  My bank would have loaned money but I have a
history with the bank.  May I suggest that as part of your research you
read Specialty Cut Flowers by Allan Armitage and The Flower Farmer by
Lynn Byczynski so you'll' get a feel for what you're getting into.  Your
banker will want to know if you want to specialize in flowers that don't
ship well so you can target wholesalers or if you want to grow for
farmers' market.  Flower farming sounds a little tricky as you
research--for instance, you can't let bees pollinate your snapdragons
because that ends their reason to bloom--therefore you get petal drop
and no vase life.  By all means, start small.  I'm on 1/2 acre and
haven't invested in an irrigation system or fertlizer injector because I
can do it all be hand.  You also need to decide if you want to propogate
your own seed or order plugs or a combination of both.  The Association
of Specialty Cut Flower Growers is having their 2001 conference in San
Diego this year and it's a great learning experience.  This is more than
you asked for but flowers can seem a bit tricky at first as opposed to
green beans which are pretty straightfoward.

Nancy Wakely
Grand Canadian Farm