Big Changes on the Farm: A Garden Expansion, Raised Bed Makeover, and Seed Starting Season
Happy Spring Equinox! The first day of spring has officially arrived, bringing a fresh start, longer days, and the promise of new growth. Here at Brave Blooms, we’ve been hard at work preparing for the season ahead, and I’m excited to share some big farm updates.
This season is already shaping up to be a transformative one. We’ve expanded our flower field, started the process of reworking our existing raised garden beds, and taken on our most ambitious seed-starting yet. It’s been a time of growth—both for the farm and for us as growers.
A Major Expansion: 1,000 More Square Feet of Growing Space
One of the biggest updates on the farm is our garden extension, adding nearly 1,000 square feet to our production space. This new addition includes nine new growing beds, ranging from 15 to 20 feet long, and will allow us to grow more flowers than ever before.
This expansion is particularly exciting because for the first time ever, we are growing in the ground. Up until now, we’ve only farmed in raised beds, mainly because of how rocky our native soil is here in Rochester. And when I say rocky, I’m not just talking about a few small stones—we’re dealing with massive boulders. But with a ton of planning, patience, and hard work, we were able to create mounded soil beds that provide plenty of space for roots to grow before they hit any rocks.
Since most cut flowers have shallow root systems, we anticipate them to thrive in this setup. However, crops like carrots and potatoes will still need deep raised beds, as their roots need more depth than our rocky soil allows.
A Raised Bed Makeover—13 Years in the Making
Speaking of raised beds, another big project this season is reworking our 13-year-old raised garden. When we first built it, we were brand new to gardening and didn’t have a solid plan for bed orientation, spacing, or size. As a result, we ended up with oversized beds that are hard to work in and a lot of wasted space.
Now, after 13 seasons of gardening in the wet Pacific Northwest, many of our original cedar raised beds are starting to fall apart—which is honestly impressive, considering how long they’ve lasted in our climate.
We’ve decided to slowly rebuild our raised garden with new cedar beds, designed with intentional spacing and orientation to make them more efficient and enjoyable to work in. Instead of the old layout, we’re adding 24 new 4x8 ft raised beds, maximizing every bit of space and eliminating unnecessary grass.
The new layout includes:
A 5-foot perimeter path for easy access.
3-foot paths between beds for comfortable working and walking.
More space for growing and enjoying the garden.
We can’t wait to see this transformation unfold and finally have a setup that works exactly how we want it.
Seed Starting Like Never Before
With all this new growing space, we’ve also kicked off our biggest seed-starting season yet. Each day, we’re sowing hundreds of seeds, including both flowers and vegetables. Under our new grow lights and in the greenhouse, the seedlings are thriving, and we’re already beginning to harden off and transplant our first rounds of plants into the field.
Just yesterday, we planted out sweet peas and other cold-hardy annuals. If the weather and pests cooperate, we are on track for our best season yet, and I cannot wait to share our blooms and veggies with you all.
Thank you for following along on this journey—stay tuned for more updates as our season unfolds!
With love,
Iesha
