Yep, you read that right. I started a small flower farm for $750. I firmly believe that there should be more people starting small-scale farms, but as younger folks it can be hard to get the resources to start.
I’ve outlined everything I did to start my flower farm. With only 1,000 sq ft of growing space I made over $6k in sales my first year. If you want to start a farm but don’t have land or a ton of extra cash, I hope this helps you realize that with the right connections in place, you can make it happen.
What do you need to start a flower farm?
How to get land and water access to start a farm
The best way to get land access is to ask around your community through Facebook or NextDoor to see if anyone is willing to let you use their land and water source in exchange for a beautiful bloom-filled yard and free bouquets of flowers.
I know several small scale farms for both veggies and flowers that have had success with this route. I use a community member’s backyard and well, and we connected originally over NextDoor!
Ask what type of water supply they are willing to let you use. If they person who’s land you’re using has a well, that’s amazing—just be sure to test the water quality. If they only have city water, see if they’re willing to pay the cost or if they will want you to pay the difference (depending on where you live, that can be pricey).
Sign a contract! You absolutely need to sign a contract with this person, just to make sure you are both clear on exactly what part of the land is going to be used, how water sharing will work, and any other unique points for your situation.
Create flower beds and rows
Tilling and adding in compost. While I am a big proponent of no-till agriculture, if you’re creating a lot of beds in an area that is currently grass, you might need to till. I was able to borrow a tiller from a community garden. Ask around on NextDoor and reach out to community gardens or small farms in your area to see if you can borrow or rent a rototiller for a day.
I was able to get some free compost from another farmer, and added that in when I tilled. That was incredible, because the soil I was working with had poor nutrient quality. I found this out by doing a soil test ($15 for 20 tests) to look at pH and NPK levels. This is essential, as it helps you determine how much to fertilize and which nutrients to prioritize.
Lay cardboard or tarps to kill grass. If you have time, you can lay down layers of cardboard (rescue some from grocery stores who get tons of shipments in cardboard every day!) or large tarps to kill the grass. Depending on where you live, this might take 4-6 weeks. You can also add some compost on top and use a shovel or broadfork to mix it in.
Mulch with leaves. If you can find some leaves, they make a great mulch and add a ton of organic matter into your soil. I was able to rake up some leaves for an elderly neighbor in the spring that had been there since last fall, and use them to mulch my beds. You want about 2-4″ on top of your beds, to help retain soil moisture and repress some weed growth.
Where to buy supplies for a flower farm
Secondhand, reuse stores, neighbors. I tried to find as much as I could secondhand—from reuse stores, thrift stores, and by asking around on NextDoor. My mainline drip irrigation from a neighbor on NextDoor who wanted to give it to someone, and I got all my hoses to connect the drip to the well from a reuse store in my city.
I also went to my local grocer’s florist department and asked if they throw away or reuse buckets, and if they’d be willing to give some to me if they were going to be thrown out. My local grocer gave me 12 buckets that I washed and reused all season.
Johnny’s Seeds. I bought most of my seeds from Johnny’s, as well as the trays and soil blocker. They have great quality seeds, and really amazing cut flower varieties. They also have this amazing drip irrigation kit that has everything you need and is only $156.
True Leaf Market. They have great quality non-GMO seeds and a massive flower seed selection. Plus they have cover crop seed, and a bunch of supplies for apartment and indoor gardening. Whenever you’re looking for seeds for cut flowers, think about the following things:
- Bloom time: Make sure you have focal flowers, fillers, and greenery for spring, summer, and fall.
- Growing conditions: There are some flowers out there that need specific growing conditions that I wasn’t able to provide in the first year (like soil type and conditions, or growing season length that could be extended by a high tunnel, etc.)
- Annual or perennial: If you’re buying perennials, make sure you plant them somewhere you will want to keep them!
Also, always make sure that the flower seed you’re buying is for cut flower growing. Some—that are just for home gardening—don’t have long enough stem lengths. For example, garden marigolds are often 1-2′ tall. However, the cut flower variety marigold I grew (Coco Gold), had plants that were 3-4′ tall with great, long stems.
Local garden stores. I looooove the $10 per 2 cubic ft bags of seed starting potting mix that my local garden center sells. You want one that has a nice, light fluffy texture. You can also probably get trays and a soil blocker from there, and maybe some cut flower seeds in the varieties you want. Supporting local is always a good move.
While you can start seeds in many different containers, I had the best growth using a soil blocker and placing them in solid black seed starting trays with the humidity domes. I found that the soil blocks retained moisture sooo much better than plugs or eggshells, and the seeds had plenty of room to develop strong root systems.
Bouquet I made as a first year flower farmer
- Cosmos ‘Rubenza’
- Cosmos ‘Double Click Bi-Color Violet’
- Zinnia
- Bachelors Buttons ‘Choice Mix’
- Nigella ‘Delft Blue’
- Plume Celosia
- Explosion Grass
- Statice
- Russian Sage
- Dusty Miller
How much did it cost to start a sustainable cut flower garden?
While I did spend more money throughout the season on things like a canopy and tables for the farmer’s market, by that time I had made some money selling bouquets to my (super small) CSA to help cover those costs.
All in all, I spent ~$750 to get everything I needed to start growing.
- $230 seeds (I totally over ordered)
- $150 soil + soil blocker + trays and domes
- $120 grow lights + timer
- $250 irrigation setup + hoses + automatic timer
Part of the reason why my costs were lower is because I prioritized sustainable reuse for this opportunity. I sourced a lot of things secondhand, and borrowed things from my community—meeting people and forming new community relationships in the process.
I hope this is helpful to anyone who wants to get started with a sustainable flower farm of your own! 💚
