Devery’s Top Gardening and Farming Resources
The second most-asked question I get asked (right after, “What got you started into growing flowers?”) is “How did you learn how to do this? Where can I learn?”
I thought it would be useful to tell you about all the resources out there that have helped me learn about farming, gardening, and business.
FOR THE HOME GARDENER:
If you’re wanting to try growing some cut flowers in your backyard, but don’t know where to start, I recommend one of these three books:
Growing Flowers by Niki Irving
Cool Flowers by Lisa Mason Ziegler
Cut Flower Garden by Erin Benzakein
I’m not sure I could choose just one. Any of them would help you sufficiently to start your own garden.
FOR THE BUDDING FARMER
First and foremost, if you’re serious about starting a farm, I highly recommend joining the American Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers (ASCFG for short).I also highly recommend these books. I’ve read all of these twice, and I firmly believe all of them have helped me significantly. The first two are essential, but I recommend all of them if you’re wanting to farm or grow more than a raised bed in your backyard.
-Cool Flowers by Lisa Mason Ziegler (I’m telling you, this book is everything).
-The Flower Farmer by Lynn Byczynski
-The Flower Farmer’s Year by Georgie Newbery
-The New Organic Grower by Elliot Coleman
-The Market Gardener by Jean-Martin Fortier
-The Living Soil Handbook by Jesse Frost
-Specialty Cut Flowers by Armitage and Laushman
-Start Your Farm by Pritchard and Polishuk
-Compact Farms by Josh Volk
-No-Till Intensive Vegetable Culture by Bryan O’Hara’
-The Organic No-Till Farming Revolution by Andrew Mefferd
-Lean Farm by Ben Hartman
Others to note:
-Vegetables Love Flowers by Lisa Mason Ziegler
-Discovering Dahlias by Erin Benzakein
-A Year in Flowers by Erin Benzakein
BLOGS TO STALK
All of these blogs have great information for both home gardeners and farmers. You just have to search through them to find what you want. All of these have been very helpful to me!
-Floret Flowers blog by Erin Benzakein
-Love n’ Fresh Flowers blog by Jennie Love
-Gardener’s Workshop blog by Lisa Mason Ziegler
-Flourish Flower Farm’s blog by Niki Irving
-Sierra Flower Farm’s blog by Jessica
-The Kokoro Garden blog
PODCASTS TO LISTEN TO
-The No-Till Flowers podcast with Jennie Love
-The Dirt on Flowers podcast with Shannon and Lyndsey
-Field and Garden podcast with Lisa Mason Ziegler (goodness the woman does everything!)
-Between Me and Drew with…Drew
-The Flower Podcast with Scott Shepherd
-Slow Flowers podcast with Debra Prinzing
ONLINE COURSES:
-Any and all of the courses on the Gardeners Workshop. Lisa has all sorts for both
Gardeners and Farmers. Some are on demand, and some only come around once a
year. Couldn’t recommend them enough!
Well, that about sums it up! Shoot me a question if you’re wondering about anything specific.
