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Unlocking the secret to dahlia dividing? Get your Unlocking the secret to dahlia dividing?

Get yourself a reliable, SHARP knife! 🌸🔪 #MyVictorinox #partner It makes dividing way less stressful and so much faster 🙌 That was my biggest mistake as a amateur farmer!

If you’re in the market look no further than the @Victorinoxnorthamerica Huntsman Swiss Army knife – this versatile tool makes dividing tubers (and so much more!) a breeze. Compact yet powerful, with 15 different functions, it’s the ultimate companion for any gardening enthusiast. It’s my go-to flower farm tool, always in my pocket for whatever unexpected farm (or #momlife) issues come up!

Back to dahlias, here’s a few more tips for dividing —

🌸 Use a SHARP knife — I recommend the Victorinox Huntsman Swiss Army Knife for its versatility, precision and sharpness

🌸 Use the saw tool on your Huntsman for the thicker cuts, and the scissors for cutting off the stringy roots before dividing

🌸 Sterilize your tools in between varieties as you’re dividing to lessen the spread of viruses

🌸 You can either divide in the fall before storage or in the late winter/spring just before planting 

🌸 Look for eyes on the crown (they’re circled in the video), a viable tuber will have a piece of the crown attached to its neck; toss any tubers that have broken necks

🌸 Storage is different for everyone and greatly depends on your specific situation, for us what works best is storing washed, cured clumps and divided tubers in vermiculite in airtight bins that we keep in our garage for the winter (you want a cool, dark space, ideally kept at 90% humidity and around 40°)

Let me know in the comments if you have any other questions!

Happy gardening! 🌻

#SwissArmyKnife #FlowerFarmer #FarmerFlorist
#GardeningLife #BloomAndGrow
#ConvenientTools #dahliaseason #dahliatubersale #dahlialove #gardentools #gardengifts
Embracing the whimsy of tending to blooms and wran Embracing the whimsy of tending to blooms and wrangling little ones requires a multitool that's as adaptable as life itself. Enter my sidekick, the @Victorinoxnorthamerica Huntsman Swiss Army knife! 🌸🔧

From harvesting blooms to dividing dahlia tubers to fixing impromptu toy crises, and let’s be real — opening my endless amazon boxes — its versatility mirrors the unpredictability of my days. Compact yet robust, it's more than just a tool—it's the essence of everyday convenience and the heartbeat of both my flower farm adventures and mom magic. 🌼💫 #MyVictorinox #Partner #FlowerFarmer #FarmerFlorist #MomLife #BloomWithHuntsman
1,200 dahlia clumps out, 300 more to go 🙌 Here 1,200 dahlia clumps out, 300 more to go 🙌

Here are my thoughts —

✨I prefer the fork over a shovel, lifts the clumps more gently and easier to get underneath

✨Lopping down the plant to the base and waiting a few days signals the tubers to start setting eyes, this makes dividing so much easier

✨It’s ok to start digging before the first frost, dahlias only need around 130 days in the ground to grow new tubers

✨Pre-digging and pre-frost make sure to label your plants!! Very important because once that frost hits you can’t tell one variety from the next

✨Dig around the the clump careful to not sever tubers, but if you do it’s not the end of the world, it happens to the best of us

✨Once the clump is dug gently shake and brush away excess dirt, I also like to wash immediately because I find the that leaving the soil on dries them out faster which is no bueno

✨By all means don’t dig your dahlias if you want to experiment — we did this last year with a few varieties I didn’t super care about and lo and behold they came back on their own like perennials! We just lazily cut them back and threw a hay bale on top for insulation, worked like a charm (zone 6b)

✨If you do dig you just want to get them out before the ground freezes

✨Back brace, knee pads and waterproof clothes are highly recommended

🌿I’ll be sharing tips for dividing clumps and storing them over winter in my next reel, stay tuned!!

Save this video so you can reference back, and share with someone who might need this info!

Flower farm, farmer florist, Connecticut, fall garden, dahlia tubers, dahlias
Until next year, dahlias 🌿 We’re about half Until next year, dahlias 🌿

We’re about half way through digging tubers and prepping for storage — more on that soon! It’s a long, dirty, physically taxing process but we do it because they’re worth it, they take my breath away every season 💞💫

This also means an EPIC tuber sale will be happening sometime in early 2024, stay tuned over on our farm page @wildirisflowertruck!
Harvested the last of the marigolds yesterday just Harvested the last of the marigolds yesterday just in time for Día de los Muertos 💀🧡💀🖤 and the first frost! And had my right hand man helping me to boot, he snipped all the snaps by himself, I love that he can name all the flowers in that last fresh bucket harvest ((swipe))!

Cheers to the end of a great 2023 flower season 💐
One whole month with our littlest love! Everything One whole month with our littlest love! Everything just feels right with you, our sweet + smiley Layla girl 💕
Take the photos ✨ It’s no secret that photos Take the photos ✨

It’s no secret that photos and photography are extremely important to me. Especially to document these fleeting moments of pregnancy and newborn days, which truly do fly by.

And especially through my losses I’ve learned that no matter the outcome I want the photos to remember these times. I have very few photos of my Liam belly (my son who died during pregnancy) but the ones I do have are some of my very most treasured possessions. And no, I definitely did not feel that way at first. It has taken a lot of time and a lot of therapy and a lot of work. But here I am and I’m unapologetic about how much I love and value photos and documenting this time.

So, friends, just take the photos ✨

Giant thank you to the photographers (slash  good friends!!) who entertain all of my crazy photo shoot ideas, love you guys 🫶 @jessicamicciophoto @mymotherhoodstory 

#momtobe #honestmotherhood #momoffour #maternityphotography #maternityphotoshoot #maternityphotos #pregnancyphotoshoot #pregnancyafterloss #thebump #pailawareness #pregnancylossawarenessmonth #pregnancylossawareness #pregnancylosssupport #babyloss #babylossawareness #babylosssupport #rainbowbaby #goldenrainbow #lifeafterloss #griefjourney #loveandloss #pregnancyaftermiscarriage

Maternity photos, pregnancy photoshoot, beach maternity shoot, black cut out pregnancy dress, flower farm, dahlias
2 whole extra weeks with our girl, happy due date 2 whole extra weeks with our girl, happy due date (yesterday!) little mama we’re so happy you joined us early 💕💕
Baby SISTER is here!! Best surprise ever and worth Baby SISTER is here!! Best surprise ever and worth the wait to find out! Everyone say hi to our littlest love, Layla Marie 💕💕 She came into this world making us laugh + cry the happiest tears. Weighing 7lb 3oz with the cutest cheeks and darkest hair, 20in long! Layla girl, you are everything our family needed and more 😭 IT'S A GIRL! Ahhhhh!!! Still can't believe it 🫶
Unlocking the secret to dahlia dividing? Get your Unlocking the secret to dahlia dividing?

Get yourself a reliable, SHARP knife! 🌸🔪 #MyVictorinox #partner It makes dividing way less stressful and so much faster 🙌 That was my biggest mistake as a amateur farmer!

If you’re in the market look no further than the @Victorinoxnorthamerica Huntsman Swiss Army knife – this versatile tool makes dividing tubers (and so much more!) a breeze. Compact yet powerful, with 15 different functions, it’s the ultimate companion for any gardening enthusiast. It’s my go-to flower farm tool, always in my pocket for whatever unexpected farm (or #momlife) issues come up!

Back to dahlias, here’s a few more tips for dividing —

🌸 Use a SHARP knife — I recommend the Victorinox Huntsman Swiss Army Knife for its versatility, precision and sharpness

🌸 Use the saw tool on your Huntsman for the thicker cuts, and the scissors for cutting off the stringy roots before dividing

🌸 Sterilize your tools in between varieties as you’re dividing to lessen the spread of viruses

🌸 You can either divide in the fall before storage or in the late winter/spring just before planting 

🌸 Look for eyes on the crown (they’re circled in the video), a viable tuber will have a piece of the crown attached to its neck; toss any tubers that have broken necks

🌸 Storage is different for everyone and greatly depends on your specific situation, for us what works best is storing washed, cured clumps and divided tubers in vermiculite in airtight bins that we keep in our garage for the winter (you want a cool, dark space, ideally kept at 90% humidity and around 40°)

Let me know in the comments if you have any other questions!

Happy gardening! 🌻

#SwissArmyKnife #FlowerFarmer #FarmerFlorist
#GardeningLife #BloomAndGrow
#ConvenientTools #dahliaseason #dahliatubersale #dahlialove #gardentools #gardengifts
Embracing the whimsy of tending to blooms and wran Embracing the whimsy of tending to blooms and wrangling little ones requires a multitool that's as adaptable as life itself. Enter my sidekick, the @Victorinoxnorthamerica Huntsman Swiss Army knife! 🌸🔧

From harvesting blooms to dividing dahlia tubers to fixing impromptu toy crises, and let’s be real — opening my endless amazon boxes — its versatility mirrors the unpredictability of my days. Compact yet robust, it's more than just a tool—it's the essence of everyday convenience and the heartbeat of both my flower farm adventures and mom magic. 🌼💫 #MyVictorinox #Partner #FlowerFarmer #FarmerFlorist #MomLife #BloomWithHuntsman
1,200 dahlia clumps out, 300 more to go 🙌 Here 1,200 dahlia clumps out, 300 more to go 🙌

Here are my thoughts —

✨I prefer the fork over a shovel, lifts the clumps more gently and easier to get underneath

✨Lopping down the plant to the base and waiting a few days signals the tubers to start setting eyes, this makes dividing so much easier

✨It’s ok to start digging before the first frost, dahlias only need around 130 days in the ground to grow new tubers

✨Pre-digging and pre-frost make sure to label your plants!! Very important because once that frost hits you can’t tell one variety from the next

✨Dig around the the clump careful to not sever tubers, but if you do it’s not the end of the world, it happens to the best of us

✨Once the clump is dug gently shake and brush away excess dirt, I also like to wash immediately because I find the that leaving the soil on dries them out faster which is no bueno

✨By all means don’t dig your dahlias if you want to experiment — we did this last year with a few varieties I didn’t super care about and lo and behold they came back on their own like perennials! We just lazily cut them back and threw a hay bale on top for insulation, worked like a charm (zone 6b)

✨If you do dig you just want to get them out before the ground freezes

✨Back brace, knee pads and waterproof clothes are highly recommended

🌿I’ll be sharing tips for dividing clumps and storing them over winter in my next reel, stay tuned!!

Save this video so you can reference back, and share with someone who might need this info!

Flower farm, farmer florist, Connecticut, fall garden, dahlia tubers, dahlias
Until next year, dahlias 🌿 We’re about half Until next year, dahlias 🌿

We’re about half way through digging tubers and prepping for storage — more on that soon! It’s a long, dirty, physically taxing process but we do it because they’re worth it, they take my breath away every season 💞💫

This also means an EPIC tuber sale will be happening sometime in early 2024, stay tuned over on our farm page @wildirisflowertruck!
Harvested the last of the marigolds yesterday just Harvested the last of the marigolds yesterday just in time for Día de los Muertos 💀🧡💀🖤 and the first frost! And had my right hand man helping me to boot, he snipped all the snaps by himself, I love that he can name all the flowers in that last fresh bucket harvest ((swipe))!

Cheers to the end of a great 2023 flower season 💐
One whole month with our littlest love! Everything One whole month with our littlest love! Everything just feels right with you, our sweet + smiley Layla girl 💕
Take the photos ✨ It’s no secret that photos Take the photos ✨

It’s no secret that photos and photography are extremely important to me. Especially to document these fleeting moments of pregnancy and newborn days, which truly do fly by.

And especially through my losses I’ve learned that no matter the outcome I want the photos to remember these times. I have very few photos of my Liam belly (my son who died during pregnancy) but the ones I do have are some of my very most treasured possessions. And no, I definitely did not feel that way at first. It has taken a lot of time and a lot of therapy and a lot of work. But here I am and I’m unapologetic about how much I love and value photos and documenting this time.

So, friends, just take the photos ✨

Giant thank you to the photographers (slash  good friends!!) who entertain all of my crazy photo shoot ideas, love you guys 🫶 @jessicamicciophoto @mymotherhoodstory 

#momtobe #honestmotherhood #momoffour #maternityphotography #maternityphotoshoot #maternityphotos #pregnancyphotoshoot #pregnancyafterloss #thebump #pailawareness #pregnancylossawarenessmonth #pregnancylossawareness #pregnancylosssupport #babyloss #babylossawareness #babylosssupport #rainbowbaby #goldenrainbow #lifeafterloss #griefjourney #loveandloss #pregnancyaftermiscarriage

Maternity photos, pregnancy photoshoot, beach maternity shoot, black cut out pregnancy dress, flower farm, dahlias
2 whole extra weeks with our girl, happy due date 2 whole extra weeks with our girl, happy due date (yesterday!) little mama we’re so happy you joined us early 💕💕
Baby SISTER is here!! Best surprise ever and worth Baby SISTER is here!! Best surprise ever and worth the wait to find out! Everyone say hi to our littlest love, Layla Marie 💕💕 She came into this world making us laugh + cry the happiest tears. Weighing 7lb 3oz with the cutest cheeks and darkest hair, 20in long! Layla girl, you are everything our family needed and more 😭 IT'S A GIRL! Ahhhhh!!! Still can't believe it 🫶
09.18.23 🤍 09.18.23 🤍
Feeling ready to meet this babe!!! Give us your be Feeling ready to meet this babe!!! Give us your best guesses for baby’s gender — it’s a surprise and I’ve had zero “feelings” this whole time 🤣 I love hearing everyone’s predictions and reasonings though! Also throw your best name choices at us for both boys and girls because we still haven’t narrowed anything down, third child energy, no time to think 🤪✌️#herewegoagain
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Get Stylish With Raised Bed Gardening

March 16, 2023 / Gardening

Obsessed with the look of raised garden beds? This post dives into where to find quality and good looking garden beds for raised bed gardening!

Having a garden of fresh vegetables right out your back door has never been easier. Raised beds offer you the opportunity to work within your space, whether you have a large yard or yearn to be an urban farmer. Just be sure to place your garden in a sunny spot, ideally with a southern exposure, to get at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight. It seems like every year I discover a new kind of vegetable or two and need to expand my garden. This year it’s Chijimisai spinach from Baker Creek!, and here I go putting in another raised bed!

Raised bed gardening has become so popular these days that there are many to choose from.

What is Raised Bed Gardening?

Raised bed gardening is an easy gardening hack, that’s what! Raised bed gardening is a type of gardening where the soil is above ground and usually is in the form of some kind of raised enclosure. Raised garden beds can be made of many things; from wood to steel and even rock.

If you are feeling handy, build your own with redwood or cedar, woods that will last almost forever. If you’d like a garden, say, this weekend, kits abound where you can create your own size for the space you have in a few hours. The good news is they are affordable and think about how much fresher your food will be when you are in control! The best advice I can give you is for your raised beds to be at least 12” deep or higher. Your plant roots really need room to spread out and thrive. So, if space is limited, go taller rather than longer.

Read my post on DIY raised garden beds and all the benefits HERE.

Here are my top three picks for raised beds.

Top Picks for Raised Garden Beds

Galvanized Steel Raised Beds

Check out Epic Gardening’s raised beds, called Birdies. These Aluzinc steel beds (more durable than galvanized steel) are amazing! You can put one together in about half an hour, place it in a sunny spot and voila—fill it and grow! The frames are bottomless so it’s a good idea to line the bottom with chicken wire or another mesh to prevent gophers and other critters from digging into your new garden. The kits let you design the shape and size of your bed which is super cool. Do you want a long, narrow bed or a tall, fat bed? You can have it all with Birdies.

Other great galvanized steel kits are:

Vego Garden and Gardening.com

Wooden Raised Beds

I love wooden raised beds because you can customize them to any size and even add a “bench” on top as a place to sit while you plant, or just gaze at all the good things growing. Redwood and cedar make good choices for the wood frames as they tend to be rot resistant. Wooden frames are attractive but more of a permanent fixture for your yard. Be sure you are buying wood that has not been treated as the chemicals can leech into the soil and then into your food and the reason you are growing your own food is to go organic, right?

You can build your own wooden raised garden beds, or many different style kits are available online or at your favorite garden shop.

Check these sites out!

Earth Easy has it all. Raised beds for yards, elevated beds for patios, trellises that attach to the beds for your viners like beans and peas, and videos demonstrating how to assemble your new garden bed.

Another fantastic site is at Custom Raised Gardens. Their gardens for raised bed gardening are all customized for your specific needs. Check out their beautiful potting benches and handsome elevated gardens.

NY-based home and garden blogger, Christine Covino, outlines an easy and inexpensive tutorial on how to build raised garden beds. Click here for more!

Inexpensive, DIY Raised Garden Bed

For my own garden we went the route of inexpensive, DIY raised garden beds because we didn’t have the time or money to invest in the beautiful, long lasting wooden ones. Though that is my dream for our garden one day!

Our method was really straight forward, quick and easy, and I share the tutorial here in this post if you want to check it out!

Above are a few photos of how they turned out!

Get Creative with Your Raised Bed Gardening!

Finally—if you’re feeling handy and would like to repurpose materials you may have on hand or can get easily, why not consider building your raised beds out of old pallets, straw bales, logs, wine barrels, or cinder blocks. These gardens will reflect your personality!

I love Joe’s website on using the straw bales! So country! Joe Gardner

For a touch of wine country, and more barrel ideas, visit Balcony Garden Web.

I hope I’ve inspired you to get your hands dirty and plant your favorite foods, whether it be on your patio or in your backyard! I guarantee you will get way more back in rewards than you give. And who doesn’t love farm fresh veggies? Just watching the evolution of life taking place before my very eyes makes the process even more worthwhile. 

Send me photos of your raised bed gardens! I’d love to see your creative styles!

If you loved this post, I think you should read my post about container flower gardening next!

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Unlocking the secret to dahlia dividing? Get your Unlocking the secret to dahlia dividing?

Get yourself a reliable, SHARP knife! 🌸🔪 #MyVictorinox #partner It makes dividing way less stressful and so much faster 🙌 That was my biggest mistake as a amateur farmer!

If you’re in the market look no further than the @Victorinoxnorthamerica Huntsman Swiss Army knife – this versatile tool makes dividing tubers (and so much more!) a breeze. Compact yet powerful, with 15 different functions, it’s the ultimate companion for any gardening enthusiast. It’s my go-to flower farm tool, always in my pocket for whatever unexpected farm (or #momlife) issues come up!

Back to dahlias, here’s a few more tips for dividing —

🌸 Use a SHARP knife — I recommend the Victorinox Huntsman Swiss Army Knife for its versatility, precision and sharpness

🌸 Use the saw tool on your Huntsman for the thicker cuts, and the scissors for cutting off the stringy roots before dividing

🌸 Sterilize your tools in between varieties as you’re dividing to lessen the spread of viruses

🌸 You can either divide in the fall before storage or in the late winter/spring just before planting 

🌸 Look for eyes on the crown (they’re circled in the video), a viable tuber will have a piece of the crown attached to its neck; toss any tubers that have broken necks

🌸 Storage is different for everyone and greatly depends on your specific situation, for us what works best is storing washed, cured clumps and divided tubers in vermiculite in airtight bins that we keep in our garage for the winter (you want a cool, dark space, ideally kept at 90% humidity and around 40°)

Let me know in the comments if you have any other questions!

Happy gardening! 🌻

#SwissArmyKnife #FlowerFarmer #FarmerFlorist
#GardeningLife #BloomAndGrow
#ConvenientTools #dahliaseason #dahliatubersale #dahlialove #gardentools #gardengifts
Embracing the whimsy of tending to blooms and wran Embracing the whimsy of tending to blooms and wrangling little ones requires a multitool that's as adaptable as life itself. Enter my sidekick, the @Victorinoxnorthamerica Huntsman Swiss Army knife! 🌸🔧

From harvesting blooms to dividing dahlia tubers to fixing impromptu toy crises, and let’s be real — opening my endless amazon boxes — its versatility mirrors the unpredictability of my days. Compact yet robust, it's more than just a tool—it's the essence of everyday convenience and the heartbeat of both my flower farm adventures and mom magic. 🌼💫 #MyVictorinox #Partner #FlowerFarmer #FarmerFlorist #MomLife #BloomWithHuntsman
1,200 dahlia clumps out, 300 more to go 🙌 Here 1,200 dahlia clumps out, 300 more to go 🙌

Here are my thoughts —

✨I prefer the fork over a shovel, lifts the clumps more gently and easier to get underneath

✨Lopping down the plant to the base and waiting a few days signals the tubers to start setting eyes, this makes dividing so much easier

✨It’s ok to start digging before the first frost, dahlias only need around 130 days in the ground to grow new tubers

✨Pre-digging and pre-frost make sure to label your plants!! Very important because once that frost hits you can’t tell one variety from the next

✨Dig around the the clump careful to not sever tubers, but if you do it’s not the end of the world, it happens to the best of us

✨Once the clump is dug gently shake and brush away excess dirt, I also like to wash immediately because I find the that leaving the soil on dries them out faster which is no bueno

✨By all means don’t dig your dahlias if you want to experiment — we did this last year with a few varieties I didn’t super care about and lo and behold they came back on their own like perennials! We just lazily cut them back and threw a hay bale on top for insulation, worked like a charm (zone 6b)

✨If you do dig you just want to get them out before the ground freezes

✨Back brace, knee pads and waterproof clothes are highly recommended

🌿I’ll be sharing tips for dividing clumps and storing them over winter in my next reel, stay tuned!!

Save this video so you can reference back, and share with someone who might need this info!

Flower farm, farmer florist, Connecticut, fall garden, dahlia tubers, dahlias
Until next year, dahlias 🌿 We’re about half Until next year, dahlias 🌿

We’re about half way through digging tubers and prepping for storage — more on that soon! It’s a long, dirty, physically taxing process but we do it because they’re worth it, they take my breath away every season 💞💫

This also means an EPIC tuber sale will be happening sometime in early 2024, stay tuned over on our farm page @wildirisflowertruck!
Harvested the last of the marigolds yesterday just Harvested the last of the marigolds yesterday just in time for Día de los Muertos 💀🧡💀🖤 and the first frost! And had my right hand man helping me to boot, he snipped all the snaps by himself, I love that he can name all the flowers in that last fresh bucket harvest ((swipe))!

Cheers to the end of a great 2023 flower season 💐
One whole month with our littlest love! Everything One whole month with our littlest love! Everything just feels right with you, our sweet + smiley Layla girl 💕

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