Windfall Flowers

To produce hardy and healthy zinnia seed, I put a lot of work into the health of my soil, plants and farm ecosystem. Spring is a busy time of cover cropping, soil testing, soil mixing, soil trialing, soil blocking, seed starting, hardening off, seedling selection, composting, new bed prep, planting, weeding, irrigation, bee keeping, chicken keeping, pollinator habitat, bird habitat, beneficial insect habitat, mulching, weeding, weeding, dealing with bugs (I actually don’t deal with them in any way, I let nature take its course and plant extra).

The first shot is from a past summer. It takes a lot to get to that stage! I’d you like to see how I do it, I’ll be taking you through the whole process of starting a field of 5,000 zinnias from seed this summer, so follow along!

Seeds are going in the ground this week!
Follow along to see how I turn a bare field into a sea of zinnias this summer 🌸

Testing your seed starting soils (by sowing a few less valuable seeds before you sow all your special seeds) can prevent a lot of frustration and heartache.

I’ve been burned (or at least my plants have!) by seed starting soils so many times. Even the same brand of basic seed starting soils can produce different results from year to year.

If you start adding amendments to the seed starting soil (I am experimenting with this) it’s even more important to test your mix before you sow all your seeds.

I’ve skipped this step in the past (sometimes life doesn’t give you the time for added steps!) and lost many valuable seedlings. When possible, I will always be testing my seed starting soils with less valuable seeds before sowing my core crops!

Zinnias can easily be seeded directly into the ground, but if you’re like me and can’t wait and want to get a head start, you can start them indoors - as long as you have a light source! A bright windowsill will not be enough.

Zinnias grow fast and they are sun lovers. If they don’t get enough light, they will be leggy and weak.

Just don’t start them too early! 2-3 weeks before planting outside is a good timeline to aim for.

The lights I’m using are 4 foot long LED Barrina shop lights from Amazon (I have no affiliation with this brand) but you can use any shop light or grow light with “daylight” colour light. The more lumens the better (brighter). Mine are 5000 to 5500 lumens.