A Day in the Life at Florista: From Pulling Weeds to Harvesting Blossoms

Working at Florista is a really rewarding experience. It’s hard work, but in the end it is definitely worth it. Now you’re probably wondering what we do to make all of those beautiful blooms you see. Well look no further as today I’m going to tell you what we do in a day’s work at Florista. 

Irrigation

When we arrive, the first thing we do is take some trays of germinating plants and water them. The trays are medium sized, but they hold a lot of plugs, about 50 of them. Each row can get about 200 plants in one round of seeding and there are 5 rows in a rack. That’s 1000 plants! We work quickly and all of the seedlings get watered. We run the hose to water any beds if needed.  At the farm irrigation is automated with a wobbler system which is pretty cool! 

Planting Dreams

Planting dreams has a hard start because we have to weed first and do bed prep. Weeding is quick sometimes, but most of the time it takes a while, considering that weeds grow quickly. It’s all worth it though when the plants can grow without hindrance. After we’re done weeding the beds, we do some bed prep. This is when we lay soil and compost on the beds and rake it in, making raised beds, which look very nice and help the plants grow well. Then we set up a netting called Hortonova netting. The netting works as a grid and makes sure the plants grow in a specific area and not intrude on the other plants. To set it up, we take some T-posts and put them in the dirt in four corners. Then we put the netting over the posts. This makes a grid formation on the bed, so then we can plant the plugs in an organized way.  The net also works as a support system for the plants to grow up straight. 

There are days when we do not weed or have to make beds. Those are the days we plant bulbs in crates. Bulbs are easier to plant in crates and take up less space. We line the crates with cardboard and then we fill up the crates with soil. We make sure the bulbs have enough space, so we use a system called “egg carton spacing,” which makes sure the bulbs have enough room to grow.

Harvesting Blossoms 

We also get to harvest flowers. You will be surprised at how much work there is before the flowers go into vases or bouquets. Once harvested, we have to remove unnecessary stuff, like the leaves on the stems because they cause bacteria to grow. They have to be hydrated for a few hours before they can go into the cooler or some have to be stored at room temperature.  We use different buckets for different sizes of flowers. Snips are used to harvest blooms. 

Cleaning Up for the Future

We always clean up before we end our work day. This makes sure our workplace is neat and organized. We must make sure that everything is in its place so that we can find them the next day. That includes putting the tools away, picking up any trash, and bagging any weeds laying around after cleaning up. 

That is a day at Florista. We work hard, but we also make sure to have a lot of fun. We make friends and together we grow  plants that will light up rooms with Florista’s beautiful blooms.