 Hi, my name is Kim Dodie McCannon, and we're here at Bell Urban Farm located in Conway, Arkansas, and that's in Faulkner County. Here we grow mainly cut flowers for cut flower bouquets. We also produce plants for people's home gardens. We farm on less than an acre, so we're small, but we do produce a lot of flowers for Central Arkansas. Another question we get a lot is, if I'm new to growing cut flowers, what kinds grow well in Arkansas? I would recommend starting with our summer annuals, so things like sunflowers, zinnias, gonfrina, even things like basil are great things to grow in Arkansas for cut flower bouquets. For sunflowers in particular, you'll want to be sure to get pollenless varieties because if you're using them for cut flower bouquets, people don't like that pollen on their tablecloths. So another question we get a lot is, how do you keep bugs from destroying your flowers? Well, that can be a little bit tricky, but what we like to do is make sure we rotate every year where we plant our flowers so we'll rotate different varieties to kind of confuse the bugs, confuse the pests. So just keeping a close eye on them every week, making a walkthrough of your plants, and if you see any pest problems, just investigate some things you can do, like friendly pest control, like planting beneficial plants around them to attract them to those plants instead, and just providing a habitat for insects and birds to live. We have a lot of trees surrounding our farm, and that really helps the birds get in here and get pests off our plants. Another question we get a lot is, how can I choose the perfect plants for my raised bed or my container gardens? A lot of people like to grow on their porches and patios in containers, and my advice would be to search for specific varieties that are made for container planting. They're usually a little bit smaller type varieties that don't grow as deep of roots. Leafy greens are a good option in the colder months. Some good options for warm summer months are small cherry tomatoes, small egg plants, those kind of smaller varieties. And with containers, they have a tendency to dry out quickly, so you'll definitely want to water them at least once a day. Another question we get a lot, especially in the summer, is how can I tell if I'm watering my plants properly? And that can be kind of tricky because all different varieties of plants lack a different amount of water. But the easiest for me is just to look at my plants, see if they look healthy. You can tell if they're wilting, they need more water, especially in the hot summer months. And sometimes if they start to take on a yellow tint, that could mean you're overwatering them. Another thing you can do is just fill into the soil and see if it's moist and how far down that it's wet. If just the very top of the soil is wet, you might need to water them more. But if it's wet, deep down, you're watering enough. What type of flowers grow best in the city? Well as you can see, we're right in the middle of the city. And I would say pretty much any type of flower grows well in the city, but if you have a small amount of space, you'll want to concentrate on varieties that are smaller and more productive. So more things like zinnias and maybe less really tall sunflowers that take up a lot of space. So what's the best way to keep your bouquets looking fresh? We like to tell people to check the water every couple days, give your flowers fresh water, and you can trim the very bottom of the stems. When you give them a nice clean cut, it's easier for them to drink up the fresh water. And just be sure to put it somewhere in your home out of the direct sunlight or air. People that come to our plant cell usually want to know what's the best way to get their plants home. They're kind of worried about them getting damaged or falling over. And we recommend that you bring a tray or a cardboard box with you. That way you can fill your box up and they stay nice and upright on the journey home. Another question we get a lot is how do I make sure that bees are pollinating my flowers? And that can be a little bit tricky because if you are producing flowers as cut flower bouquets, you don't really want the bees to be pollinating the flowers you cut because for a cut flower farmer, vase life is the most important thing. So you want to get your flower right before the bees pollinate it, and then it's going to have a longer life in your vase. Now it's still very important to attract pollinators like bees to our gardens. And we can plant things that bees like like lavender, Mexican sunflowers, a whole bunch of flowering herbs, things like that inspire bees to come to our vegetable gardens to pollinate our vegetable flowers to produce fruit. So we use a lot of compost on our farm to help enrich our soil. This gives nutrients back to our garden and helps retain water and a whole bunch of different benefits. So what compost is is just all of our leftover veggie matter from the store, from our garden mixed with leaves, and it's a big mix of carbon and nitrogen that breaks down over time and forms a rich soil. We mix this in to our beds with our feather meal fertilizer, and you can create this easily at your own home. A question we get asked a lot, especially from people who live in the city, is how do I make it to where it doesn't smell? And if you create your compost correctly, it should never smell if you're using the right carbon to nitrogen ratio and you mix it at least a couple times a week. It's going to mix together and start to degrade, and it should never have a bad smell. If it does start smelling bad, you might want to investigate what items you're putting into it. We like to use no milk, no meat, only veggie scraps, and things like leaves, coffee, tea, shredded up newspaper, and things like that. Okay, so the final question for today is why do flowers smell good? And flowers smell good so they can attract the right pollinators to come visit them, but it's also great for humans too because we can enjoy smelling these beautiful flowers in our homes. So if you're local to Central Arkansas, come visit us at our form stand grocery store and you can take home some beautiful flowers.