{"id":27763,"date":"2026-05-23T10:10:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T17:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/?p=27763"},"modified":"2026-05-21T18:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T01:22:07","slug":"becoming-a-better-gardener-pay-attention-to-improve-on-each-growing-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2026\/05\/becoming-a-better-gardener-pay-attention-to-improve-on-each-growing-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Becoming A Better Gardener, Pay Attention to Improve on Each Growing Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Imagine singing karaoke in front of Beyonce and you can\u2019t hold a tune. Or picture playing a round of knockout basketball with Caitlin Clark when you\u2019ve been known to bonk the majority of your free throws. That\u2019s about as humbled as I felt meeting Fred Clarke at the gate of the Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch in Carlsbad, California.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The gardening icon has grown everything from organic herbs to poinsettias to orchids for more than four decades. In fact, the black orchid he created and popularized inspired Tom Ford\u2019s floral, sultry unisex fragrance by the same name. And for the past 20 years as the general manager of Carlsbad\u2019s breathtaking Flower Fields, Clarke has been ensuring 80 million(!) ranunculus blooms thrive.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I, on the other hand, can barely keep a single houseplant alive. However, I\u2019m a lifelong student who is hungry to learn, so I approached Clarke with open ears and an open notebook. As we strolled through the flower-carpeted grounds, I peppered Clarke with questions to learn what gardeners of all abilities (including those of us with less-than-green thumbs) might be able to learn from his vast wisdom gleaned from decades of experience.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>The No. 1 Secret for Gardening Success<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">After exploring how they grow the ranunculus (from seed) to the magic required to keep the colors so sharp (temporary \u201cwalls\u201d during certain life stages since this variety is wind pollinated), I cut to the chase and asked Clarke the top lesson he learned the hard way during his grand growing career. His answer?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cIt\u2019s invaluable to learn to see and not just look,\u201d Clarke says. \u201cWhen you look at your garden, a field, or a crop, you&#8217;ve got to be able to truly see it. If there&#8217;s a disease or a problem, you have to be able to flag that something&#8217;s wrong or different. Then from there, you need to have the wherewithal to dig into it and figure it out. The reverse is true, too. If things are going right, you need to observe and take note of what you can repeat. That&#8217;s how you get better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Recognizing the good and the bad, researching the potential causes for either of those gardening scenarios, then applying your learnings is key, Clarke tells me. \u201cWhen you\u2019re growing most crops, you only get one chance a year to do so. If you don&#8217;t learn from one year&#8217;s experience and apply it to the following year, how do you get better? This is the most crucial lesson I\u2019ve learned about gardening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Building on Your Gardening Experiences<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">To become a gardener who grows better by the year, try to approach your plots like a scientific experiment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u2022 Collect data and take notes. Keep a garden journal to record what you plant and when and where you do so. From there, it can be helpful to track the height, the number of blooms, fertilizer application, watering and rain rates, as well as any flaws or challenges (such as pests or signs of disease) each week for each plant.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u2022 Analyze these details to draw a conclusion. As the season progresses, use a highlighter to pinpoint any positive or negative outliers so you can dive deeper into these later.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u2022 Change only one variable at a time. If one plant produced more blooms than another, for instance, or certain flowers lost their petals quicker than last year, research potential strategies for next time to increase your success. Then, true to the scientific method, adjust just one thing at a time so you can isolate the plant\u2019s response and determine if this is a benefit or a drawback for this variety in your garden.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Keep Growing<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Admittedly, it might feel a bit finicky to spend time jotting down notes about your plants. But Clarke promises it will pay off as your ability to see will result in stronger, healthier plants. Plus, even the subpar stems act as an opportunity to learn and embrace the individuality of nature.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cWhen folks come to our Flower Fields, a lot of them look and just notice the totality of the 55-acre plot that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. But zoom in and every single plant in those fields\u2014all 80 million of them\u2014is grown from a single seed. Seeing each one is such an amazing reminder that there&#8217;s beauty in diversity,\u201d Clarke says.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Before I let Clarke get back to overseeing his team of 15 year-round and 450 come harvest time, I couldn\u2019t resist asking him to dish about his favorite variable to adjust to level-up his flower garden at work and at home.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cAs the blooms start to open, cut them, and place them in a vase. Then you can enjoy the stunning cut flowers while allowing the plant to redirect the energy into strengthening itself and producing even more blooms,\u201d Clarke says.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bhg.com\/how-to-become-a-better-gardener-11944932\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The No. 1 Secret to Leveling Up Your Gardening Game, According to A Pro Grower<\/a> by Karla Walsh | Better Homes &amp; Gardens<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine singing karaoke in front of Beyonce and you can\u2019t hold a tune. Or picture playing a round of knockout basketball with Caitlin Clark when you\u2019ve been known to bonk &hellip; [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2026\/05\/becoming-a-better-gardener-pay-attention-to-improve-on-each-growing-season\/\">read more<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home-lifestyle","category-real-estate"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Becoming A Better Gardener, Pay Attention to Improve on Each Growing Season &#8226; Rory C Real Estate | Oakwyn Realty<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2026\/05\/becoming-a-better-gardener-pay-attention-to-improve-on-each-growing-season\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Becoming A Better Gardener, Pay Attention to Improve on Each Growing Season &#8226; Rory C Real Estate | Oakwyn Realty\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Imagine singing karaoke in front of Beyonce and you can\u2019t hold a tune. 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