top of page

A Regenerative Micro Flower Farm in the Macedon Ranges

20,000+ stems from 120m². Chemical-free. No-Dig Method.

Cut flowers carry a cost that rarely makes it onto the label. A 2021 review of pesticide use across the floriculture industry found overuse and contamination is widespread, with pesticide residue turning up in the majority of water samples tested near flower-growing regions. In major exporting countries, flower workers have documented, well above-guideline pesticide exposure and related health effects. Most cut flowers sold in Australia also travel a long way — by truck, plane, or both — before they reach a vase.

​

We started this project to show flowers don't have to work that way - that a flower farm can be chemical-free, and genuinely productive, not just one or the other.

View recent photos 22_edited.jpg

"We started this project to show... that a flower farm can be chemical-free and genuinely productive, not just one or the other".

IMG_0207.jpg

the numbers

20,000+ stems in a single spring–autumn season.

120m² bed space.

~5× less irrigation water used since converting to no-dig.

80% of the farm's fertility generated on-site in 2025.

1–2 hours weekly to hand-weed the entire site.

No herbicides, pesticides or synthetic fertilizers.

Scaling from 120m² toward 1,000m².

Evidence This Works, Courtesy of a Broken Irrigation System

In January 2026, the irrigation system failed for three days straight during a run of 35°C+ heat, with zinnias and sunflowers going completely unwatered the entire time. They came through fine. Underneath the compost mulch layer, the soil stayed moist, damp and noticeably cooler than the surface. That's consistent with the research on mulched, undisturbed soils, which can retain up to 50% more moisture than bare ground and buffer soil temperature by several degrees during heat extremes.

IMG_1341.JPG

What's Growing

​

Ranunculus carries spring; dahlias take over through summer and into autumn, backed by a rotating range of fillers and foliage for a full season of arrangements.

​

 

Every spent stem, leaf and bloom gets composted back into the beds for next year — the same closed loop that builds the farm's fertility feeds the following season's flowers.​

​​

​

​​​​Everything grown is arranged and sold through Florist&Farmer, our sister floristry brand.

Thinking About Starting Your Own Flower Farm?

​

Ecologic Solutions offers flower farm design consulting for growers, hobby farmers and acreage owners across Victoria - and remotely, further afield - who want to build a similarly regenerative, no-dig cut flower system without the years of trial and error it took to get this one right. Led by experienced permaculture designers with a working, income-producing flower farm as the proof of concept, consultations cover site and bed layout, no-dig conversion, closed-loop fertility planning, and irrigation design suited to your climate and water access.

Let’s turn your idea into a thriving, regenerative flower farm.

Tell us more about why you are reaching out and how we can assist you

​​​

​Sources

  1. Pereira, J.L. et al. (2021). "A review on pesticides in flower production: A push to reduce human exposure and environmental contamination." Environmental Pollution / ScienceDirect. sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0269749121013993

  2. "Temporary Beauty: The Environmental Impact of Cut Flowers." Atmos. atmos.earth/art-and-culture/cut-flowers-environmental-carbon-cost-facts

  3. Dhakal, M. et al. (2024). "Improving soil water storage with no-till cover cropping in the Mississippi River Alluvial Basin." Soil Science Society of America Journal. acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/saj2.20638

  4. "Changes in soil water storage with no-tillage and crop residue retention on a Vertisol... over a 50 year period" (semiarid subtropical Australia). Soil and Tillage Research / ScienceDirect. sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167198719306300

  5. "Smart Irrigation Controllers in Residential Applications and the Potential of Integrated Water Distribution Systems." Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, ASCE. ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/JWRMD5.WRENG-5871

  6. "Smart Irrigation Controllers: What Makes an Irrigation Controller Smart?" University of Florida IFAS Extension (AE442). ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AE442

  7. "Frogs as potential biological control agents in the rice fields of Chitwan, Nepal." ScienceDirect. sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167880916303395

  8. "Pesticides reduce tropical amphibian and reptile diversity in agricultural landscapes in Indonesia." PMC. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10035417

  9. "Disease-Suppressive Soils — Beyond Food Production: A Critical Review." PMC. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7953945

  10. "Natural plant disease suppressiveness in soils extends to insect pest control." PMC. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11251354

  11. "Enhancing crop yield and conserving soil moisture through mulching practices in dryland agriculture." Frontiers in Agronomy (2024). frontiersin.org/journals/agronomy/articles/10.3389/fagro.2024.1361697/full

  12. "Effects of Organic Mulches on the Soil Temperature, Humidity and CO2 Emissions." Juniper Publishers. juniperpublishers.com/ijesnr/IJESNR.MS.ID.556265.php

bottom of page