A Season For Everything: A Conversation With Casey About Farmside Garden Center
If you stop in at Farmside Gardens on any given day, there are some things that you can almost always expect to find. The greenhouse will be full, whether with tiny sprouting plants, flats ready for transplanting, or fully grown houseplants. You’ll likely run into the friendly staff helping customers select the right variety of plants or sharing tips for plant care. Bailey, the farm pup, will be roaming the parking lot waiting to say “hello” to you.
But despite all these consistencies, a visit to Farmside Gardens will look very different depending on the time of the year. For Casey Sytsema, co-owner of Farmside Gardens, this is one of the most exciting things about the garden center. “Every couple of weeks or months things are different here. We get to watch things grow and change with the seasons. Watching things grow has always been something I love.”
We asked Casey some questions about his work at the garden center, what to expect in the coming season, and what he enjoys about working with plants at Farmside.
What’s happening at the Garden Center these days?
“Right now, it’s peak time for our cut flower business. They’re really coming into bloom. A lot of people may not know that we actually have pretty large cut flower fields here behind the garden center. Our fields are full of a variety of flowers that we use in our own florist. We also wholesale to other florists and sell with the Garden State Flower Co-Op, so if you’re getting flowers from florists in other areas of northern NJ, there’s a chance that you’ll find our flowers in your bouquet.
Another thing we get to do this time of year is our Cut & Create Workshops. It’s really cool to be able to take people into our cut flower fields and show them that aspect of our business. In each class we show them how to cut directly from our fields and design their own take home floral arrangements.
We’re also making a lot of hay. We sell square bales and round bales to local farmers. And we’re preparing for fall, too. We have mums and other fall plants that we’re maintaining and getting ready for sale. We’re just a few weeks away from transitioning the whole garden center to selling pumpkins, gourds, mums, and fall decor.”
Do you have a favorite season on the farm?
“Spring is really fun. It’s the beginning of the growing season and we start planting and seeding for the year to come. It gets really busy here at the garden center, and I love helping customers find what they want and helping them envision their garden for the year. It’s exciting to anticipate the upcoming year and to do everything we can to prepare for a successful season.”
What makes Farmside Gardens different from other garden centers?
“I would say that what separates us is the diversification here. We have a wide variety of plants in stock with many of the annuals and perennials started by us. We grow veggies in our fields transplanted from our own greenhouse, we seed many of our own plants, we create our own hanging baskets, we plant mums right here on the farm, and we grow, cut, and sell flowers straight out of the florist. That helps us have great quality products when our customers want them and at a lower price. Going forward, we want to continue growing more of our own stuff to supply the garden center with even more locally grown products.
Also, our business is always improving. We always strive to offer new and better products. We try to stock specialty items that most garden centers wouldn’t stock and we want people to be able to find unique products here. We pride ourselves on being able to find things for people. We have customers coming in all the time looking for specific plants and we work hard to make sure we can deliver for them even if it’s a unique request.”
What do you enjoy about your work at Farmside?
“I would have to say my favorite thing is that every day is something different. I love watching things grow. But, there are a lot of other perks here too. I get to live where I work, and I love getting to be able to teach my kids the lessons of life on a day to day basis having them work with me on the property. I get to teach them how to work hard, pull weeds, and tidy up the garden center after a windy day. They also get to ride their bikes around me while I’m working and I love that.
I’ve always wanted to have my own farm and glorify God through my business, and I get to do that here at Farmside. Our faith impacts the way we treat our customers. We treat them with respect and do what we can to take care of them. We want to show God’s love to them in the way we interact with them because they’re valuable. At the end of the day that’s the most important thing – our faith.”