VIDEO: A Formal Garden Tour with Summer Rayne Oakes

In this garden tour, Summer Rayne Oakes takes us somewhere unexpected. Tucked down a quiet dirt road at the edge of forest and estuary is a formal garden designed by Serge Brunner, a third-generation member of the Espoma Organic family. Inspired by the grandeur and symmetry of Longwood Gardens, Serge reimagined an overgrown landscape into a thoughtfully designed retreat filled with clipped hedges, native statuary, water features, and moments of surprise. While the style leans formal, the philosophy is rooted in patience, soil health, and letting the garden evolve naturally over time. Maintaining long-term plant health in a garden like this relies on building strong soil with organic inputs such as Espoma Organic plant foods and soil amendments.

 

Garden Design & Maintenance Takeaways from Serge’s Garden

1. Reimagine Overgrown Landscapes Instead of Letting Them Hide Your Home

One of the most common landscaping mistakes Serge sees is ignoring foundation plantings for decades. When shrubs and hedges outgrow their space, it’s an opportunity to step back and reimagine rather than simply trim. Renovation can restore balance and highlight your home again.

2. Symmetry Creates Calm and Intention

This garden relies on mirror images, straight lines, and repeated plantings to create structure. Formal gardens may look precise, but they require consistency and healthy plants to maintain that crisp look. Feeding hedges and shrubs with an organic plant food like Espoma Organic Plant-tone helps support steady, manageable growth without harsh flushes.

3. Feed the Soil for Long-Term Success

A garden that’s evolved over 35 years depends on healthy soil biology. Organic fertilizers improve soil structure over time, helping plants develop stronger root systems and better resilience. This is especially important for clipped boxwood, holly hedges, and ornamental trees.

4. Choose Native and Deer-Resistant Plants

With a resident deer population, every plant in this garden was chosen carefully. Serge relies on deer-resistant plants such as hollies, boxwood, and lantana to maintain color and structure. Feeding acid-loving plants with Espoma Organic Holly-tone helps keep foliage healthy and supports long-term performance.

5. Embrace Art and Serendipity

Sculptures, statuary, and even a reclaimed tree turned into a wildlife totem add personality throughout the space. Gardens don’t need to be rigid. A mix of planning and happy accidents often leads to the most memorable results.

6. Remember That a Garden Is Never Finished

Perhaps the most important takeaway: gardens are always evolving. As plants mature, light changes, and new needs arise, adjustments are part of the process. Organic gardening supports this slow, natural progression, feeding plants as they need it rather than forcing quick results.

A Garden Built on Time, Patience, and Healthy Soil

This formal garden may look polished today, but it’s the result of decades of observation, thoughtful plant choices, and soil-first gardening practices. Whether your style is formal or naturalistic, building healthy soil with Espoma Organic plant foods sets the foundation for a garden that grows better with time.

Ready to start your own long-term garden transformation? Watch the full video for inspiration, explore Espoma Organic plant foods, and let’s get growing naturally.

Learn more about Flock Finger Lakes here:

Website: flockfingerlakes.com

Instagram – @flockfingerlakes

YouTube –Flock Finger Lakes

X – @flockny

Facebook –Flock Finger Lakes

 

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VIDEO: Repotting in the Greenhouse with Garden Answer

Taking time to care for plants is the perfect way to slow down and enjoy the cooler seasons. Spend the day with Laura from Garden Answer as she repots ornamental grasses and a Mangave plant in her greenhouse, refreshing them with Espoma Organic Potting Mix to keep them happy, healthy, and hungry for new growth!

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The Best Way To Digitize Old Photos

When I hyper-focus on a task, I’m known to go ALL IN. And that’s exactly how I approached the giant job of digitizing all of our old photo albums. We crowdsourced suggestions, took some deep dives into message boards, and Googled the heck out of it. From there, I narrowed our options to 5 photo digitization methods that we tested for quality, price, and speed. There was one clear winner for us, but also lots of other good ways to go about it (even free ones!), depending on your personal priorities. So I’m going to lay out everything we tried, and why we had a clear favorite.

Continue reading The Best Way To Digitize Old Photos at Young House Love.

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My Girls Trip To Italy

Last fall, I got to eat, walk, and gasp my way through Florence, Italy (including a day trip to Venice) with three friends. Literally, it was the stuff of dreams. I already shared how I packed light for this trip, but today I’m recapping everything we did, saw, and ate. So if you’re considering a trip to Florence (and/or Venice), here are my thoughts on what was extremely enjoyable to see/eat/do… and a few things we’d actually skip if we were to do it all over again!

Continue reading My Girls Trip To Italy at Young House Love.

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VIDEO: How to Winterize Your Chicken Coop with Summer Rayne Oakes

On a snowy, wintry day, Summer Rayne Oakes of Flock Finger Lakes takes us inside her newly built chicken coop to share what she’s doing to get it ready for winter. From smart coop orientation and ventilation tips to insulation strategies and warm-water routines, Summer walks through the small details that help her birds stay comfortable in cold weather. She also shows how she uses Espoma Organic Sani-Care® Premium Hardwood Bedding to create a deep, cozy floor layer that’s easy to clean and helps keep the coop environment drier and more comfortable all season long.

8 Winter Coop Tips Summer Swears By

 

1) Start with the right coop orientation

If you’re building a coop from scratch (or choosing where to place one), Summer recommends thinking about prevailing winter winds first. In her location, cold winds typically come from the north, so she designed the coop with no open windows on the north side to help block drafts.

Takeaway: Positioning and window placement can make winter management easier before you even add insulation.

2) Use windows for ventilation, not warmth

It’s tempting to button everything up tight, but Summer reminds us that humidity control matters just as much as temperature. She aims to keep coop humidity under about 70%, since damp air in freezing weather can contribute to frostbite risk on combs and wattles.

Takeaway: In winter, crack windows strategically to keep air moving without creating harsh drafts.

3) Insulate to reduce temperature swings (but don’t heat the coop)

Summer insulated the coop walls and ceiling to help limit dramatic hot-to-cold shifts. The goal isn’t to create a tropical coop, it’s to keep conditions steadier.

She also notes an important point: heating the coop can backfire if birds step outside into much colder air, creating stress and condensation issues.

Takeaway: Insulation can help stabilize the space; birds are built for winter, but they do best in a dry, well-ventilated environment.

4) Build a warmer, softer floor with deep bedding

Because concrete floors get cold fast, Summer builds up a generous layer of bedding. She uses Espoma Organic Sani-Care and piles it 6–10 inches deep so the birds have a warmer, softer place to settle in.

Why Sani-Care?

• Easy to clean: makes daily and weekly maintenance simpler

• Comfort-focused: helps create a more cushioned, cozy floor layer

• Supports a drier coop: deep, fresh bedding helps manage moisture so the coop feels more comfortable

5) Add extra “snuggle zones” with raised beds

Summer repurposed pet beds as raised sleeping areas and added bedding on top, giving chickens and ducks the option to get up off the cold floor. Some birds choose corners, others prefer the beds. The point is: let them decide.

Takeaway: Variety in roosting/sleeping spots helps the flock settle where they’re most comfortable.

6) Use safe lighting and avoid risky heat sources

Summer uses a standard LED light and avoids heat lamps, noting that heat lamps can be a cause of coop fires. If she ever wants a small bump in warmth, she considers a safer alternative that gently raises the temperature without intense heat.

Takeaway: Prioritize fire safety in winter setups. Warmth is never worth the risk.

7) Block wind in the run with panels (without sealing it airtight)

To cut wind where birds spend their time, Summer adds poly panels to the run. She intentionally leaves small gaps so there’s still some airflow.

Takeaway: Wind protection + ventilation is the balance. You’re aiming for calm air, not stale air.

8) Keep water available and flowing

Summer shares her setup for keeping water accessible in freezing weather, including insulated lines and a system designed to reduce freezing. She also brings warm water as a treat, especially on extra-cold days.

Takeaway: Winter hydration takes planning, but it’s one of the biggest quality-of-life upgrades you can make for your flock.

Learn more about other Espoma Organic Products at Espoma.com

Learn more about Flock Finger Lakes here:

Website: flockfingerlakes.com

Instagram – @flockfingerlakes

YouTube –Flock Finger Lakes

X – @flockny

Facebook –Flock Finger Lakes

 

Featured Products:

 

Where to Buy

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The Other Project We’re Starting…

Our big renovation project isn’t anywhere close to done (it just started this week, and Sherry’s sharing peeks over on Instagram in stories) but I’ve already embarked on another project that I’ve wanted to tackle for years: digitizing all of our old photos! It’s arguably less exciting than our renovation, but I’m genuinely eager to tackle this long-overdue project. And since we’re not the only ones who suffer from photo clutter, I plan to document my process for anyone else who is also interested in digitizing their photos. So I’ll be testing out a few digitization methods, and sharing tips along the way.

Continue reading The Other Project We’re Starting… at Young House Love.

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VIDEO: Planting Spring Bulbs in Containers 🪴🌷 with Summer Rayne Oakes

When the garden beds are resting, container gardening keeps the joy of planting alive. In a recent video on her Flock Finger Lakes channel, Summer Rayne Oakes shows how she extends the season by layering spring-flowering bulbs in containers, tucked inside her chicken and duck run. Using Espoma Organic Potting Mix and Espoma Organic Perlite, Summer creates a well-draining, root-friendly environment that helps bulbs overwinter successfully and burst into bloom come spring.

 

Summer’s Top 3 Tips for Planting Bulbs in Containers

1. Start with a High-Quality, Well-Draining Soil Mix

Healthy bulbs begin with the right foundation. Summer uses Espoma Organic Potting Mix as her base because it’s lightweight, rich in organic matter, and formulated specifically for container gardening. It holds just the right amount of moisture while still allowing excess water to drain away—critical for preventing bulb rot during winter storage.

To further improve drainage, she blends in Espoma Organic Perlite, which keeps the soil loose and airy. This extra oxygen around the bulbs encourages strong root development and helps containers handle fluctuating winter and spring conditions.

2. Layer Bulbs

One of Summer’s favorite techniques is layering bulbs by size and bloom time. Larger, later-blooming bulbs like tulips and daffodils go deeper in the pot, while smaller, early bloomers like snowdrops are placed closer to the surface. This creates a succession of blooms from early to late spring—all in one container.

Planting bulbs a bit closer together in containers also creates a fuller, more impactful display, making pots look lush when they come into flower.

3. Protect Containers While Letting Them Chill

Bulbs need a cold period to bloom, and Summer’s chicken and duck run doubles as a cold greenhouse thanks to added panels. Containers stay protected from harsh weather while still experiencing natural temperature changes. A light soil topper can also help discourage curious critters from digging, especially when overwintering bulbs in shared garden spaces.

Let’s Get Growing

Layering bulbs in containers is a simple, rewarding way to extend the gardening season and enjoy months of spring color. With Espoma Organic Potting Mix and Espoma Organic Perlite, you’re giving bulbs the well-draining, nutrient-rich environment they need to thrive—naturally.

*****

Learn more about Flock Finger Lakes here:

Website: flockfingerlakes.com

Instagram – @flockfingerlakes

YouTube –Flock Finger Lakes

X – @flockny

Facebook –Flock Finger Lakes

Featured Products:

 

 

 

 

Where to Buy

The post VIDEO: Planting Spring Bulbs in Containers with Summer Rayne Oakes first appeared on Espoma Organic.

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