Flower farm update - August 2024

August was, in many ways, a brilliant month for us, with lots of things moving in the right direction.

More lovely customers

One huge benefit of having a flower farm, that we didn’t expect, is the tremendous sense of community we get from people who buy from us. We are meeting some lovely people, who I’m sure will become firm friends over time.  And. this month, for the first time, it felt like we were also getting a good balance of customers.

As usual, we had a stall at the Hampshire Farmer’s Market at Romsey on the first Sunday of the month. It is so lovely to have people come back and buy flowers because they loved them so much the last time. We obviously feel the importance of buying local much more keenly now and are very appreciative of people who do so.

Supplying the local deli

Staying on the local note, we also started supplying bouquets and jam jar flowers to Gastro Nicks deli in Collingbourne Ducis. Behind every independent business there are usually lovely owners working extremely hard behind the scenes to try and make their business a success. Nick and Jane at Gastro Nicks are no exception. And now they’re also trying to help us build our business.

Their deli is a real gem and I do hope more and more people make the most of it. It’s easy and free to park and the shop is full of lovely things – wine, cheeses, hams, condiments, bread, and vegetables. They also do fresh fish on a Thursday, caught off Brixham the day before, and delicious wood-fired pizzas every Friday – genuinely among the best I’ve ever eaten.

Direct orders

We continue to have some orders direct for collection and delivery. And some regulars, especially the lovely Ruth. Everyone who comes says the flowers are wonderful and they’ll buy from us again. We just need them to tell all their friends and families to do the same!

Support from local florists

We also provided flowers to the wonderful Milston Flower Barn. Susanne is a wedding florist who does beautiful work. It’s amazing seeing the flowers from the farm made up into the most stunning bouquets and arrangements.

I also have to thank The Petal Boutique in Weyhill who regularly take mixed buckets from us. They were the very first florist to buy our flowers and we’ll be forever grateful for their early encouragement.

Too much or not enough

One of the biggest challenges is trying to spread the workload and the harvest. If we sell too much on one day, it’s impossible for one person – me - to do all the picking, conditioning, any arranging and deliveries. But, if we don’t sell enough, we have to waste the blooms that are ready to go, and all the hard work growing them is for nothing. I’d still like to have more consistent sales and waste less.

I am also passionate about ensuring great quality flowers – essential, I believe, to have any chance of competing with imported and supermarket flowers. As a result, I’m a ruthless deadheader. Only perfect blooms make the grade.

Behind on weeding and clearing

On the practical side, we are a bit (make that very) behind on clearing beds. Some are looking downright shabby with dead or dying flowers. Every time I walk past the sweet pea trellises, that are now about ten foot tall and twenty foot wide, I wonder how I’m ever going to be able to separate the pea netting and clear it all away. But there’s an upside for the birds and the bees, so I’m not stressing too much over it.

Weeding always seems to be the job I convince myself can wait when there are so many other things to prioritise. But it is getting a little out of hand. Especially my pesky nemesis, the bindweed.

Still growing

We did some more planting this month. Some perennials. We are gradually growing more of these. They come back year after year, so we can rely on them. And they’re less work than the annuals.

A bit of experimentation too. We’re always trying to extend the season by getting more flowers later in the year. So I’ve sowed some sunflowers that are supposed to flower in 45 days. We’ll see.

The chrysanthemums have also been potted up in the polytunnel. While the flowers are great on the earlier ones that have flowered, I’m only getting three stems per plant. I expected them to be bushier. I need to read up, but suspect I should have fed them more. And we had one very unusual mutant.

A great accomplishment

The lisianthus are also flowering now. Growing these from seed is one of my greatest accomplishments  as they are notoriously difficult to germinate and super slow to grow. These are from seeds I sowed way, way back in January so you need a lot of patience. I just wish I’d grown more now.

Best news of all

Roger continues to provide much-needed support. He’s determined not to let his cancer diagnosis change things too much so is still working harder than he should both at his full time job and in the garden. He is the mower and strimmer on the flower farm – that needs doing very regularly over the summer and gets much more onerous with every expansion. In our quest to become self-reliant on compost, he has also made yet another large compost bay.

That said, I think the cumulative effect of all the chemotherapy is taking its toll, as he’s very tired all of the time. We were very keen to hear the results of his post chemo scan and this brings me to the main  reason that August was brilliant – the cancer in the lymph nodes has shrunk so much it’s barely visible and he’ll now have radiotherapy to have another go at the prostate.

Planning for next year

Heading into September, we’re about to sow the hardy annuals for next year.

Each year, we refine our growing plans – effectively how much of what we’ll grow and when. And each year, we get a little more confident we’re getting more things right.

So flowers and foliage that we’re sticking with are achillea/yarrow, agrostemma, alchmilla mollis, alstromeria, anemones, astrantia, chrysanthemums, cosmos, dahlias, delphiniums, echinacea, euchalyptus, feverfew, helichrysum, hesperis sweet rocket, limonium/statice, lisianthus, mint, monarda, nigella, oregano, orlaya, persian cress, penstemon, phlox, ranunculua, raspberry greens, rosemary, salvia, scabiosa perfecta, sedum, snapdragons, stocks, sunflowers, sweet peas, sweet williams and zinnias.

Flowers we’re ditching

Flowers we’re ditching are Chinese forget me nots and annual artimesia -  they both look too floppy. Limonium pink pokers, foxgloves and ammi – I just find them too hard to arrange into bouquets. Gypsophila – still feels a bit old-fashioned and some have sticky stems. I’m also digging up the Gaura. It takes up about five metres of bed and I use very few stems.

For the first time I won’t be planting tulips. I think. I love the doubles but the bulbs are super expensive . They’re also hard to sell when the bloom is still closed and they look like every other tulip. It’s impossible to predict when they’ll flower, except that it tends to be when I least want them to. And people only want to pay supermarket prices. That said, I have a few months yet to change my mind.

One new addition will be bells of Ireland. I’m sure there will be more as I browse through the catalogues.

Better get on

So, I better get sowing … watering … fertilising …weeding… clearing beds … mulching … picking … arranging … selling … delivering. And generally enjoying every minute.

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