About my garden

Monday 26 November 2018

Floral Update Part One and In a Vase on Monday

Good morning, 


This is an arrangement I created for a 101st birthday table centre. It's bigger than it looks here, probably about 60cm long. The brief was that it was to have impact but also not be too tall so people could converse over it. It stars Chrysanthemum 'Avignon Pink', 'Porto Purple' and 'Saratov Lilac' I think but some of the labels have got in a muddle. There is also some Bay, Leylandii and honeysuckle tendrils. I like a bit of whimsy. 
I'm joining in with Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for In a Vase on Monday. 


Cathy asked last week about my first year of flower farming so here is an update. 
I've divided this post into two as it was getting longer and longer and I don't want you to drop off. 

Part one - Growing

A bit of background for those of you who don't know - Early this year I had the chance to make a career change. The choice was to stay in my office job working for a new boss or try something new. I chose to create my own Flower Farm. 
I have a fantastically supportive husband who is right behind the venture so we started in March by hiring a turf cutter. We only had it for a day and it was hard going even though it was petrol driven. 

This is what my main plot looked like. 
This makes it look huge.I divided this plot into two with a path up the middle. 
Meanwhile I was raising seedlings inside. To be honest it wasn't very different from a normal year. I know many of you are the same and we have trays and trays of little plants waiting in the wings. By the time we get to our safe planting date (May here in the UK) our covered areas, windowsills, spare floor spaces and cold frames are full to bursting with plants which need to get into the ground. 

We had snow in March, heavy, twice and then a heatwave in April. The seedlings survived though and then I had to get them planted. 
I'd dug over my plot once but from now on I'll be using the No Dig method. I love planting out on a newly dug plot and in rows,though it does lead to aches the next day. 
Seedlings. I should stand here and take a picture every month!

I had my Winter Sunshine Sweet Peas growing in my poly tunnel. They flowered from April for three months, I think. 'Opal' was the most gorgeous colour and went to a couple of weddings. (I didn't do all the wedding flowers). I'll be growing that again as well as white. I grew other Sweet Peas outside and they were so good I couldn't keep up with the cutting. 
'Opal' and 'Navy'
One long bed viewed from the opposite end. The posts are for horizontal netting which is very effective at supporting stems. 

Summer drought, you can see how brown the grass is. Most of the landscape here does not belong to us, we just enjoy it. The nettles do.

The truth is that the second long bed was never fully dug before the drought and never got planted until late summer. However, along with things growing in the tunnel, the dahlias in my old cutting beds and these, I had plenty flowering. 

That is the first part, thank you for reading to the end. Come back next week for some more flowery pictures. 

24 comments:

  1. I'm sure everyone will enjoy your introduction to your nursery...its been a privilege to visit and see the plants growing. This week's arrangement with all the material grown by you whilst not impeding conversation must have had much said about it. Beautiful colours too.

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    1. Thank you, it's lovely to have you visit. Apparently I chose the right colours as the Birthday Girl likes pink.

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  2. Fantastic! All of your hard work is really paying off.Love the arrangement, I thought those were Dahlias.

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    1. Thank you. No more dahlias until next summer now. :(

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  3. Alison, I've been admiring your courage in taking up a new career such as this and find it fascinating to read about the progress. The floral design pictured this week is so lovely, very pleasing.

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    1. Ah, thank you. Several people have said that but it didn't feel brave, it felt normal. I took that as a good sign. I live and breath plants so I've loved having the opportunity to indulge.

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  4. Gorgeous arrangement! I've been wondering about your new career and how you went about creating your flower farm. I'm so glad your brave step has worked out well for you.

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    1. Thanks. Next week I'll explain how I'm already expanding!

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  5. What a lovely arrangement and perfect for such a Big Birthday Bash, I would imagine. And thank you SO much for starting to tell us about your new venture as we have all been so curious as to how you were getting on - I guess you have no regrets about the career change! It must have been so satisfying seeing all the neat rows of plants in your beds :) I like the Opal and Navy WS sweet peas the best, but this year my neighbour and I have shared 8 packs of WS and I have mixed my share insteadcof keeping the colours separate - they are about 3" tall now

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  6. No, no regrets! I love having the time to spend here and keeping on top of the jobs. After a fashion, anyway. I wish they had stayed that neat and no weeds had grown! You are going to have a fantastic show of sweet peas.

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  7. Alison I am happy things are going well....I love the flowers you grow and how you arrange them....that vase in the beginning of the post is a perfect example of the beautiful, stunning arrangements I have come to love! Looking forward to seeing more flowers growing there....

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  8. Congrats on your new career. It looks to be quite an undertaking. The arrangement for the birthday girl was no doubt a hit. It is gorgeous. Happy IAVoM.

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    1. Thank you, I hope she liked it and it should last a couple of weeks so she can go on enjoying it.

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  9. I'm SO impressed, Alison. If my younger self had had more guts, I like to think this is a career change I'd have made too, although finding sufficient space to garden on a larger scale in crowded Los Angeles county would have been an extra challenge. Your birthday vase is a great testimonial for the range and quality of your blooms. I look forward to chapter 2.

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    1. I've impressed myself and also, I think, MrC who wasn't really sure how it would all work. We were lucky that we were able to buy this house 3 years ago. We chose the land not the house as choice in our price range was limited and haven't regretted moving out of town for a second.

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  10. Beautiful arrangement, Alison, and it perfectly fits the remit too. Your change of career is a brave move but it sounds as though it's working out very well. Love the colours of those sweet peas. I wish you continued success in your venture.

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    1. Thank you, I'm glad you like it. Thanks for your good wishes.

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  11. Oh your birthday table centrepiece must have been much admired and appreciated Alison. What a milestone celebration that must have been. It's most interesting to read how your first few months as a flower farmer have panned out. You certainly had a challenging year in terms of what the elements have thrown at you. I'm looking forward to reading part 2 :)

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    1. Thanks, I hope it was and will go on for a week or two. Yes, I've had everything this year and though it was hard I wonder what gales and heavy rain in summer would do. Every year is hard in different ways...

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  12. It is really interesting to see how you started off Alison. The weather didn't help us here either with spring planting struggling. Let's hope for a better year next year. The table arrangement is lovely! :)

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    1. Thank you. The weather is a challenge every year but I think this was worse than most. As you say, we'll hope for better.

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  13. Your vase is gorgeous, I love this special looking Chrysanthemums and may have to buy some next year. Who was your supplier? I loved seeing your cutting beds. I hope next week you'll tell us what different plants you grow and how many vases you were able to produce. My cutting beds produce more than I need but I would be hard pushed to produce vases for weddings or other orders on specific dates. I admire your courage starting something new; I hope your business goes from strength to strength!

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    1. Thank you. The Chrysanthemums all came from Sarah Raven. I've had some for a year or two and some were new this year. The pale pink was one of the new ones. Cuttings root easily so I have created more plants and now need to decide how many I really need and how much space I should give them. I have taken cuttings from this years new plants and they are now flowering. I don't know how many vases I have produced but it's been many. I'm not very good at records but will have to improve. Some growers will tell you how many stems they have sold. One difficulty has been having the right thing on the right day so that is something I need to work on.

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