Monday 4th April 2022: Weeeee it’s Momday again and this week I am covid free 😁 It was raining this morning which is brilliant because we have not had any rain for ages and the water tanks are getting a bit dry. I think we have a good bit forecast on and off this week so it should replenish them nicely. Because it was raining I spent most of the day cleaning 🤪 Hoovering, moving furniture, dusting, stripping the beds and sorting through stuff to get everything put away in the right place. I finished that around 1pm and then thought I’d better start putting together a plan for this weeks flower club task, a pave, yes it was alien to me as well. I have spent a fair amount of time looking at designs so I have some idea of what I am doing, I identified the vessel I will be making it in and now I just have to wait and cut the foliage and flowers on Wednesday morning ready to go and do my thing on Wednesday evening. As always I don’t really know what or how and like last time I thought ‘maybe I won’t do it’ but then again I like a challenge so I am going to give it my best shot. I then had a phone call from Flowers from the Farm, or at least one of the ladies that run the organisation, we had a great chat on a few different subjects related to flower farming but the call was about the Flowers from the Farm big weekend 5th-7th August. Was I going to be putting on an event, probably not says I, only going into my first year and nothing to really show for it yet I would feel a bit out of my depth lol. She directed me to lots of information including a zoom meeting on the subject and different flowers farmers, the scale of their weekends which range from big to quite small, and the type of things they do. So I spent the next couple of hours watching, listening and learning about all kinds of events and potentially it may be something I will give some serious thought to. One lady did a small ticketed free event for just 10 people, a tour of her flowers, tea and cake, well I reckon I could probably manage that easy enough so watch this space. It is all to promote the British flower farming industry so keep an eye out for any you see advertised and go along 😁
Tuesday: A dry but very blowy day, not too bad temperature wise though. I got the usual jobs done before getting outside to get some bits done out there. I had intended to empty the rain butt by the greenhouse and stand it back upright again as it has gone lopsided and is no longer connected to the gutter 🙄 but it is full and so I didn’t want to waste the water in there, I will use it until it’s empty and then do the job. Next on to plant some ranunculus in the big tunnel, I want to get some flowers sooner rather than later from these and planting them under cover should do the trick, I can see my tunnel being a flower tunnel rather than a veg one soon 😂 Next job was to fill one of the raised beds with top soil and do some direct sowing. I felt the time is right and the farmer next door is sowing into the field as well so I am hoping we are correct. This will be a first sowing of pink love in a mist, some blue and mother of pearl poppies, bunny tail & foxtail grass, gypsophila, some calendula and some green amaranth. I then covered it with environmesh to stop it all getting dug up or eaten and weighted the mesh down as it is so windy today. I also moved a few things from the greenhouse outside to start hardening them off, sweet peas mainly. In the autumn I will be a lot quicker off the mark with autumn sown and planted things so that I have flowers earlier in the year to get going quickly. I think over the next few days I will be sowing veg seeds as well as planting out the peas, mangetout and this years broad beans, yep the season is under way 😁
Wednesday: Awful weather today 🤪 rainy, windy, moody dark skies, yuk. I had already decided I was not going to be doing much out there 😂 My focus first thing this morning was to get all my bits together and ready for flower club tonight, the practical task was a pave. I didn’t have a clue what that was when it was mentioned but I spent a good bit of time researching it and collating an idea. Thinking how it will go and how it actually goes is two different things I discovered 🙄 I wasn’t the only one at the club to say ‘it didn’t really turn out how I thought it would’ in fact the majority of members said the same. Still I learnt some good lessons not least the shape of your vessel is important for what to you are trying to achieve. Mine had sloped sides and therefore I could not get the tulip heads down low enough to create the idea of a flat surface, it’s a learning curve which is exactly what it is meant to be 😁
For the rest of the day I indulged myself in doing something with flowers, making flower crowns 🥰 The blossom on the trees at this time of year just lend themselves beautifully to flower crowns. I made two, the first was a big blousy crown and the second a more refined one. I found it really difficult to take a good photo of them mind you, I resorted to wearing one and taking a photo in the mirror which is not a terribly good look but without anyone else around to model it that’s the only option I had, maybe I will look out for a glass head/fish bowl or something😜 I did take some photos and put them on my flower page and they were well received, in fact I have been looking at costings to do flower crown workshops which I think would be fun. I am just trying to establish what materials work well for the environmentally friendly side of things. All natural, totally compostable is doable but not so robust, the next step is recyclable which is a good alternative and a little stronger. A lot of crowns will use the florist tape which is not environmentally friendly and the industry hasn’t quite got there with that one yet so I have ordered some washi tape to see if that works or not 🤷♀️ once I have these things in place I can advertise workshops. John has kindly said he I’ll make a top to cover his pool table and we can use that room 👏 brilliant.
Thursday: Still windy this morning though there is some sunshine about. Today I was hoping to make a cuppa, sit down and watch a video but I got the time muddled up so I just sat down with a cuppa instead. The video was live last night but I couldn’t watch it because I was at the flower club so I was hoping to watch it this morning but it won’t be available until after midnight tonight 🤷♀️ Flowers from the Farm had organised a live online charity event with Shane Connolly called Flowers for Ukraine with Shane Connolly. Too good an opportunity to be missed I signed up and made my donation, they sent the link but I knew I would have to wait and catch up later. I have seen the reviews on the group this morning and can’t wait to watch it but I will have to wait longer 😏 Shane Connolly is a florist of the highest calibre, he did the wedding flowers for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge so you can see it is a rare opportunity. They smashed their target amount and all the proceeds will go to help the people of Ukraine in one way or another. Not only are his credentials amazing (though that reason alone would be good enough) but wherever possible the company uses seasonal British flowers, are environmentally responsible and understand the relationship between plants, flowers and mental well-being, doesn’t get better than that I reckon 🥰 Roll on midnight 🤪
Blooming eck that is not very nice out there today, it’s not that it’s cold or wet, just the bloody wind, it feels like you are getting a constant battering, quite tiring really. Most of the morning I spent in the greenhouse planting up the ranunculus and potting on tomato plants, this year I have Roma, Tigerella, Alisa Craig and Indigo Rose. If I could only grow one I would choose the indigo varieties as they are delicious plus they have plenty of flesh so they are good for cooking as well as eating raw, they also come in cherry size and although I grew them last year I only have the larger ones this year. Hoping the wind dies back a bit soon, it is not easy trying to carry things around in this plus the empty pots I stacked neatly are beginning to blow all over the place 😜
I have been keeping an eye on the lilacs and I am hoping that over the next few days the buds will begin to burst open, I do have someone wanting a bouquet a week and I almost have some tulips that are ready, I think the combination will be lovely 😊 Hurry up and grow please 🤞
Friday: Golly gosh it’s 5.15pm and I just got the dinner prepped and on and finally sat down, now I feel tired 🥱 Busy day today, first up I got all the morning stuff done so that I could sit and watch this video link, oh my days that did not disappoint let me tell you. Inspirational is the only word I could use, British grown, seasonal flower arranging at its best and by one of the best, and I have to say, the nicest most genuine man. All done with reusable or compostable items even the funeral arrangement, not a single piece of floral foam in sight 😁 All the while raising money for Ukraine, a brilliant idea and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone who donated and watched. After watching and still buzzing I decided to go and cut a few bits and do a quick outdoor arrangement celebrating all that is spring around here. Then I thought I ought to get on with some real work 😂 I spent the rest of the day in the garden planting up some flowers and ornamental bits, the end of the bed that we reduced needed some filling. Then some salvia arrived for the cutting patch and then I mostly spent the rest of the time going through plants I had growing in pots overwinter ready to sell. Discarding anything that didn’t make it or take root, sorting out plants to go out for sale in the front, watering (it’s surprising how quickly things in pots dry out) watering in the tunnels and the greenhouse before have a quiet sit down to enjoy the peace of the afternoon 🥰
Saturday: Mixed bag of weather, a tad cold at times, a breeze, some sunshine but dry at least. Busy day, after the initial jobs we went to the farm next door to get some dog and cat food but also because they had a Easter event going on, pony rides, Easter egg trail, piglets to look at, Easter hats to make, coffee and doughnuts on sale (the most important bit 🤪) Once back home I got on with some pricking out in the greenhouse before some planting up of sweet peas, red cabbage and new potatoes. Dashing backwards and forwards to the egg shed for customers who were paying by card, this has been one of the best decisions we have made to be fair as less and less people carry loose change. John meanwhile has been making some supports to go over the raised beds for the cut flowers, not all the beds need them but things like cosmos, delphinium, lupin, chrysanthemums all get very tall and need support. The supports for these don’t need to be pretty they are purely functional and so are basically a wooden frame with legs that sits over the raised bed. Jute netting will be attached across the top for the plants to grow through. I went for jute as a more environmentally friendly option so I will see how it stands up to the job.
We have an earlier than usual finish today as we are off out to catch a steam train 🥰 fish and chip supper on board while we take a gentle journey through the countryside, perfect.
Sunday: I had high hopes of getting a fair bit done today but that didn’t pan out as planned lol. John cleaned out the hens frost thing while I sorted out eggs etc and then we went and got some shopping as we were out of everything. Back home to drop off the shopping and put it away the. A quick trip to the garden centre to pick up a particular plant I was after. When we got back Sam, Luke and the kiddies arrived, Mia and Lucie stayed with us while George went with Sam and Luke to the barbers to get haircuts. They came back and shortly after that my Mum popped in to drop of some plants she had for me, she left and Charlie turned up and then Shelley, Martin and the kids arrived as well. So we spent the afternoon in the garden with everybody not getting much else done but that’s ok nothing is urgent and it will all wait for another time 😁
I have been keeping a close eye on any flowers and foliage trying to work out exactly when I will have the first couple of bunches or bouquets ready and I think I am just about there 😁 My first lot of flowers will be going to a customer on Wednesday, exciting stuff, hopefully I will have enough to put some out for the Easter weekend as well fingers crossed. Eventually I will have so many flowers I probably won’t know what to do with them all 🤪
frieslandfarm (flowers) 