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A Year in British Cut Flowers

By on March 6, 2014 in Anemones, Cut flowers, Photography, Pruning

I had great fun last week with Clare West, a photographer who I met last year when she came on one of my growing courses. She had a rather good idea – to visit the farm once a month through the year and photograph all the seasonal jobs….

 

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Take some stunning plant portraits….

 

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And teach me a thing or two on how to use my camera.

 

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‘A Year in Flowers’ had it’s first installment on her blog this week.

 

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We are also planning to do some styled shoots this year, a very exciting prospect. I am planning the first one in the orchard, when it is in full blossom I hope. In the meantime it’s all about pruning hundreds of roses, pricking out thousands of seedlings and picking the odd Anemone.

 

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Like this beautiful white Anemone with a green eye called an ‘Albino’. I pick early in the morning, next they are whisked off to the flower studio for trimming and bunching.

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Next it’s into the greenhouse for some pricking out of Icelandic Poppies, talking to customers on the phone and stroking my dogs as much as possible, who always enjoy the heat mat meant for seedlings!

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Finally we have to get back to the Rose pruning, as we have over 500 to get through at this time of year. This rounds off the day and I have some rather glorious red Anemones to take back into the house.

Rachel

 

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Sweet Pea Grow Along – Part 3

By on February 28, 2014 in Sweet Peas

Your carefully sown seeds should be showing some signs of life by now. Remember to keep them cool and bright as they start to grow.

The next job is preparing the ground outside, probably not terribly appealing right now unless you are outside the UK!  If your ground is too wet to dig, a mulch of compost would be better than nothing at the moment. Sweet peas like a rich, moisture-retentive soil.

They prefer an open, sunny position,  so avoid anywhere that is in shade for more than a couple of hours a day.

I plant in long 25m rows so I can have an overwhelming quantity to harvest. If you are planning on something smaller, a teepee/wigmam is attractive (made from hazel or older bamboo canes). Sweet peas must be picked or dead headed to keep flowering. I find it hard to reach the flowers in the centre of a teepee, which can make this task a bit of a chore.

I also do not enjoy tying in, as it is far too labour intensive. I find bean netting offers enough support for sweet peas to do most of this bit themselves. It is cheap, quick to erect and creates a veritable wall of scent once the netting is clothed with Sweet Peas. Here is a picture of our indoor sweet peas at this time last year. Note the sunshine….

 

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Here’s how we prepare our rows. Ground is dug over (ideally in the autumn) with plenty of well rotted FYM. Stout 2.4m posts are banged in at intervals, approx. 3-4m apart. A hole is drilled through the top of each post, wire (electric fence wire) is threaded through and at the same time woven through the top of the netting and tied as taut as you can . Think of it like hanging a simple curtain,  with the bean netting secured to the post using a staple gun to stop any wafting about. Depending on the length of your rows, your end rows may need bracing with a post section notched in and dug into the ground.

 

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This picture was taken by Shannon Robinson last year, when we let the public pick their own. Our next installment will cover hardening off and planting.

Rachel Siegfried

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Sweet Pea Grow Along – Part 2

By on February 11, 2014 in Cut flowers, Sweet Peas

Hello Everyone and welcome to the second instalment of our Grow Along.

Hopefully you now  have your seeds, composts and deep pots or rootrainers at the ready.

 

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Firstly, do not concern yourself with pre-soaking, chitting or scarifying your seeds. I find a really good watering in and a bit of warmth is enough to get your seeds germinating quickly.

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Fill your pots with compost mixed with vermiculite, about 3 parts compost to 1 part vermiculite.

Using a dibber, pencil or any other pointy implement, dib a hole about 2.5cm/1 inch deep. Drop in your seed and give it a little prod to ensure it is at the bottom of the hole.

 

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Fill in the holes and label with the variety and date before watering gently from above or soaking in a tray.

 

The next step is to find somewhere warm (and mouse free), if you have a heat mat or propagator that’s perfect. Otherwise try an airing cupboard or near a radiator. Don’t worry they won’t be there long – as soon as you see a shoot, move the pots into a cool, bright position.

 

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At this point, cold and brigh conditions are what you want – I use an unheated greenhouse. Your aim is to grow stocky plants with lots of roots, so you can treat them mean. If it gets really cold (below minus 3-4 degrees C) they will need some protection, either turn on the greenhouse heater, cover them with horticultural fleece or bring them indoors.

Pinch out the growing tip when they have 3-4 pairs of leaves. This will encourage a side shoot to grow and create a bushy plant.

 

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Keep your plants on the dry side during these winter months, I usually water them every couple of weeks.

 

Ground preparation is probably out of the question at the moment if your ground is as waterlogged as ours. So let’s get on to that with the next post.

 

Rachel Siegfried

 

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