Harvesting flowers is one of the most
important parts of the whole growing process. Cutting for quality,
colour scheme, an eye to continuity and the customer’s needs are all
constantly being juggled in the picker’s brain, alongside the
quantity of stems required. That’s why I try my hardest not to get
too involved myself…
As we have grown, the flowers have got further and further away! It is certainly not always practical to pick into water and so armfuls of flowers are often carried back, especially tall stems. Dreams of expensive quad bikes, utility vehicles and Piaggio ‘cafe’ style scooter trucks have remained just extravagant whimsy. We do manage with a ride-on and trailer but it’s often doing other duties.
In your dreams…..
And so, Arjen came to the rescue with
his plans for a harvesting trolley in his flower handbook. In the end
I didn’t fancy his two small-wheeled version, although the narrow
profile is necessary to squeeze along picking paths (that never seem
big enough!). And so I cannibalized an old wheelbarrow that was
falling apart in the winter, to save me some time and to make the
trolley more manoeuvrable.
Add a few old bits of greenhouse, some windbreak netting and we have a very light trolley, ready for piles and piles of stems. Still a work in progress though I
admit…..
Ashley Pearson