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Fat bottom and a thin neck

By on March 28, 2013 in Floristry, Vases

                   StillLife

As I gave all of my vintage china and glass a spring clean, I thought about what makes the perfect jug. I decided mostly it’s a fat
bottom and a narrow neck, just like this one.

                 
GreenandgorgeousSG (35)

 

I have favourites  which don't fall into this category, some are striking, some challenging, elegant or
simply….how can I say ?….amiable. But the good all rounders pretty much are of the 'fat bottom narrow neck' type.  Some vases in my collection hardly get used at all, but I'd never part with them. In fact, I don’t
think these swans have ever left the studio.

 

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I am very attached to my vintage china and glass and I can
honestly say I don’t think I’ll ever have enough! My favourite shape to arrange
into of all time is definitely a fan vase. You can create something with drama
and texture very quickly.  

 

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Here are my top ten tips on choosing a good all-rounder jug.

 1.    
About 8” tall (for under
eye level table centres)

2.    
Fat bottom

3.    
Narrow neck

4.     Is beautiful in it's own right

5.    
A subtle colour. I love
working with soft aqua colours best, although I have a lot of turquoise in            my
collection too

6.    
If decorated, not too
overpowering

7.    
A good strong handle

8.    
Watertight (sounds
obvious but you’d be surprised how many aren’t)

9.    
Can withstand the
dishwasher (very handy)

10.  Hasn’t cost the earth, so you’re not too frightened to
use it

 

Jo Wise


                           VASES

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Walk the Plank

By on March 18, 2013 in composting

Everyone has their own way of making the perfect compost heap, and the same applies here at G & G, although the move to more and more flowers has resulted in big changes to the 'Mix'. I have for several years been using enclosed pallets, each heap 3 or 4 pallets square. I have given up turning these large heaps now (phew!), as using a tractor made such a mess without hard standing, and so keep them for 18 months at least.

 


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The sheer volume of woody material coming in from the cutting gardens has meant that I have resurrected my old shredder to help. It had a cheap 'Chonda' engine with serious issues and so this winter I gave up trying to fix it and just replaced the entire engine with a new Villiers one. The mechanics of necessity if you like….

 

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The shredder itself I run without any screens or protectors, so that the material is coarsely shredded and flies out mostly onto the heap itself. This means that rain can penetrate the heap, avoiding large dry areas of intact stems.

 

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I am lucky to have some great materials on hand to add to all this carboniferous forest, such as horse muck, chicken poo, leaves, veg waste and grass clippings. Barrowing up can get a bit hairy at the end of the cycle and in late summer, but you have to resist the temptation to build more and more  heaps (especially when they are a trifle 'shanty chic'). All that material soon subsides!

 

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The end result is always surprisingly good and has mulched all 600 roses this year. The incredible amount of seed in the compost has not been the problem I feared, there can be a small annual flush after spreading, but it's not a problem at all.

 

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Ashley Pearson

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To All the Mums

By on March 10, 2013 in Anemones, Cut flowers, Polytunnels

Mother's Day is always rather
frustrating, especially when it comes early and the flowers are late.
A missed opportunity for British flower growers I think. If only we
could change it to a Sunday in June. 

Anyway, I decided to rise to the
challenge and create a bouquet with only what is flowering in our
cutting gardens, bearing in mind that I am lucky to have an unheated
polytunnel for some of our spring bulbs.

 

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The bouquet contains a beautiful
selection of hellebores with rich, intense colours (specially bred by
Hugh Nunn of Harvington Hellebores) these match up well to the jewel-like
anemones. For foliage, I had rosemary, arum leaf and pussy willow.

 

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 Rachel

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