January 2021…Tales from the Flower Plot

Growing Pains

A blog has been on the “to-do list” for a while – mainly because I couldn’t decide what to blog about! But, with the start of a new year, and the promise of spring almost in the air, I thought it a good time to start…

Some of you may know that in the past year, I have been developing the flower growing side of things. I’ve always enjoyed gardening, but being able to grow and use my own flowers has taken my enjoyment to a whole new level…in fact, I’ve discovered it’s completely addictive!

For most of 2020, I was using our (rather neglected) vegetable patch to grow mostly annuals. I started these from seed in the spring, along with a few ranunculus and anemones. Based on previous years, I expected to lose at least half of the plants through neglect! However, the Covid Lockdown #1 meant that these seedlings were carefully tended to, and therefore I ended up with over 700 plants…and very little space!

Moving forward to June 2020, I was desperate for more growing space…I had seed trays everywhere and the 30 odd Dahlias I had started in pots were trying to make a bid for freedom. Fortunately, a kind lady in my village came to the rescue and offered a strip of her land adjoining a paddock….Operation Flower Plot commenced!

With a bit of help from the family, this patch of land was transformed in a few weeks into my new cutting garden…I followed Charles Dowding’s No-Dig method, constructing 4 raised beds (which quickly became 8), and by the end of June I was cutting beautiful blooms to use in my weekly orders.