‘Treat the earth well, it was not given to you to your parents, it was loaned to you by your children’

 Native American Proverb

Not that long ago gardeners were encouraged to keep their gardens tidy which in turn meant there would be little room for the likes of slugs/snails to find homes and ultimately devour our favoured flowers, fruit and veg.  Now advice given is to encourage all manner of beings into the garden to provide a diverse range of species, which in turn means less chemicals needed to kill the pests.

We have always been an advocate of bio diversity, encouraging wildlife into the flower fields, which in turn has helped us with pests, nutrition and pollination. For the first time this year, the flower field had a new arrival, bees. We are lucky to have an expert bee keeper, Mike, in the village. Mike has been looking after our new residents and it has been really fascinating learning all about these little workaholics . At present they are all tucked away in the hive, bundled together in a large ball, protecting the queen, until the weather warms up and they will all spring into life again.

We have also built a brown hedge on the farm and it has been really interesting (especially for the children) to see who has taken residence in this new home.

It’s not until we sat down and thought about all the different areas of the farm and how beneficial these are to nature, that we realised just how easy it is to encourage different types of wildlife. We have several spinneys, the river, ditches, hedges, trees, ponds, compost heaps, leaf mounds, log piles, long grass not cut, bird boxes and various buildings for birds like owls to nest in.

We do get bothered by slugs, snails, greenfly etc but now we have a diverse range of wildlife here it’s meant that predators who are willing to feast on these beasts have a home and continuous food supply, this has in turn meant that we no longer suffer as much with damage from pests.

We read last week that there is more organisms in a handful of good homemade compost than there are people on the planet. So we challenge you all to be a little untidy in the garden; don’t cut back everything before winter, to give creatures somewhere to hibernate, keep the grass just that bit longer, make your own compost, make your own bug hotel, and let some of the leaves under your hedge decompose instead of tidying them all away.

Finally, now is the ideal time to put up a nest box. As the days get longer, birds are starting to check out that all important nesting site. Robins love nesting in tea pots, pans hug up behind ivy (just don’t hang too high).

Have a good week everyone.

Anyone with a love of flowers will be aware of the Great British Garden Revival which has been broadcast on the BBC over the past weeks. Those yet to view their recordings are in for a real treat (grab that cuppa, stop what you’re doing – don’t forget to keep a notebook by the side of you – notes need to be taken)

British Flowers have such beauty; through their kaleidoscope of colours, diverse range of textures and most importantly their indulgent scent. Rachel de Thame is one of a growing number of celebrities on a mission to promote British Flowers and rightly so. Buy Seasonal British Flowers and we guarantee you won’t be disappointed. Logging onto Flowers from the farm website – http://flowersfromthefarm.co.uk/ allows you to find your local grower, build up a really good relationship with them; whether it’s for flowers for a special occasion, wedding or regular flowers just for your home, you certainly won’t regret it. (The website is being updated at the moment so keep logging on to keep up to date)

This week has been such an exciting week for British Flower Growers. Along with Gill Hodgson (founder of Flowers from the farm) and Fiona Pickles (owner of Firenza Floral Design) we met with the RHS team at Harlow Carr to discuss British Flower Week and a very exciting partnership has begun. Watch this space guys …. more news to follow.

(A note for your diary – British Flower Week 15 – 19 June 2015)

At this time of year when most of the fields are in a deep slumber its time to decide and plan for the year ahead. What seeds to grow, what new flowers to trial and where on earth do we find room for even more flowers! This year we have ordered more roses, different dahlia varieties and some unusual lovelies along with our normal orders. This will be our 4th year of growing for you all, where has the time gone.

Annual seeds are so easy to grow, everyone can have a small cut flower patch in their garden or even on a balcony. When weeds start growing in the garden it’s natures alarm call to start sowing your seeds; as the day light hours get longer and the temperature starts to increase. Some growers follow the lunar calendar to sow seeds, some use a gardening book whilst others go on years of experience. Just don’t be frightened or daunted, experiment, write a diary its definitely the best way to learn.

This weeks weather looks like a mix of warm and cold. Whatever the weather wrap up warm, get outside and look for signs of Spring. The nights are definitely getting lighter, snowdrops are emerging and the birds have started to sing their distinct song.

Have a good week everyone.  Sue and Wendy.

At last we have got round to writing our next blog post, slightly late I know but there does not seem to have been much time to sit!

We have been really busy with deliveries, weddings, parties and welcoming people to the flower field. Never in our wildest dreams could we have met such lovely people and had so much interest in our flowers.

When you work in the fields all day long you never seem to see much change as the seasons roll into each other you are unaware of things growing so fast. It’s not until other people come to the field or we look at photos that we realise how quick things grow and the seasons move on. Each year we seem to learn new things. Twice a month we take video diaries of the fields so that in the depths of winter when we are planning for the next year, we can look back and see what worked well and what we need to change. These videos are invaluable along with our written diaries and really help us plan for the years ahead.

With the nights starting to draw in all too quickly now it seems and a definite nip in the air, Autumn is creeping up on us all. Hopefully the weather will hold and September will be a glorious month where late sown flowers come into their own and flowers, berries and seed heads are collected for our Christmas wreaths.

Well at last the weather is warming, the nights are not too cold and we have uncovered the dahlias and planted all our sweet peas outside.

The sweet peas in the poly tunnel smell heavenly and each morning when you enter the tunnel you are met by the most amazing scent.

Everywhere you look there are new flowers and as June arrives the flower field takes on a new vigour. With scabious, roses, campanula, linaria, snapdragons, iris, chives, nigella, lupins, nepeta, sweet williams, rudbeckia, peony, clematis, calendula, ammi, an abundance of herbs, frothy foliage the list goes on.

We have been overwhelmed with the interest from local customers wanting party flowers, birthday flowers, funeral flowers, brides wanting something different/natural for their very special day and florists interested in working with British Flowers.

We are always learning and love new design challenges. At times when there seems not enough hours in the day, watering, picking and sowing seems to morph into one another, once we line up our flowers to create, its as if the clock stops and we are in a relaxed state of zen!!