Well, as I sit here typing this post, July is upon us, and for the second year running, I wonder how much longer I can do this for.
I started my business in 2016, growing flowers for sale. To begin with, it was literally a couple of bunches put out at the garden gate for passersby. At the time, I also had a career in the police and two young children to look after. I turned the flower-growing from a hobby into a part-time business to make a bit of extra pocket money.
It soon morphed into something bigger than I’d ever imagined, as I got sucked into the passion of growing lots of different flowers and meeting other growers who became friends, plus developing websites and social media outlets, which I never imagined possible when I started.
I have learnt so much when it comes to growing flowers, but also what is involved in running a business on your own, having to deal with all the admin that comes with it, whether it’s your tax return, website issues, tricky customers you name it; it all comes down to me. And I have to be honest, I’ve been pretty lucky with some lovely people helping me along the way and having very few tricky customers!
But the thing I didn’t consider 10 years ago was how the weather would affect what I am trying to achieve and how the extremes it throws at us now would make this career choice such incredibly hard work.
2025 was hugely challenging with very little, if any, rainfall from spring right through until the back end of summer. Midsummer, I splashed out on irrigating probably about a third of the garden. This cost a good deal of money but did make crops more successful and watering less relentless. But this still leaves the rest of the garden with no irrigation, so I water it from the collection tanks we have dotted around the garden. This is hugely time-consuming and isn’t as good as drip line irrigation for the ground, but even if I had the money to irrigate the whole plot, it’s a logistical nightmare because of the way it is laid out, so for me it’s not an option.
If you’re anywhere near me in the Midlands UK, literally right in the middle of the country, you know how incredibly hot it was last week, and although we did have some rain a couple of weeks ago, the ground is now like a desert, and my collection tanks are slowly running out. We were meant to have some rain this week, but that never arrived.
When the weather becomes so hot and the ground so dry, another problem that arises is a backlog of young plants sitting in trays waiting to be planted out. Because of these conditions, it’s virtually impossible to do, and so they start to really sulk in their trays.
Today I had to get the China Asters and some dahlia seedlings out because next week the heat is back again. The ground is so dry, even where it’s been watered, I’ve had to soak the holes again before I could even put the plants in, and then keep watering them just to rehydrate the soil. I’ve also mulched them to give them a chance of getting bedded in, and I’ll attempt to keep the ground moist so they can get their roots down. Hopefully they make it through to flowering later in the summer.
So my water butts are running dry. I’ve had to pull crops out that have literally failed because of the intense temperatures and lack of rain. Crops that I sowed back in the spring, expecting them to be fit for cutting and selling now, such as the 100 beautiful scented stocks I planted out, probably yielded about 10 stems before the heat finished them off!
If I’m being totally honest, this week I’ve found it really difficult to stay positive. And although I know there are far worse things going on in other corners of the world and I’m very lucky to have everything here, it’s still a brutal business to be in, especially when it’s just you working on your own, apart from a very naughty puppy who’s now trying to pull out all the plants that are dying in the ground!!
There is a real danger with social media, glossy websites and “let’s try to inspire” newsletters, that people looking from the outside in on business like mine could easily think I float round the garden cutting pretty flowers and making them into bunches without a care in the world.
But in reality I work long hours, getting up mega early to cut flowers before it’s too hot, watering crops just to keep them alive, and at times, selling very little. If I worked out my hourly rate, it would be shocking!!!
Now I know I am not alone in feeling like this, and I know some growers who are making it their last year, so if you live near a small independent flower grower, give them a boost by buying some of those flowers they have struggled to keep alive during this difficult year. It will make a real difference to them and give them the encouragement they may need to keep on watering!!!
A good place to start if you are not sure whether you have a grower near you is on the Flowers From The Farm website…
Search here on the FFTF website
If you live near me, why not pop along to the Flower Shed on a Friday - Sunday 9 am-6 pm or book onto a course here in the garden studio.
My next course is Botanical Cyanotype & Floral Design on Saturday 22nd August at 10.00 am, where local artist Juliet Nichols-Wood is joining me to get creative with flowers from the garden.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post. If you are a fellow flower grower, how’s your season going? I’d love to hear from you. X
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