It’s been a stormy week by the sea. We’ve been lashed by wind and rain and big swells. The sea always throws up a lot of rubbish. Mostly plastic bags, plastic string and plastic lollipop sticks. I collect it up. I hate to see it. I’ve found some good things along the way. A kids plastic motor boat. Old bits of wooden boats. Lots of driftwood (sculpted by the sea). And my favourite hard-to-find find - worn down oyster shells (I’ve collected dozens of these).
My Community Liaison Officer and I were out and about during a break in the storm, looking for treasure. She was looking for food. I was looking for shells.
As May turned to June and June is only 2 months from September (when my flower shop opens)I’ve been thinking a lot about my business model. How do I fit into the local market?
The thing is, I grow flowers on a very small scale compared to many. Very very small. Miniscule. I grow flowers in a different way to many flower growers too. I’m obsessed with English cottage gardens. Or more specifically Welsh cottage gardens. My nana’s garden (which now only exists in my memory) is my North Star.
Here’s a list of what makes my business a bit different (as you know I love a good list):
My flowers grow in a garden where looking after wildlife is at the heart of my growing practices.
I grow most of my flowers from seed (and bulbs, corms and tubers).
I only sell flowers that come from my garden, that I’ve grown.
‘Hand crafted’ and ‘Hand done’ are the essence of my business (I’m channelling William Morris). In this technological screen age, I want people to experience something tactile and personal that has a sense of time and place. That connects them with the earth.
I like to reuse and repurpose materials.
I want my flowers and the wrapping paper and labels to be compostible.
I want to integrate my art and design skills at every step of the process from the growing to the selling.
I want to grow a wide selection of cottage flowers.
I don’t want to be obsessed with stem length. Lots of people are happy to buy a sort bunch of flowers.
Because of the weather it’s been an inside week. It’s given me a chance to catch up on card making, jar decorating and cutting out my brand label.
Winter has arrived. Not just on the calendar but in weather and temperature and light levels. These Dahlias (above) that decided to grow after I planted new tubers in autumn, got knocked over in the wild northerly on Wednesday. I had to stake them.
I bought a random selection of tubers from a bulb sale at NZ Bulbs in Fielding. They were flying out of their boxes so I had to grab them quickly. I never got a chance to write down the names. I thought I’d avoided the short ones, but I didn’t. The short ones will get moved to a different place in the garden.
There is room in my garden for beautiful flowers of every stem length.
I’ve moved all my vases into the garden shed. The garden shed isn’t a garden shed anymore. It’s fair to say I have a vase obsession. Always have. Only difference now is I have a reason to keep them. I need them for work. I bought two new vases this week (the yellow and stripy ones in the top photo)
The outside stuff I did this week was all about tidying. I’ve cleared the mess behind the greenhouse and put in 3 small raised beds for shade loving plants (filling them with home made compost).
Meanwhile, inside the greenhouse, things are slowing down. The seedlings are growing, but they’re growing very slowly.
Next week I need to take cuttings of roses and other perennials. I also need to refill all the rat traps with poison. So far the rats and mice haven’t eaten my sweet pea seeds but they have started nibbling holes in my eco-pots. I hate rodents. Hate them. They scare the crap out of me. I have nightmares about them. Bugs and creepy crawlies and all animals in that group I’m fine with. Every single one of them. I wouldn’t have a problem if 100 wetas wanted to crawl over me. I love wetas. Whereas anything that looks like a rodent tail sends me into a cold sweat. I have to stifle the screams.
One of the roses I’ll be taking cuttings from is this tiny rose that flowers all year round. It’s an old fashioned rose I bought it from Grassroots Roses a few years ago. I’ve forgotten its name.
Here’s a photo of my Project Coordinator. We were trying to find the end of the rainbow.
