Cotswold Country Flowers

🌸 Discover the beauty of nature with our exquisite dried flowers and seed heads, available now on our website! 🌼 Our vibrant and sustainable dried flowers are a long-lasting alternative to fresh blooms, perfect for adding a touch of elegance to your home decor. 🌻 Naturally dried 🌺 No chemicals or dyes used 🌷 Carefully packed in compostable materials 🌸 Dispatched via Royal Mail 1st class within 2-3 working days 🌼 Create your own bespoke "pick and mix" bouquet. 📌 Here's the link to shop now ⬇️ https://s.mtrbio.com/zkhzllsnma

I know I’m not alone in finding motivation difficult in January. I really don’t feel inclined to get out of bed in the mornings and it gets dark soooo early it’s difficult to get anything done outside and as for the weather **%! However, slowly,slowly I’ve got myself going and have ticked off the following:Sown and transplanted the first batch of sweet peasPotted on autumn sown hardy annualsSowed a few easy to grow annuals ready for me and the Seed to Bloom to Vase course attendeesPrepped for the Seed to Bloom to Vase course which starts in early FebOrdered more dahliasOrdered hardware such as pots, compost, vermiculate, plant labels etc etcCleaned the inside of the greenhouses Planted autumn sown orlaya and some ranunculus in the greenhouseWelcomed a new member to my team - Mollie a school age “trainee” who will be working for me a couple of hours a weekAnd within a few weeks my mood and general psyche feels a lot more uplifted, positive and ready for action. How have you found January?

Sweet peas are a labour of love. I like to grow a selection of mixed tall Spencer varieties and grow them over a willow arch which I make myself every 2 years. Spencer varieties are not as highly scented as some, but they have fabulous long, strong stems and trails; a bonus for all my customers. Unfortunately I didn’t get around to sowing 🌱 any in the autumn but my first 2024 batch were sown 🌱 in early Jan and have just been potted on into root trainers. The method that works for me and which I’ve used for several years is 1 Soak a piece of paper kitchen roll in water 2 Place in the base of a clear plastic container with a lid 3 Place sweet pea seeds on the soaked kitchen roll 4 Seal the lid and place the container somewhere warm (mine is on a shelf above a radiator) 5 After 3 days check to see if seeds have germinated and allow to get approx 1 cm tall ( keep the lid on). Do not leave in the warm for too long as they will get very tall and spindly very quickly which we don’t want. 6 When seedlings are approx 1 cm tall, fill root trainers with a mix of peat free compost and perlite and transplant the seedlings into this. Cardboard toilet roll or similar works well too. 7 Place in a light but cool/cold place eg greenhouse or coldframe. 8. Water very sparingly from below and watch them grow. 9. In a few weeks, pinch out the lead stem back to the first pair of leaves. They will become bushier plants. I like to pot them on again so they have a good root system before planting them outside.

Tech breakthrough alert! I’ll be honest, so many steps and processes involved in creating YouTube videos - filming, editing on imovie, adding Canva intro’s, downloading imovie, uploading to youtube. Call me a numpty but I only just realised that transcribing is done automatically (thanks AI) I just need to edit out all the “umms” and correct some typos. So hopefully the whole process should be a lot quicker from filming to uploading in the future. I’ve been doing my “see it as it is” monthly garden tours since January 2021. They’re as much for my benefit to look back on and compare the flowers on the plot month by month and year on year. But it seems that some lovely people all around the UK and the world like to watch them too. I’m a completer finisher so now I’ve done January 2024. 1 down 11 to go! I’m planning to add more “how to” and “behind the scenes” videos this year. Let me know what you think and what you’d like to see. Finally if you happen to be one of my subscribers thank you, thank you, thank you. If you’re not, and you like what you see , you know what to do.

What’s you’re favourite flower? I have so many but I have a soft spot for Cosmos…. We go back a long way! I was first introduced to them by a neighbour when I lived in Northumberland over 30years ago. I’ve grown them every year since and I love, love, love them.🩷🤍 I tend to grow a selection of colours, but always tall varieties and try a different variety each year if I can. Last year it was cupcakes blush, and before that Apricotta - both were beauties. Cosmos are half hardy annuals so I won’t be sowing them until March and won’t be planting them outside until mid to late May because they don’t like frost❄️. They’re generally easy and quick to germinate 🌱 and will need potting on (possibly twice) before planting out. Photo’s show a selection of cosmos I’ve grown over the years. Which is your favourite?

These lovely words make me so happy! Next course starts Tues 6th Feb and Sunday 11th Feb. If you want a chat to find out more 📞in bio.

We cover so much on the Seed to Bloom to Vase 🌱💐 course and it’s embedded by repetition and lots of discussion. By the end of the second session anyone that is new (and even the more experienced) to gardening will be getting the hang of interpreting seed catalogues, will know what cut flower seeds to sow and when and how, they’ll know what the difference is between hardy and half hardy annuals and biennials. It’s not all about sowing seeds though: We discuss and calculate how much of each they should sow, and planting distances, getting the most out of (peat free) compost, making your own compost for mulching, dividing my perennials to take home (I warned you it was hands on), the list goes on and lots of questions 🙋 are answered - no question ❔ is too small!

The dried flower shop 💐 has been ticking away nicely in the background but still plenty to choose from. Did you know that a pick and mix option is available with postage and packing only applied once per order? Dried flower bouquets have proved popular recently and make a great everlasting gift. This one is getting posted today to a mum for her birthday. Unlike my fresh flowers my dried flowers can be posted 📭 anywhere in the UK. Link to shop in bio (just saying). To see the full video hop over to YouTube https://youtu.be/DQ6-GgAYlY0

I’m very excited to be meeting the next Seed to Bloom to Vase 🌱💐 cohorts here at CCF HQ in less than a month. Six morning sessions from Feb to July - very much on site (NOT ONLINE) and hands on (although we always start with a quick catch up over coffee and delicious cake 🧁) After the first session of seed sowing and transplanting, everyone goes home enthused and keen to get going with a better understanding of what to sow and when. 🙂 The first car boot full of goodies will include a starter kit of useful seed sowing essentials and a few autumn sown plants for a head start as well as pots of their own freshly sown hardy annuals. If you fancy joining us once per month on Sunday or Tuesday mornings see the link in bio for more info 👆