With the onset of Autumn, in earnest.  The mad period of sowing, propagating, transplanting, tending and cutting is coming to a close, the mass clear up is underway.  Clearing the debris of this years spent crops, cultivating before it gets too wet to go on the land and getting all those Spring flowering bulbs and early flowering biennials into their final positions ready for an explosion of colour next year.  We always have to be that far ahead in our thinking.  Sometimes knowing what we have to grow, through knowing the all time favourites, sometimes not knowing and trying to choose varieties that will satisfy the oncoming trends.  At times with growing there’s always a bit of ‘pot luck’ involved!!

The planting of thousands of bulbs is underway and it won’t be long until the shorter days will make time for sorting out all the seed orders, in time for next Spring when the madness will start again.

With the close of one season comes another, and although we have been preparing for Christmas since July, gathering seed heads, drying hydrangeas, and sorting promotional material for workshops and the farmers markets we go to, the reality of it hasn’t quite hit yet.  It wont be long though.  Harvesting evergreens and holly, gathering hips and haws to embelish our winter designs and looking for that ever evasive material to make your products look just that little bit different, to help catch the onlookers eye.  However, there is a warmth to this oncoming time of year, even though you may be freezing whilst working outdoors, that feeling you get when you create what we do this time of year and know its usually going to be the main item that people see as they enter your home or sit around your dining table over the festive period.  Knowing that we have produced a focal point that’s involved when bringing family and friends together is heart warming…