Oh Tuckshop Gardener, where have you been? I've been at the NEC to get flowers seen....

A pyjamaish slow start to the morning.  Luxury! And time, at last, to put my fingers to the keyboard.

From this..... to this..... with lots of the co-operation and camaraderie typical of flower growers it seems!

to this.....

It's nearly two weeks since the maelstrom began, setting up our West Midlands Flowers from the Farm stand at the NEC for RHS BBC Gardener's World Live.  Having only attended the show as a visitor before, I had no idea what the exhibitors' experience would be, but having now come out of the other side of it, I feel nothing but positive about it.  It was absolutely fantastic, if exhausting!

Luckily, as we were showcasing British grown cut flowers, we didn't have quite the same stress levels as we would've had designing a show garden - at least with cut flowers, you can harvest only the ones which are looking great and pop them into position - not quite the same tricky business as trying to bring on plants to exactly the right stage of flowering in time for the show.  Just trying to do that for plants to fill our hamper and wheelbarrow displays was difficult enough!  Out of the three foxgloves potted up, only one chose to co-operate and put a flower spike up at the right time. Grrrrr.

Working closely with other local growers from the group was great - it was brilliant to get together with familiar faces again, and to meet new growers who haven't yet managed to make it to any of our West Midlands meetings.  Penny of Wayside Flowers, and Maria of The Flower Patch were invaluable in helping to organise the show and kept me going through thick and thin - I think our blend of skills and personalities made us something of a killer team!  Penny was calm and practical, and brought prior experience of exhibiting at the NEC on a corporate level to the table, Maria (and her family) was a treasure trove of handiness - knocking up blackboards, designing posters and leading the charge (voiceless, as it disappeared during the course of the show) during 'have a go' buttonhole sessions with visitors.  And then there was me - a bit Tiggerish in my over-enthusiasm at times, but dragging all and sundry in my wake.  Thanks to all who allowed themselves to be dragged (Polly, Judith, Kate, Jayne and Heather), to More By Design for the loan of the splendid chairs and to my mum for all her flower-related needlework.  

Visitors were really taken with the stand, and our information postcards about Flowers From the Farm disappeared as quickly as we could replenish supplies, obviously there's a lot of interest in locally grown flowers out there!  Asking visitors if they had heard of the organisation and its work, there was something of a mixed response - some had spotted us in the media previously, but for others we were the first point of contact.  After being bombarded by enthusiastic growers, lots of people left knowing more about British cut flowers than when they arrived!

Our scented displays of relaxed country flowers were also snapped up as fast as we could scribble reservation names on labels on the final day, and several people told us "You're the best stand here". The RHS judges almost agreed, giving us second place in a beauty contest which we newbies didn't even realise we were part of.  I subsequently discovered that meant we'd won a prize of £200 which will be used for expenses for future shows now that we've discovered what we're capable of - a massive increase on our budget of unlimited goodwill which generated the impressive display above.  First prize in our sights next year??!!

Even managed to catch up with old friends, Urban Herbs and to cheer an exhausted looking Kate with a flower crown in the final hours of the final day!

Lena from BBC2 Big Allotment Challenge visits 

Toby Buckland looking a little scary at the Gardeners' World Theatre next door to our stand. Sorry Toby!

Happy New Year from a happy flower grower

Another year is here.  What will it bring, I wonder?  Lots of flowers and a new growing space would be top of my wish list (along with a polytunnel and more local business links in 2015).

It's funny how the year passes in a whirl of activity from March til December but as soon as the New Year's Eve celebrations are over and Christmas put away for another 12 months, my fingers and mind itch to get started on the next growing year.  My second seed order was placed last week and my mind is now constantly roaming over what new cutting varieties I'm going to find space for in the coming months.


I am, however, fully intending to remain strong and bolt down my seed packets until March - not a lot of point in making early sowings until the daylight levels are extended with the imminent arrival of spring.  I made an exception for a very late sowing of self-collected sweet pea seeds yesterday, which I've put in my unheated porch as I need red sweet peas for late May wedding flowers in Birmingham.  I will have to murmur words of encouragement to the sproutlings on a regular basis… and hope that a lot of them are indeed red like about 50% of the parent plants.

This will be one of my first bright coloured weddings with hot oranges, yellows and reds.  Nearly all wedding requests to date have been for pastels and blush shades, so it is nice to have something different.  I'm providing the bride with buckets of flowers which friends and family will arrange for the wedding themselves.  A lovely idea to get people involved in the day - and one of the ways I got started on this path myself, so you never know, I might even germinate some more local flower folk!  My first DIY wedding flowers order, so it will be interesting to see how it all works.

Photo courtesy The Great British Florist

It's been lovely to meet so many other local growers in 2014 as part of my role as regional co-ordinator for Flowers from the Farm, a network of British flower growers nationwide.  We had our first West Midlands meeting in January, and have met up every couple of months as a group ever since, but nearby flowery neighbours met via this route are seen regularly.  Being part of something bigger has been good for developing my expertise and my network - I now know who I can call on for more supplies and helping hands, whilst all the time keeping things local!  Judith of Pollen Floral Joy has become a key ally for moral support and is a very handy brain to pick for ideas and collaborative projects like our crowning of Bully, Birmingham's iconic Bullring bull for British Flowers week in June.

Knowing there are other people out there, willing to share growing and business expertise is invaluable and makes single-handed self-employment much less like being a horticultural hermit.  Far from it. Flower growing has thrown me into a generous world full of green-fingered folk and I'm loving every minute of it.

January sees me resolve yet again to get my allotment shipshape - my half plot section is already something like ready, with beds weeded and covered with weed suppressing membrane to hold back the insidious self seeders and their bid for world domination.  The scruffy big plot however, still needs some serious attention and as ever, I vow that this year I will get the path layout right to enable better access across the plot.  I've got a massive heap of woodchippings which I scrounged from tree surgeons working in the neighbourhood, and I plan to press this handy waste product into service, laid down over some cardboard in the alleys which I earmark for paths.  I sense a whole lot of earthmoving coming on.  Let's hope for a drier winter than 2014 if it is all going to get done before planting starts in spring.

What jobs have you prioritised on your plot for this year?

I wish you all a happy, fruitful and floriferous 2015.

West Midlands Meet Up - Flowers from the Farm

We came, we saw, we ate lots of cake. And along the way we discovered that most of us were career changers with a major crush on flowers.  Some had started from the flowery end and got into growing, others from the growing end and had got into arranging but we all ended up here in the Tuckshop today, swapping tips under broad golfing brolly otherwise known as the network of British flower growers, Flowers from the Farm.

I'll try to sum up the wide ranging discussions under a few broad headings, or this post could stretch on into late summer….

Social Media

The topic that seems to preoccupy every business these days.

Google+

One key discovery:   before you do anything else, make sure you set up Google+ page as this is the first step to getting ranked by search engines. No Google+ page = invisibility for you and your website (otherwise known as appearing on page 27 of search results).  Even without a website or any other online platforms, you can set up a Google+ page and personalise it with photos of your flowers and a profile of yourself and what you do. Lots of people leave theirs as the generic map  and headings only, so make yourself stand out by making the effort to make it look great. It's no harder than putting pictures into a Word document and makes a much better first impression.

Joining Google+ will also give you access to the Britishflowers Google group.

SEOs and Keywords

When choosing keywords for your website for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), check Google Keywords to inform yourself about what search terms are the most commonly used by potential customers.

Website packages

You can build a reasonable website using one of the many readily available templates available out there. Webs, a sideshoot of Vistaprint, have a reasonable selection and offer regular cheap deals for their premium packages which also get you a domain name.  Other suppliers are, of course, available and a quick online search will probably give you plenty of options.  But they do take time to build, and you do need to be comfortable with writing copy and to have an eye for what is a good quality image to use.

Image Tools

I shared my recent discovery of an cheap app called 'Rookie' which is great for adding text, frames or various sticker details to photos - great for sharing or for quickly creating promotional materials.

Consistency

Another issue which came up in various forms was the need to develop a consistent online presence.  This means using the same name, logo etc across the whole range of social media platforms.  Choose which furrow you're going to plough and stick to it - make sure potential customers know who your are and can find you on twitter, Facebook, on your website etc.  Don't appear as different things in different places (says she, Tuckshop Gardener and Tuckshop Flowers!!!! - think this may be a bit of a giveaway as to which path I followed to arrive at my current position)   

Twitter 

Following other people is one possible way to find new leads. Follow local organisations and businesses and if their ethos is similar to yours, think about following some of their followers too. Think of it as marketing, rather than...well...stalking...They may look you up to see if they want to follow you back, and you're waiting there with lovely photos etc to just drag them into your network. And of course, you can follow other flower growers -  a welcoming bunch of other flower powerers in the form of #Britishflowers hour on Mondays 8-9pm.  

Marketing

There is a big buzz around British flowers in the media at present, and people get very excited when they discover they have a local person involved in this broad movement.  If you are a member of Flowers from the Farm, make sure you display the logo prominently on your market stall, website or wherever else you are selling from - it generates lots of positive feedback and interest.  Also don't forget you can also download the Great British flowers logo from the FTTF website.

We also discussed the role of packaging in positioning ourselves in our markets - do we want to be Skoda, VW or Audi?   We can't compete with supermarkets so we have to be careful about defining who we are and what we do if we are to gain a return on our work. 

For classy packaging, consider getting boxes printed - Atlas Packaging design bespoke boxes and offer alternative artworks based on your designs for you to choose from.  The Carrier Bag Shop offer a range of strong twist handled paper carrier bags in a range of colours which can be used to gift package jam jar posies with a little ingenuity - they may need a snip  down the sides for more floriferous things, but come in a great range of colours.

Farmers markets and fairs

These were discussed as a way of getting out and making a name for yourself in your local area, but it was generally agreed markets alone will not generate enough income to be the sole source of business success. However, always presenting a lovely stall can be a great way to pick up wedding and other work and will make local people aware of you as 'that one who does the nice flowers'.  Add a website so that people can find you outside market times and they could be a good place to start. But... and there is a but... make sure your pricing is right from the start and factor in your packaging, overheads, time and all the other sundries.  You don't want to price so highly that you won't sell, but you do want to be generate some income and can't expect to sell every item on your stall.  Don't sell off cheaply at the end, or everyone will soon start coming to you five minutes before you pack up every month! Better to do a 'lonely bouquet' with leftovers and leave them around locally with all your details attached!

Weddings

Pricing in general, and for wedding work in particular, was a topic we discussed at some length and it was very useful to have a florist to hand to gain her input into this.  A useful link on this topic was also highlighted as it discusses the benefits of being transparent with clients about how costs are calculated - not only have you got to cover the flower costs, but you have also got to charge for the time spent consulting, cutting, conditioning, arranging and for being available to see to the details and clear down on the day of the wedding itself. 

Participating in wedding fairs may be a cost effective way to market as you don't have to make a tableful of flowers - just a few stunning arrangements to display your wares.

Funerals

This is a tricky area for flower suppliers to get into as most funeral directors seem to work closely with a specified florist and often there may be percentages to be paid for referrals.   We thought that for what we do, green funerals and natural burials might be the best market to target and that this could be one thing to promote on our websites and to try to create links with via social media.

Suppliers

As small growers, we all need to embrace the fact that at some points in the year, or for very large events, we will need to buy in British flowers.  Now we have each other to turn to for local flowers and discussed the issues of how to price - most of us plumping for a 'by the bucket' appproach.  Other suppliers we'd had positive experiences of were of the Cornwall based Clowance (who have the benefit of allowing small, mixed orders rather than having to go for boxes of one variety) and Tregothan who are said to be particularly good for foliages. Locally, Birmingham Horticultural Market is home to Vitacress who seem to carry a larger range of British flowers than most other wholesalers.

Flowers

We also talked flowers (of course) and it's that time of year when dahlias are very much on our mind.  Judith, the florist amongst us, uttered an "ooooh" at the thought of Cafe au Lait, and we looked at pics of other varieties we'd enjoyed last season - amongst them Witteman’s Best, Peaches, Rip City and the Karma series.

Sweet peas are also pre-occupying our cold frames etc and Owls Acres was recommended (via a Green and Gorgeous flower growing course) as a supplier of tried and tested cutting varieties.

How to keep our flowers looking lovely, once cut, came up - all of us agreed that whenever we sell them, we condition them properly for 12 hours before selling or arranging and had a bit of a debate over whether to use chemicals or not. Some people opt for a sterilising tablet or a spot of bleach, others for fresh, clean water and a care recommendation to customers that they change the vase water daily to keep the flowers looking their best.

We also discussed results of our accumulated September sowings, and the consensus was that in recent winters, only seeds sown under cover have been successful. Amongst these were ammi, cerinthe, cornflowers.  The unpredictable nature of spring has made these early sowings invaluable though, so busy greenhouses will abound later in the year.

The ranunculus debate rumbled on from last week's #britishflowers hour about whether they grow better under cover or outdoors. We thought we'd just monitor them and report back on our findings later in the season then compare notes again.

Learning

The majority of this West Midlands meeting had done floristry and cut flower growing courses – arranging largely at local colleges, and further workshops at Green and Gorgeous in Oxfordshire, which were highly recommended.

And this was just some of what we discussed.....

Taking a deep breath and clutching our notebooks to our chest, we decided to aim for quarterly meet ups, with the next one taking place in May. We decided to take turns in hosting meetings so that we get to see the scale of different operations and hope to visit experienced growers as part of this.

We did a broad brush plan for future meetings and decided that vase life trials, 'making' workshops as well as visits are on the hit list.  But most of all, by the end of the meeting, we'd made new contacts who we can call on for extra help, support and spare hands and flowers for big jobs. Invaluable for us one-woman bands.

Joining flowery forces and growing a business

New Year, new resolutions.

Yes I'm trying to do a bit more exercise, yes I'm trying to eat virtuously and all the other stuff we all vow every time January 1st rolls around.  But perhaps more importantly on the flowery front, I've finally taken the plunge and joined Flowers From the Farm (FFTF), a network of British growers which has been at the heart of the upsurge of interest in locally grown flowers.



I always thought that self employment might be a lonely path and that I would miss the sociability of working with a bunch of other folk, but either I've become more self-contained in my old age, or my love of what I'm doing more than compensates for a lack of collegiate chat around the (often malfunctioning) photocopier.  But in this internet age, I feel very much connected to a whole new lot of like-minded people who pop up on twitter every Monday evening, and who share questions, bulk buying opportunities and nuggets of advice via Google groups daily.  I don't feel out on a limb, and I don't feel unsupported - it's all rather marvellous really!  I feel happy in my work, fulfilled and in control of my own work life, even if I still need to sort out the financial aspects of it all a bit more systematically.

This time last year, I was nervously applying for farmer's market stalls for my flowers and looking in from the outside, feeling very much like a kid who'd just arrived at a new, and slightly scary, school. But now various markets and events are taken in my stride (most of the time!), I am on tweeting terms with lots of well-established growers and can even go "OOOOOH, it's Gill!" when she (Gill Hodgson, one of the founders of FTTF) appeared on Rachel de Thame's BBC feature on British cut flowers in last week's 'Great British Garden Revival' programme along with fellow flower tweeter, Rachael Petherham.  Looking at Rachael's wedding jam jars, I felt a surge of pride that we grow such lovely things and make such lovely natural bunches!

Even better, next week is the great #britishflowers twitter meet up in Cullompton, Devon and I'm very much looking forward to meeting the actual people behind the tweets for the first time and having more than 140 characters to share ideas in!  I'm also pleased to be hosting a flower tweeter from Glasgow later this year when she comes to do a wedding in Birmingham.

All of these lovely flowery networks help to nurture small enterprises and provide a very welcoming environment and an internet presence to promote the flowers we are all growing, on various scales.  They have helped me grow (both flowers and confidence) over the last year and made such a difference in every way. The past year has seen me go from looking at  Flowers from the Farm and thinking, "but I don't really qualify to join that group" to being a fully paid up member.  And that, in a nutshell, sums up the experience of 2013.  Looking forward to this one with my first wedding bookings in. May the sun shine on us all in the next twelve months!!