Dumb Stuff I’ve Done So Far This Growing Season
(yes, we are only in April)
If you follow along here, you might get the impression that everything runs very smoothly behind the scenes.
That I sow everything perfectly, grow everything flawlessly… and never, ever kill a plant.
I would just like to gently correct that idea.
Because the reality is… I run a flower farm. And sometimes, I do some truly questionable things.
The difference is - I plan for that.
Frosted… my own flowers
I forgot to shut the garage door where over £100 worth of freshly cut flowers were conditioning overnight.
We had a frost.
They froze.
Horrendous.
Luckily, I never rely on one batch of flowers - there’s always more coming through.
The tulip fridge incident
I put too many tulips in the fridge.
They touched the back.
They froze.
(You’d think I’d learn something about cold things by now.)
The accidental under-delivery (twice… to the same person)
I mixed up a client’s order and gave them a smaller bunch than they’d paid for.
Two weeks in a row. Same client.
I fixed it (properly), apologised (a lot), and now double-check everything before anything leaves me.
My cat vs. my seedlings
I let my cat sleep on my sweet pea seedlings.
Twice. They died. Twice.
I do sow more than I need… but I hadn’t factored in feline interference.
The tunnel disaster
I forgot to close my tunnels before a night of high winds.
It didn’t end well.
For the tunnels.
Or the plants inside.
This is exactly why everything isn’t grown in one place - you learn quickly not to put all your eggs in one basket.
The snapdragon saga
I planted out snapdragon seedlings I’d been nurturing since September.
Tucked them in beautifully with a wool mulch.
Watered them in.
Or so I thought.
Turns out I hadn’t watered them nearly enough.
Over the next few days, the wind slowly lifted the very dry, very blowable wool mulch…
…and took my snapdragons with it.
Six months of careful growing, gone in a breeze.
The “I’ll plant those later” mistake
I brought hardened-off seedlings down to the flower plot…
…and didn’t plant them.
They died.
Thankfully, there’s always another batch not far behind.
The very smug seed-starting setup
I set up a beautiful new seed-starting area in the garage.
Very organised. Very efficient.
Unfortunately, it was directly in front of the sunniest window.
My baby seedlings were not ready for that heat.
They got fried.
Humbling.
So here’s the truth
Things go wrong. All the time.
Flowers get frozen, fried, blown over, forgotten about… or occasionally slept on by a cat.
But behind the scenes, everything is grown with a bit of breathing room - extra seedlings, staggered sowings, flowers in different spaces - so that when something does go wrong, it doesn’t knock everything out.
The important bit
Whether you’re picking up a bunch from the stand or trusting me with your wedding flowers…
You’re not getting the chaos.
You’re just getting the good bit.
