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We had a great spread in the Daily Mail 'You' magazine on the Sunday the 10th July. 

  Finally we are ready to launch the mail order service. Our 'Pick of the Garden' bouquets will be available via courier nationwide starting this Friday 20^th May. We have decided to time it with the peonies blooming, which are flowering for the first time after two years of waiting, time to celebrate and spread their sumptuous beauty. They will be accompanied by lots of scent: sweet peas, sweet williams, sweet rocket, stocks, mint and alchemilla. Our delivery day is Friday so you can make the most of your gorgeous, seasonal flowers over the weekend. They will arrive in one of our specially designed transit boxes which holds the bouquet all snug and secure in its aquapac (cellophane water bubble) keeping it as fresh and pristine as possible. I have tried to make the packaging as environmentally friendly as possible with recycled cardboard for the boxes and biodegradable cellophane to wrap the bouquets in. If you look on the order page there is a little border to bouquet photo story. It shows the flowers being picked in the morning, arranged in the flower studio and packed into the boxes ready for collection by the courier in the afternoon. We have tried to make the payment process as straight forward as possible by using paypal. If you would like to place an order I will need to know by 9am on the Thursday so that all the flowers are picked early to condition which means they are able to relax and drink lots of water before being put together in a bouquet.

Okay, it is a little early, wishful thinking…. I have started sowing though. This week the first batch of stocks, I use the Lucinda series from Moles seeds. They are a bit of faff, once they have germinated in the heated propagator they need to grow on at a cooler temperature until one can distinguish the light green seedlings from the dark green ones. It's the light ones your after, they are the double flowered plants. All of this carry on and you only get one flower per plant! But I love the scent, nostalgic value and they come into flower when there is a slight lull at the end of May which is always a busy wedding time. 

I have also sown more sweet peas, this time a range of 'Modern Grandifloras', these combine the large flower and stem length of the Spencer types with the knockout scent of the 'Matucana'.  I don't usually do a spring sowing of sweet peas, I am a big believer in the first week of November sowing for strong, stocky plants. But I am looking for some succession this year, after all they are my best seller. I am going to run a sweet pea masterclass as one of the courses this year for anyone who wants to hone their sweet pea growing skills check it out the courses page.

Other jobs which have kept me running around this month have been mulching, good for working off those extra Christmas kilos! I use well rotted horse manure and green waste from the council, an excellant sterile weed suppressor. I have also been busy with hazel, building wigwams and arches for clematis, roses and sweet peas. I use tarred jute string to hold them together and they usually last two years before they become too brittle. One of the hedge lines is a hazel coppice which is rather handy.