March may be the start of spring and the growing season, but September is the true beginning of the flower farmer’s year. When we pause amidst the late summer flowers and last of the warm sunny days to evaluate the season that’s just ending and think about what we want to do differently or more of next for next year.
I’ ve already ordered my spring ranunculus and anemones as well as more fancy daffs: they were all so popular this year for weddings that I want to have more available to go in bunches for the stall as well.
I’m thinking about how to get my dahlias through the winter – I usually leave them in the ground but last year I lost so many in the wet that we’ll need to dig up some of our favourites to make sure they survive. The long-term solution is to move the whole bed to a higher spot which – fingers crossed – won’t flood so easily.
I’m busy collecting seed from some of my favourite annuals to sow now – fresh seed germinates much more reliably. It’s the perfect time to sow many hardy annuals like cornflowers, nigella and sweet peas for early flowers next summer – they are tough enough to make it through the winter and will bloom well before those sown in the spring. Handy to know – for succession, you can sow now and then again in the spring.
I’m eyeing up those hardy perennials which have been favourites this summer and making a note to split them when they have finished flowering. It’s easy to divide plants – over the autumn when the soil is warm and damp they’ll get going really well.
Some of the things we have been really enjoying this year have been astrantias, nepeta and geums – they make wonderful additions to bouquets and arrangements and keep blooming all summer long. And as a bonus the nepeta is scented too!
I’m going to be taking cuttings of my favourite roses a bit later in the autumn when the leaves have dropped. I’ll take lengths of pencil sized stems and pop them in a hole in the corner of a bed with a bit of grit. It sounds unlikely but by this time next year I’ll have new rose plants – the most difficult part of the job is remembering to make sure to put the twigs in the ground the right way up.
So when everyone is starting to slow down and thinks the growing year is ending you can still steal a march on next season ensuring you’ll have a plot full of blooms to cut for the house.
Vanessa Swetman
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