August News & Growing Tips From The Flower Farm

​July brought welcome & much needed rain, with continued good temperatures - just what we needed to bring a burst of colourful flowers on long, strong stems to cut. This has really been a good summer for growing here & we've been busy making the most of it. 
  The scent of the Sweet Peas as I cut them in the evening is glorious. The Dahlia flowers are growing quickly now & make big, impactful flowers in bouquets. Note to self - grow more Dahlia next year!
  Development of our bottom field continues & now plenty of flowers are blooming away there to keep the colour going through into  Autumn. The new perennial beds planted with Astrantia, Delphinium, Helenium, Phlox & Scabious in the Spring are bulking up well. I've been delighted with how many stems these produced this first year & optimistic for next season.
  As well as delivering flowers for July Brides this month (including our first Gretna Green wedding), we've been meeting Brides from far & near planning ahead for 2018. Always a pleasure to be involved in such special days & every wedding is different. At the moment, we're drying flowers for a late October Bride who requests dried flowers & grasses mixed with fresh ones in her bouquets & arrangements.The airing cupboard is no longer just for drying socks - Ken says there's a surprise every time he opens the door. 
   Ken went on his long awaited bee keeping course & now planning the arrival of his hives & bees. I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of the first batch of 'Flower Farm Honey'!
  The roses had a bit of a trashing last week - the front gate was left open. Bold as brass in walked the deer in broad daylight! They tucked in to their favourite snack of David Austin roses (organic, of course). Given a good feed & hopefully, we'll have a lovely second flush of buds soon. A timely reminder to be vigilant...
  As well as delivering bouquets, wedding & funeral flowers, I'll be bringing a selection of flowers to the lovely Loch Arthur Farm shop on Fridays this month (not the 18th) & the Kirkcudbright Farmers Market on Sunday 27th August - do come & say 'hello' if you're visiting.
  I hope your garden is bursting into bloom too this month & you've been able to cut plenty of gorgeous blooms to bring inside. Below are a few pointers of tasks for your Cutting Garden in the month ahead;

Jobs for the Cutting Garden in August;

• Keep cutting flowers to keep your display going, especially Sweet Peas - the more you cut, the more they give.This has to be my 'standing order' on the list every month, doesn't it?
• Be Ruthless with the early flowering Annuals such as Cornflowers, Cerinthe & Ammi as they begin to produce fewer good quality stems. It's tempting to try &  squeeze 'just a little bit more' from the plants. But if they're fewer, smaller & on weaker stems now, consign them to the compost heap today. Replace with late bloomers such as Cosmos, Amaranthus, Zinnia or Rudbeckia for a fast, flowery boost. 
• It's a good time to increase your plant stocks for little or no cost by taking cuttings from favourites. Try Scented Pelargonium, Sage, Rosemary, Garden Pinks - all should take well this month. Mint also roots very easily in water so it's easy to increase your cutting patch supply.
• The new seed & bulb catalogues drop through the letter box this month. Next Spring may seem a long time off but enjoy flipping through the pages, do a little dreaming & begin planning. Order your bulbs early to be sure of your choice.
• A warm day is a good opportunity to wash up your seed trays & plant pots ready to reuse. Not a glamourous job, I know. When you're searching for 'just the right size' in February or March to sow seeds, you'll appreciate that nice stack ready to use. They'll take less place to store & it saves money too.
• And for some flowery inspiration, here's a beautiful wedding photoshoot using late summer flowers including dahlia here

Until next time,

Rosie Gray
Galloway Flowers

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