CURRENT FLOWER PROGRESS
Not at the same stage as we were last year.
Still waiting for our main PYO to fully florish.
Have had to cancel our first PYO Event on 2024 which was meant to be on 23rd July.
Might have to cancel our second Event, but will make the decision on 24th July.
WHAT A YEAR. NOT great for business income. DOWN vs. 2024!
Hoping our MERRI Flower Lovers stick with us x
ON THE MERRI FLOWER FRONT….
April was all about masses of seed sowing on the flower front of our business.
YES. We had a few failures (my fault I forgot to water them) but the majority of the seeds took, so its all systems go waiting to pot them on.
ON THE MERRI CHRISTMAS TREES FRONT.
We continue to prune trees and remove trees that have died.
YES. That’s right. Not every tree takes especially if in a water area, but the new trees in plot 1 are really well
ON THE MERRI FLOWER FRONT….
February was all about preparation on the flower front of our business.
February = Rose Pruning & kick starting seed sowing.
MOST importantly February is the month I buy new seeds for our 2023 PYO Plots & do a review of the seeds we already have to make sure I don’t over order.
I LOVE flick through a seed catalogue or scrolling through a seed website.
Here are three seed catalogues refer to for inspiration and reference.
ON THE TREE FRONT…
The weather was on our side this February & allowed us to continue base & side pruning our trees.
We aimed to finish off pruning the top-left quarter of plot 2, but didn’t quite finish it.
March will be all systems go to prune the bottom-left quarter of plot 2 so its really for our Easter Egg Hunt in April.
ON THE MERRI FLOWER FRONT….
There is not much going on at the farm in January, so now is the time to make use fo the quiet times to indulge in READING.
I love reading. Give me a good book over TV/YouTube any day. January is my time to catch up on all the reading that I daydream about during the summer.
I’m a fan of reading about flower growing (naturally!), but also a huge fan of ‘romantic escapism’.
Here are three of the books I dived into in January for inspiration and reference.
A must-have. It changed the way I grew spring crops and helped me to increase quality and production tenfold.
The bible for cut flower growers.
Published the year we went into business.
Next month i’ll share with you MY go to seed catalogues & have my fingers crossed that I stay within my seed budget for 2023.
ON THE TREE FRONT…
Oh how we love being on our hands and knees with ours heads stuck under a tree!!!
Yes. It’s that time of year again when our trees need base pruning to improve air circulation and pinpoint all the energy in the tree into the top of the tree (instead of putting energy into branches at the base of the trees which will get pruned off when they are chosen).
SOME people may think that you just plant a tree & leave it to grow. If only it was that easy!
Base pruning is a very physical task. One not for the faintheaded. Julian & I are both in our 50s now, so its definately a task we cannot do for too long. 2 hours a day is enough. We prune approx, 40 trees a day, so we have a mighty long way to go until we have pruned at least 2000. 50 days+ if the weather is good.
Best wishes
Rachelle
