Hello and welcome to Friday 8 May 2026.

Lots to tell you about tonight so I have all the news from the field (including an unwelcome caterpillar on a climbing rose, what's just about to flower, an allium disaster, peony news and dahlia sprouting numbers), plus all the news from the greenhouse (zinnias and cosmos seedlings update, still no Larkspur, and staggeringly slow didiscus and nicotiana).

Then I'm talking about the incredible support teams used by elite athletes and professionals, and how growing cut flowers alone is tough. It's not a moan, it's just a realistic analysis of the stresses and strains of running a business single-handed and maybe you can relate? It's not just the responsibility of doing everything myself, it's the fact that no-one is watching me and keeping me on track. I'm making some suggestions for things you could try if you're growing solo based on some techniques I try and use to keep myself sane. I hope you find it interesting.

Please enjoy this episode and come back and join me for the next one - you're always very welcome.

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If you like what you hear, please follow/subscribe to this podcast so that you're the first to hear new episodes when they become available every Tuesday and Friday. And if you enjoy this episode, please take a minute to leave a review because it really does help more cut flower-lovers just like you to find the podcast.

Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot. And you can find my website at www.henhillcutflowers.co.uk.

Join me on my journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers in England. I'm giving you the low-down on what it's really like, how I'm getting started, what you do and don't need, what I do when and why, the successes and failures, and just about everything in between. All in real time. With guest appearances from my chickens every now and then.

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Hello, welcome to Tuesday 5 May 2026.

I'm still getting over my cold so my voice sounds a bit croaky. Thank goodness we had some rain over the weekend! Phew! It really helped the soil although it wasn't enough to top up IBC1 unfortunately.

I spent the weekend planting out the first few batches of my hardy annuals on the field: the agrostemma, ammi, scabious, stocks and saponaria are out and protected under some temporary netting to keep the pigeons off. This means there is now space outside the greenhouse to move the next lot of seedlings out for hardening off, meaning there is now more shelving space inside the greenhouse for more tender annuals.

I'm also talking about the numbers of seeds sown vs those which germinated vs those which survive potting on vs those which actually get planted out in the field, and the numbers are interesting. I'm looking forward to working out the actual survival rates at the end of the year when I have a full set of data.

I hope that you enjoy this episode: please come back and join me for the next one - you're always very welcome.

Connect with me

If you like what you hear, please follow/subscribe to this podcast so that you're the first to hear new episodes when they become available every Tuesday and Friday. And if you enjoy this episode, please take a minute to leave a review because it really does help more cut flower-lovers just like you to find the podcast.

Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot. And you can find my website at www.henhillcutflowers.co.uk.

Join me on my journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers in England. I'm giving you the low-down on what it's really like, how I'm getting started, what you do and don't need, what I do when and why, the successes and failures, and just about everything in between. All in real time. With guest appearances from my chickens every now and then.

Text The Podcast Here!

Support the show

Hello, welcome to Friday 1 May 2026.

I've got a horrendous cold so tonight's episode is shorter than normal because I feel dreadful and I haven't done anything constructive on the field this week. I've just about managed to keep on top of the plants which have needed watering, plus keeping an eye on the seedlings in the greenhouse, but that's it.

Thank you if you sent me a comment or a message about growing Larkspur, which is clearly testing everyone's patience this year. I've received a number of suggestions for how to germinate them and I'm sharing them with you tonight.

My new "rose lily" bulbs have arrived and tonight's Plant Profile Series is all about them. Do you grow them? I'd be interested to know your experiences if you do. They look absolutely stunning so I hope my investment in the bulbs pays off this summer.

https://www.hartsnursery.co.uk/roselily-irvana.html Plus I also bought 'Amsterdam', 'Jamala' and 'Isabella'.

Despite the shortness of this episode I hope that you enjoy it. Please come back and join me for the next one - you're always very welcome.

Connect with me

If you like what you hear, please follow/subscribe to this podcast so that you're the first to hear new episodes when they become available every Tuesday and Friday. And if you enjoy this episode, please take a minute to leave a review because it really does help more cut flower-lovers just like you to find the podcast.

Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot. And you can find my website at www.henhillcutflowers.co.uk.

Join me on my journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers in England. I'm giving you the low-down on what it's really like, how I'm getting started, what you do and don't need, what I do when and why, the successes and failures, and just about everything in between. All in real time. With guest appearances from my chickens every now and then.

Text The Podcast Here!

Support the show