For those that aren’t up to speed with developments in the Higgledy Garden empire, we rent a small plot of land from our chums at Willow Farm in North Wales. This plot is our main plot and will be used to generate a small income from a garden gate honest box stall and also to produce seeds for the Higgledy Garden Seed Shop of Dreams. (We have three other local plots but more on those another time.)
FAQ: Higgers, how much of your shop stock do you grow and harvest yourself, you wily old toad?
ANS: It varies on the season. This season I hope to harvest about 25% of next year’s seed stock. In all honesty, it is very hard to better the seeds I already source from central Europe. Central European flower farmers are blessed with long summers which are needed to ripen seeds, and most of my flowers are native to areas further south than North Wales (!)….so it makes sense to find seed that has been grown down there. However, I like the sport of seed harvesting even if it is something of a labour of love. I blend my seeds in with the imported seeds. Almost without exception, my customers are very happy bunnies.
The flowers on the Willow Farm plot will mainly be direct sown into the ground in mid April. Unlike my other plots which have a mixed ‘meadow’ vibe, this plot will be very regimented to assist when it comes to seed harvesting. Flowers will be grown in straight rows and will bloody well behave themselves. While we will have some biennials (Mainly Sweet William and Hesperis.) and a few Perennials, the main bulk will be annuals. Annuals are my personal favourite flowers to grow, and they make up the majority of the seeds we sell in the shop.
We also sowed about a dozen rows of hardy annuals back in September. These seedlings have had a very tough winter. They have been continually soaked by deluges of rain and also been snowed on several times, and had temperatures into the minus double figures. They are presently looking a bit miffed and are not responding as well as I’d hoped to my hearty ‘Pip pips!’ and ‘Come along chaps!’. However, I harbour hopes and dreams that they will perk up when they are ready. The advantage to autumn sown seeds is earlier flowers and bigger plants….and it’s good for the soil to have something to hold onto during the winter.
I will need to bring more compost onto the plot in the spring as I suspect the cow muck, despite being well broken down, may be a little too rich for seedlings to enjoy. Other than that it is just a case of keeping an eye on the weeds. This plot has some very enthusiastic Creeping Buttercup which needs a good clip around the ear as often as possible.
The biggest task in January is planning…this entails sitting in front of the fire on the boat, with a brew…some colour pencils and a pad of paper. Time has told me that my flower patches have not once in seventeen consecutive years EVER followed my plan but nonetheless planning flower patches remains one of my January indulgences and I heartily recommend it everyone.
One thing is for certain and that is there will be plenty of delights like Nasturtium, Sweet peas, Cornflowers, Larkspur, Nigella, Ammi and Cosmos…all of which can be sourced in our discounted bundles for those who don’t wish to dip into their gold reserves.
The Higgledy Seed shop of Dreams will give you plenty of inspiration and you can also go and visit the seed sowing guide that Higgledy Anne has put together.
Higgledy Anne has just written a post on what to grow if you have a brand new cutting garden…very informative and has more pretty photos of flowers than this post has! ;)
I hope this finds you well and that you have a stonker of a weekend!
Kindest regards
Higgers….(Now with very short hair and a very cold head.)
