First Epic Disaster of the Year, Splitting Dahlias, Cornflowers & Sweetpeas Get Planted Out
04/15/25 • 17 min
It's Tuesday 15 April 2025 and this week has started really badly: I left a tap running last night and managed to drain my two full water bowsers. Overnight I've lost over a thousand litres of water. The timing is awful and I'm very disappointed in myself.
I also managed to forget to close the greenhouse door last night, which is not like me. Luckily we didn't have a frost so everyone was fine but it could have been a lot worse. So this episode is a bit low-key as you'll probably be able to tell from my voice that I'm really sad about the water loss.
I have managed to successfully split many of my dahlia tubers from my dahlia mentor, Richard Bailey, and there's more to do today. I've planted out my cornflowers (there's a reel on insta @henhillcutflowers) and also my sweetpeas, which had lovely roots sticking out of the bottom of their toilet rolls. I've also sown more zinnias and cornflowers.
Other dramas this week include the difficulty of finding a 4m-long pole saw in the South of England (it's impossible) and an issue with my little dog. The episode ends on a more positive note with my plans for potting up the final few dahlia tubers and the seeds I will be succession sowing this afternoon using my new (and very clever) sowing chart.
In this episode, join me for the first of the disasters on the plot.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✅ How I managed to lose 1,400 litres of rainwater overnight
✅ The dahlia tubers I've been splitting
✅ What to do when you don't have sulfur powder to cover cuts on tubers
✅ How grateful I am to hear from you and why your messages are so lovely
✅ Where you can see a video of my cornflower seedlings (@henhillcutflowers)
🌻 Follow & Stay Connected!
If you like what you hear, please follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review – it really does help more flower lovers find the show.
Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot.
Join me on my journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers. I'm going to give 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.
It's Tuesday 15 April 2025 and this week has started really badly: I left a tap running last night and managed to drain my two full water bowsers. Overnight I've lost over a thousand litres of water. The timing is awful and I'm very disappointed in myself.
I also managed to forget to close the greenhouse door last night, which is not like me. Luckily we didn't have a frost so everyone was fine but it could have been a lot worse. So this episode is a bit low-key as you'll probably be able to tell from my voice that I'm really sad about the water loss.
I have managed to successfully split many of my dahlia tubers from my dahlia mentor, Richard Bailey, and there's more to do today. I've planted out my cornflowers (there's a reel on insta @henhillcutflowers) and also my sweetpeas, which had lovely roots sticking out of the bottom of their toilet rolls. I've also sown more zinnias and cornflowers.
Other dramas this week include the difficulty of finding a 4m-long pole saw in the South of England (it's impossible) and an issue with my little dog. The episode ends on a more positive note with my plans for potting up the final few dahlia tubers and the seeds I will be succession sowing this afternoon using my new (and very clever) sowing chart.
In this episode, join me for the first of the disasters on the plot.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✅ How I managed to lose 1,400 litres of rainwater overnight
✅ The dahlia tubers I've been splitting
✅ What to do when you don't have sulfur powder to cover cuts on tubers
✅ How grateful I am to hear from you and why your messages are so lovely
✅ Where you can see a video of my cornflower seedlings (@henhillcutflowers)
🌻 Follow & Stay Connected!
If you like what you hear, please follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review – it really does help more flower lovers find the show.
Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot.
Join me on my journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers. I'm going to give 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.
Previous Episode
Plant Spacings: Crucial for Calculating Production Costs, plus Road Pins vs Fence Posts & Making Jute Netting with String
It's Friday 11 April 2025 and another incredibly sunny day. Still no rain but hopefully it's coming next week.
I'll be updating you on what I've been sowing this week and the new sowing chart that I've made to help me remember when to sow the next batch (it's all about successional sowing this year). I discuss my morning feeling routine and how I work out which seedlings get to spend the day where, depending on the day's temperature and their stage of growth. I usually do this with a coffee (see photo on insta @henhillcutflowers) and I water them at this time too.
I share my thoughts about plant spacings with reference to cut flowers and how I've worked this out. It's all in theory at the moment so I need to actually get on the plot and walk it out. Then there's a discussion about staking the cornflowers and how to get this right in 2025, using various options including metal fencing wire or string. It's all a learning curve and very much depends on the materials I have to hand on the plot and my soil conditions.
In this episode, join me for an update on what I've been doing this week.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✅ How to measure distances if you lose your tape measure
✅ The seeds I've sown this week
✅ Why a seed sowing chart helps with successional sowing
✅ How I've worked out plant spacings for my cornflowers
✅ Fence posts vs road pins
🌻 Follow & Stay Connected!
If you like what you hear, please follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review – it really does help more flower lovers find the show.
Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot.
Join me on my journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers. I'm going to give 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.
Next Episode
Happy Easter! Plot Update, Acquiring Perennials on a Budget, Tummy Troubles & Keeping Mint Contained
Happy Easter! It's 8pm on Good Friday, 18 April 2025 and I'm on the plot.
It has definitely not been my week! After the water debacle on Tuesday I managed to get a tummy bug which has been unpleasant and this afternoon I wasn't even able to leave the house because of it. And whilst I've had tummy trouble all week I've had to do some regular gardening to get some cash in the door which has meant that I haven't been sowing any more seed this week.
I haven't done a review of what's growing on the plot for a while so this episode is me chatting through what's doing what. I talk about my perennials and where I got them from, plus how to grow your own perennials on a budget. I chat about the importance of keeping mint contained (mint makes great foliage), espaliering apple trees and interplanting flowers with garlic bulbs to maximise planting opportunities.
In this episode, join me for a review of what's growing on the plot this week.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✅ How this week has really turned out not to be my week!
✅ A review of what's growing on the plot
✅ How to acquire perennials if you don't have much money
✅ Whether or not I should sow more Verbena bonariensis
✅ Why Agapanthus need to be grown in pots rather than the ground
✅ How interplanting flowers with garlic bulbs is a great space-saving idea
🌻 Follow & Stay Connected!
If you like what you hear, please follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review – it really does help more flower lovers find the show.
Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot.
Join me on my journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers. I'm going to give 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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