Long rows of shrubs and woody perennials were planted alongside over 200 trees, and a gang of teenagers roped in to help rake 300 tonnes of green waste compost into the flower beds.  The field had been continually grazed by sheep and alpacas for at least two decades so the soil needed coaxing back to health.

No-dig was the obvious way to go. We left the ground undisturbed to rest under sheets of cardboard covered thickly with compost, topped with many different kinds of organic matter and that meant the worms could get to work and the mycorrhizal life network could be reinvigorated.

Flower farming requires many things of the farmer: physical stamina, skill, determination and patience. The farm is heavily stocked with foliage - pittosporum, ninebark, myrtle, broom, whitebeam, hazel, spindle, alder, hornbeam, beech, rowan, juneberry, viburnums, many different coloured willows and more - but we must wait till 2024 to cut much of it, as many of these plants need to be left alone to establish themselves.  

Luckily the rest of the farmland has some mature tree and shrub specimens that will give us blossom and branches while we are waiting for our plants to get to cropping strength. Some things we will just have to wait for like our long rows of planted peonies, which we can’t cut for three years. Some plants, such as our eucalyptus trees, are already raring to go and will give us plenty of winter material to add to the evergreens from the rest of the farm. 

About 3/4 of the farm is stocked with perennial plants, which use less resources and are sturdier against the vicissitudes of climate change. Many of these we have raised from seed, as well as all the annuals which we sow under cover (peat-free) in unheated polytunnels. Energy at the farm comes from solar and wind power and we harvest as much rainwater as we can.