Frazzled flower farming and water conservation.
This month I feel I may have lost the plot ! The weather has been frazzling everything including my good self, the grass is crispy , the perennial borders are looking tired and keeping little biennial seedlings alive has been the biggest challenge so far this month … hopefully they will survive pricking out and bring me and you some joy next year.
With the hosepipe ban we’ve started taking buckets into the shower with us … sounds a bit crazy but we are catching around 3 watering cans per shower each which is perfect for using on the parched perennials. Luckily for us we have a downstairs facility so haven’t got to negotiate the stairs with slopping buckets . If that idea sounds like a bridge too far why not try having a bowl in your kitchen sink and see how much water you can recycle for your pots, containers and plants , it’s quite an eye opener.
Meanwhile watering and cutting continues to be a full time job at the allotment but I did invest some money in a nifty little solar pump that runs off my water butts along the new dahlia bed at the allotment . It seems to be working well, it drips water every 3 hours so the soil doesn’t dry out. I just need to top up the containers every few days which has reduced the amount of trips to fill the watering cans and the amount of water I’d be using too. The dahlias have been planted quite close together this year so the lower leaves are helping the soil from drying out … maybe this will cause some issues with mildew and flower size but we wait to see how things progress. I’m not on commission but I’d happily recommend my SOL-C12L pump from Irrigatia for a domestic collection of pots and planters as well as a border with a nearby water butt .
Another investment and helpful water conserving trick has been to mulch newly planted flowers , I’ve been using ‘Strulch’ which is mineralised straw, that extols anti slug and snail properties whilst conserving moisture and eventually improving the soil. It’s too early to say whether this is the way forward but I’ve noticed that I’ve been able to reduce the amount of watering on my pots and raised beds at home which can only be a good thing . You could also use left over pet bedding, grass clippings or garden compost too which will all help conserve the soils moisture and eventually improve the soil too.
In better news the dahlias have started to flower and I’ve had the odd surprise bloom where I’ve managed to loose the labels …. but isn’t that half the fun ? Mature tubers that I left in the ground have been the first to flower and the much later planted new varieties are growing along well but yet to bloom . This week’s job is to continue disbudding them , give them a high potash feed ,tie on some name tapes and keep up with the weeding.
Dahlias are available by the mixed bunch or by a mixed bucket £45. Alternatively you can purchase them as individual stems from £1.25 each . I can have them ready within 24hrs of ordering , just drop me a message or give me a call 07595377692.
I’ll be enjoying the wetter, cooler weather this week and no doubt my focus will turn towards evening slug hunting but hey that’s a flower farmers life .
Take care until next time
Donna 💐
#flowerfarmerslife #bloomingmarvelous #dahliaseason #waterconservation
