June on the Farm

The last beds of ranunculus and anemone have been cleared and filled with zinnia, rudbeckia, phlox and cosmos. Summer is certainly here! I’m experimenting with growing dahlia in the tunnels and outside, all are racing ahead and I think it will be the earliest dahlia flowers I’ve had.

The first roses were harvested on the 1st of June, with ‘Desdemona’ and ‘Queen of Sweden’ the first to flower. ‘Desdemona’ is one of my favourite rose varieties for scent and it has a beautiful deep cup shape, perfect for a romantic June wedding.

One of my favourite annual crops is phlox ‘Crème Brûlée’. It has such delicate star shaped flowers in a mix of beautiful soft colours, it’s an absolute florist favourite. They do need some support especially to achieve long stems, otherwise they can grow into a bit of a tangle! I fix a wooden tree stake at each corner of the bed and fit netting over the top for the stems to grow through. They are best harvested early in the morning when it’s cool and choose stems which have only a few flowers open. They should last at least 7 days in the vase. I should be harvesting the first of these in the next week.

I am already deep into crop planning for next year and have started to sow biennials, most of which flower in May and June and fill that pesky ‘May gap’. Biennials, such as foxgloves, wallflowers and sweet Williams, are plants that establish strong roots and foliage in their first year before flowering in their second year. It’s best to sow seed in the early summer and plant into their final position in the autumn so they can establish roots before the first frosts. I sowed my foxgloves into seed trays in early May and then pricked out into cell trays in early June once the seedlings had started to develop their true leaves. You still have time to do it this way or you can direct sow the seeds onto soil where you would like them to grow.

British Flowers Week was celebrated this month, from 15th-21st June and every year it’s a chance to promote the value of British grown flowers. Locally grown flowers reflect each individual flower farmer, the changing seasons and the wider environment that they support. I think the fact that a flower variety may only be available during a certain month, instead of all year round from a global wholesaler, makes them even more special and their link to the seasons means that they often hold a deep sense of nostalgia. No two stems are exactly the same from a local farmer and they can often supply varieties that are unavailable from large wholesalers. This inspires creativity.

Our stems don’t travel thousands of miles in cold storage after being sprayed with harmful preservatives, instead they retain their quality, character and scent travelling only a short distance from farm to vase. Most British farmers work using sustainable and organic practices which support pollinators, enrich the soil and increase local biodiversity. I think it’s so important to understand the origin of the flowers you buy, as it is with the food you consume - when you buy local, you know who grew your flowers, where they were grown and quite often, how they were grown.

You can find your local flower farmer at Flowers from the Farm. You’ll find wonderful Scottish grown stems, including ours, used at Snapdragon and Á Table in Edinburgh and you can buy our flowers at the Rosemains Steading markets, the next of which is in late September.