Newsletter Issue 8 - Early June 2026

Hello,

These fortnightly newsletters are proving to be a very useful record for us of general weather trends. To summarise the year so far, it was incredibly wet in January, gloomy in February, windy in March, especially dry in April and May, unseasonably cold in early May and unexpectedly warm in late May! This last week, we’ve had angry skies, billowing black clouds, and plenty of rain, rain, rain, plus the odd pelting of hail. It certainly tells a story of extremes.

The rain has been an enormous relief. The earth is saturated and the natural world is a vibrant green again. Rain makes the plants behave differently; they seem to explode in growth following rainfall compared with being irrigated. It has helped all of our annuals planted over the last couple of months to establish themselves and set down strong roots so they’ll be better prepared to face the warm temperatures that are forecast to come our way again this weekend. 

For the flower grower, the rain makes day-to-day work easier, at least for those who grow on light silty, sandy soils as we do. We can plant out seedlings and seeds directly and not worry about keeping them watered. Working the soil is much easier and we’ve been able to get more perennials in the ground.

Prolonged wet weather can bring its own set of challenges, however. We’re now on the look out for fungal diseases like rust, downy mildew and fusarium wilt. As a precaution, we’ve sprayed susceptible crops like the Antirrhinum and Callistephus with Trichoderma, a beneficial fungus that competes with bad fungi and promotes healthy plant growth. In my mind, it’s a bit like feeding our plants with a lovely probiotic yoghurt and it feels good.

Now most seedlings are in the ground, the nature of our work has altered slightly. We’re now beginning to focus more on the maintenance of crops: keeping the weeds at bay, netting where it’s required, deadheading, feeding.

We’re also beginning to think about crops for next year. As we lift Ranunculus corms and clear spent Sweet William, we’re mulching the beds with grass clippings and covering them up with fabric so they’ll be ready to be planted with biennials in a month’s time. Next year’s Sweet Williams and Hesperis are currently sprouting under grow lights in my utility room, along with some new perennials to try like Cephalaria and Catananche.

The rabbits are becoming a slight menace again. They have dug up some newly planted Scabiosa, nipped the tops off the Michaelmas Daisies, and constantly graze the Phlox down to the ground. I don’t mind a little unrequested pruning from time-to-time but now they’re becoming hooligans.

Our online shop is officially open with DIY buckets available for collection from Blunham. The flowers we’re harvesting at the moment have a whimsical and wild-flower feel about them- lots of Tanacetum, Scabious, Verbena bonariensis and Achillea. Our new crop of Alstroemeria have also started sending up lots of flowers in gorgeous pinks, creams and oranges. The Antirrhinum, Statice and Malope are on the brink of flowering and when they arrive it’ll feel as though summer is truly here!