From Garden to Vase

03/06/2026

This isn’t a pretty post, or a post that you are going to learn something from other than how hard it is to make a small business work in the current climate and if you’re a grower of either food or flowers the weather makes it that bit more difficult too.

Amber posted something similar yesterday and then I bumped into an old friend who greeted me with the “you look very busy at the moment” line and I thought it was time for a reality post.

Not looking for pity just wanting people to realise how challenging things are right now for lots of small businesses as people tighten their belts. Let’s face it flowers can be a bit of a luxury we can cut back on making our kind of product a hard sell when the world is in a bit of a mess!

When I go into a small business/shop in any town I always try to buy something no mater how small because I know how soul destroying it can be to have no customers/sales.

If you have a flower grower near you have you supported them recently? Perhaps you don’t know where your local grower is.

If you take a look at the website you will be able to see if you have one in your area. There are a lot more out there than you might realise!!

And if you don’t feel you can support them as a paying customer just now just sharing their posts on their social media accounts is a big help that costs nothing. I’ll just park that there with you for now. X

01/06/2026

I still have spaces available on this Sundays course. I’d love to welcome you to the garden, it’s brimming with flowers after the hot weather…

This Saturday’s course is full but I have a couple of spaces left on my meadow box magic course…

You can book on my website
Www.fromgardentovase.co.uk

01/06/2026

Now before you all shout at me, I know that a lot of people will do a nettle feed and use that first and followed by a comfrey feed and use that a bit later on. Unfortunately, I live in a disorganised world and never manage to get the nettle feed going in time so all I do now is combine them and do a nettle and comfrey feed as I figure this is gonna be better than nothing and contain loads of lovely nutrients for the plants to keep them going through the summer. And the greatest thing about it is it’s totally organic and free! The worst thing about it is it can be a little bit stinky but if you don’t add water when you make it it isn’t quite as stinky.

So what I do is gather a load of comfrey and nettles, chop them up a bit and fill up the blue containers with them. Put a lid on and leave them. A few weeks later, weather dependent obviously if it’s hotter they’re going to rot down quicker, they will have produced this lovely black liquor at the bottom of the bucket and I just pour this off and store it until I’m ready to use it.

When I use it I will just water it down so it is the colour of weak tea, obviously without milk, and water it onto the plants.

This combination blends the nitrogen-rich properties of nettles (ideal for leafy growth) with the potassium-rich comfrey (ideal for flowers and fruit).

That’s it. It’s simple. Just need some decent buckets with lids to put it into. I’ve had these for probably 20 years now God I’m really showing my age.

I also put in some weeds if I’m sorting the beds out close to the buckets. I just put the weeds into the bucket of shame and they also release valuable nutrients which can get put back into the ground.

As it rots down, I just keep topping it up with some fresh material so it keeps producing feed throughout the summer months and then in the autumn the gunky stuff at the bottom gets put in the compost.

31/05/2026

Some of the flowers you’ll find in Sundays Flower Shed…

30/05/2026

Nothing better than home grown herbs and basil is my summer favourite 🧡

By snipping the tops out now, pinching in growery terms, the basil will bush out rather than keep growing up and tall, so I’ll got lots more leaves to munch on 👏🏻

These went lovely with my Cornish Yarg cheese for lunch.

Making use of an old paint tin makes a cool container too. I just punched a couple of holes in the base of the tin for drainage.

Earthborn is fabulous paint with great eco-friendly credentials. It’s my go to paint for our house.

There’s still plenty of time to sow basil it’s a quick grower. You can freeze it fresh too to use in the winter for a summer hot!

Wedding bell accompaniment was rather charming 👰🤵‍♂️

What’s your favourite herb to grow??

30/05/2026

The Flower Shed is open today. Full of summer blooms after a hot week!

Only £10 a bunch…

26/05/2026

I suppose it’s more of a “Cutting Snail” 🐌 😂

These chrysanthemum cuttings have been in a clear storage container in a shady spot so they didn’t bake. I haven’t had to water them only mist them a couple of times. Really pleased with the results and will be taking my wallflower cuttings using this method when this heatwave buggers off!

If you look at my post from the 2nd May you’ll see how I took the cuttings.

25/05/2026

Pansies prefer it a bit cooler very much like me 😂

I’m growing these pansies for the maximum stem length possible so I can use them in bouquets. They much prefer it in some shade where it is easier to keep them watered. So I’ve moved these into the shade of the birdfeeder tree while this heatwave lasts. I need to deadhead them every few days to stop them setting seed. When flowers set seed, they will stop flowering.

Growing them in containers like this means they’re much easier to deadhead and move around when we get these hot weeks.

To see how I started these just tap on the linked reel.

I hope you’re managing to stay cool.

24/05/2026

A shocking read. Makes me very cross and upset. HS2 nightmare lives on and affects all around it including the nature it’s destroyed forever…