06/10/2026
It's a quiet time of year. School holiday's are gone, the days are getting shorter and any late summer sun is fading. It's also too early for the real bulk of the Christmas shoppers. More specific to Hull, we have the fair in town from this weekend and that really does kill off footfall. When it's on, everyone is there and when it's gone, everyone is skint.
October is consistently our quietest month of the year, far quieter than January - March when we are busy with Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. But I'm absolutely fine with it. You've got to have a quietest month and at least I know exactly when it is going to be. It's the perfect opportunity to prepare.
Our carnivorous plant range has now gone for winter. It will be back in Spring when they wake up from dormancy. That has allowed us to have a shift around. All the bottled bits have moved from the gift table, which will soon be filled with a new range of Christmas decorations. They are so beautiful, think moss green glass and wooden beads.
I'm planning a couple of new kits . One will be a carnivorous seed kit and the other a mini terrarium kit. These take so much time to produce. There's so many elements to source. Then figuring out packing and the right size box. Once that arrives, we can think labels. Then a big photo sesh and creating the online instruction. Finally, actually making them!
I'm also getting prepared for a few big Christmas markets that we are trading at this year. There has been a heck of a lot of list writing. I've been storming ahead with signage, staffing and ordering. Don't tell my partner, but we're soon going to have 12 boxes of t-shirts sat in our front room..
Finally, I have terrarium workshops on the brain. Our October - December programme is live and looking low for tickets. Our January - March programme will go live at the end of November. Last year, this programme almost sold out in 48 hours. Tickets do make a great Christmas gift. So I'm thinking of ways that I can squeeze more tickets in during that period.
So, if you come into the shop you're most likely to find me at the laptop at the moment getting prepped for Christmas. Yes, a very busy, quiet time of year indeed!
