Hello and welcome to tonight's episode on Friday 15 August 2025.

Lots to tell you! No more navel gazing about how badly I feel I'm doing! This week I was sent a message by a very kind listener from the USA with a book recommendation: Flower Farming for Profit by Lennie Larkin. I ordered the book, it arrived today and it looks brilliant and just what I need. I then did some more research and ordered another book by Lisa Mason Ziegler called The Cut Flower Handbook, which also arrived today and looks amazing. So I'll be reading these straight away and I'll report back to you.

I've been preparing my availability list for the Flower Festival I'm supplying at the end of August and liaising with the organiser. I can't wait for it to happen. It will be a big order for me and given the hot weather we've been having, it's important that I get all the flowers in the best possible condition. This evening I joined my dahlia expert, Richard Bailey, for his annual 'Dahlia Talk' on his allotment, which was lovely, and I talk about this too.

Finally, I end the episode with my Five Top Lessons for setting up a cut flower plot. Given that I'm a novice, these are just things I've learnt from bitter experience and I hope they're helpful. I really hope that you enjoy tonight's episode and that you'll come back and join me for the next one!

Books I Talk About Today (with links to their websites). It's always nice to buy books from your local independent bookshop but often this isn't possible, either because books are expensive (especially hardback ones) or if you live in a rural area you might not even be able to. And this is ok. Shop around for second-hand options and do what works for you and your budget.

Flower Farming for Profit by Lennie Larkin https://www.flowerfarmingforprofit.com/

The Cut Flower Handbook by Lisa Mason Ziegler https://thegardenersworkshop.com

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Join me on my journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers in England. I'm giving you the low-down on what it's really like, how I'm getting started, what you do and don't need, what I do when and why, the successes and failures, and just about everything in between. All in real time. With guest appearances from my chickens every now and then.