Date: 31 January 2025. Episode 7: Dahlias! A wonderful old-school ordering process, plus Maggie C is raring to go.

Hello and welcome! It's been a busy week for me as I've been gardening and moving so apologies for the delay in the posting of this episode.

Tonight I'm sharing with you the thinking behind my dahlia choices in 2025. I talk about the nursery I visited in September 2024 to take a look at some selections (with obligatory notepad and pen), a brief bit about apprenticing with Richard Bailey (a top prize-winning dahlia exhibitor and a truly wonderful human being, more to come about him in future episodes), the dahlia nursery that I'm ordering from, the agonies of choosing (there are so many different dahlias available!), a brief outline of my plan for staking my dahlias this year, how my tuber 'Maggie C' is freaking me out by shooting already (help!) and all sorts of other thoughts including my Top 6 Dahlias for 2025 (plus the other Top 2 that I've already ordered)...

Join me on a journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers. I'm going to give 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.

Please get in touch via instagram if you have any questions you'd like me to answer on the podcast | For regular updates on instagram, checkout @henhillcutflowers | For more information about Lydia, visit the website www.lydiathegardener.co.uk | Subscribe so that you don’t miss an episode and I know that you're listening! | Please support the podcast by leaving a review/some kind words and sharing this podcast with others - thank you.

Date: 28 January 2025. Episode 6: Perennials - what worked for me in the 2024 trial beds and what's new for 2025.

Hello and welcome to a rainy episode. Join me today as we let the chickens out first thing this morning for a warm scrambled egg breakfast (them, not me) and I talk about the perennials I grew on the plot in 2024. I'll share with you why perennials can form the low-maintenance backbone of your cut flower plot, and how to do this according to your own budget. Hear about where I soured my perennials from, including the garden of a favourite client who sadly passed away, as well as plant sales, seed I've sown myself, and a very special one from my all-time favourite garden, Great Dixter in Kent. Hear about the inevitable disaster (duck damage), the successes, and the cheeky spreaders which I have to keep a very close eye on. I also talk about the different ways you can obtain perennials depending on your budget, and what's going to be new for me in 2025.

* No hens were injured in the making of this episode! The noise you hear is them flying into my face as I opened their henhouse this morning! *

Join me on a journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers. I'm going to give 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.

Please get in touch via instagram if you have any questions you'd like me to answer on the podcast | For regular updates on instagram, checkout @henhillcutflowers | For more information about Lydia, visit the website www.lydiathegardener.co.uk | Subscribe so that you don’t miss an episode and I know that you're listening! | Please support the podcast by leaving a review/some kind words and sharing this podcast with others - thank you.

Date: 24 January 2025. Episode 5: Where did the Lychnis go? Reviewing the cut flowers from my 2024 trial beds.

Hello and welcome! In today's episode I review the cut flowers I grew in my 2024 trial beds. I talk about what cut flowers I planned to grow and why, what I actually ended up growing, which cut flowers turned out well and why, what the florists loved, what I didn't like, where I sourced my cut flower seeds, the seeds which flourished and those which either didn't germinate or turned out to be something else entirely, my cosmos disaster, the strawflowers that didn't have time to flower and everything in between. I don't pretend to be an expert because I'm absolutely not! There will be mistakes (and mice) and things I could have done differently. Above all, it's honest and real.

Join me on a journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers. I'm going to give 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.

Please get in touch via instagram if you have any questions you'd like me to answer on the podcast | For regular updates on instagram, checkout @henhillcutflowers | For more information about Lydia, visit the website www.lydiathegardener.co.uk | Subscribe so that you don’t miss an episode and I know that you're listening! | Please support the podcast by leaving a review/some kind words and sharing this podcast with others - thank you.

Date: 21 January 2025. Episode 4: Making space for seating and setting goals

Hello and welcome. Join me on today's episode as I let the hens out into a chilly and misty morning and chat with you about the merits of tables, the importance of somewhere to sit on your plot, the benefits of making detailed notes about everything you do, and I answer a very good question about whether you actually need prior experience of sowing and growing before you start with cut flowers. I go into details about my own water storage facilities and the serious mistake I made in 2024 that meant I nearly ran out of water. Finally I talk about the importance of making goals and how I use them to help with planning my year of growing, measure my progress, and stay focused. It's also fun to watch a few of them whizzing by as I'm inevitably thwarted by the weather, squirrels, or my own mistakes!

Join me on a journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers. I'm going to give 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.

Please get in touch via instagram if you have any questions you'd like me to answer on the podcast | For regular updates on instagram, checkout @henhillcutflowers | For more information about Lydia, visit the website www.lydiathegardener.co.uk | Subscribe so that you don’t miss an episode and I know that you're listening! | Please support the podcast by leaving a review/some kind words and sharing this podcast with others - thank you.

Date: 16 January 2025. Episode 3: What you really DO and DON'T need to get started.

Hello and welcome. In this episode I bust some myths about what you do and don't need to get started growing cut flowers, plus a few things that would be ideal. If you're dreaming of starting your own cut flower business, you might be interested to hear about whether or not you really need to own your own land, what qualifications you should get, whether or not you need a greenhouse, and my thoughts on websites and social media. I also talk about resilience in the face of adversity (i.e. dealing with the British weather), confidence (or lack thereof), accepting rejection gracefully, having a sense of humour, loving the outdoors, as well as assessing your strengths and weaknesses. Plus, I discuss the benefits of a regular water supply, the need for compost bins and the blessing of some support when you really need it. It's all here.

Join me on a journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers. I'm going to give 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.

Please get in touch via instagram if you have any questions you'd like me to answer on the podcast | For regular updates on instagram, checkout @henhillcutflowers | For more information about Lydia, visit the website www.lydiathegardener.co.uk | Subscribe so that you don’t miss an episode and I know that you're listening! | Please support the podcast by leaving a review/some kind words and sharing this podcast with others - thank you.

Date: 14 January 2025. Episode 2: Trial beds and supermarket seeds.

Hello and welcome. In this episode I talk about my “trial beds”: what they are and how they came about, including the massive crisis of confidence I had at the start of 2024 which meant that I ended up with trial beds in the first place. I describe the layout of the beds and explain how I created them, then I discuss how I made the paths (and what I learnt about paths the hard way!). I also talk about the challenges I had creating the beds including obstacles I put in the way myself (it’s those compost bins again!). Finally I talk briefly about some of the seeds that I used in the trial beds in 2024, and what I learnt about them that will be really useful for my 2025 growing season. Apologies for my overuse of the words "adore" and "masses" in this episode!

Join me on a journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers. I'm going to give 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.

Please get in touch via instagram if you have any questions you'd like me to answer on the podcast | For regular updates on instagram, checkout @henhillcutflowers | For more information about Lydia, visit the website www.lydiathegardener.co.uk | Subscribe so that you don’t miss an episode and I know that you're listening! | Please support the podcast by leaving a review/some kind words and sharing this podcast with others - thank you.

Date: 9 January 2025. Episode 1: Braving the cold. Hello and welcome to my first episode of 2025.

In this episode I brave the freezing temperatures and take a quick walk around the cut flower plot to see what’s going on and what is surviving the chill. I also discuss my compost bays including how I set them up, constructed and positioned them and what I add to keep them going.

Join me on a journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers. I'm going to give 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.

Please get in touch via instagram if you have any questions you'd like me to answer on the podcast.

• For regular updates on instagram, checkout @henhillcutflowers
• For more information about Lydia, visit the website www.lydiathegardener.co.uk
• Subscribe so that you don’t miss an episode and I know that you're listening!
• Please support the podcast by leaving a review/some kind words and sharing this podcast with others - thank you.