Garden Gate Week Day One

This week I am posting on behalf of Flowers From The Farm on Instagram and so I will be blogging each day. The idea is to show what a week is like here at The Garden Gate Southwold. I started the day by making a sample foraged Christmas wreath. I love making wreaths. I particularly like using garden foliages to create a really wild natural look.
I grow on a very small scale but quite intensively. Monday is a growing day. Today I planted about 5oo Tulips, 200 Muscari and 100 Iris. I have 250 Alliums and 200 Narcissus still to plant. We have planted about 3000 bulbs already and these are the last. It is always a lot to do in the autumn  but so worth it in the Spring. This year I have planted different varieties of Muscari, Alliums, Iris, Narcissus, Scilla and lots of Tulips. I am also trying Fritillaria. I make bouquets and decorate weddings and events, so I plant with this mind.
Then at the end of the afternoon I drove to Hillcrest Nurseries where Julie is cutting her foliage and filled my car with Holly, Ivy, Firs etc. I have a large Holly tree and Ivy but it is great to use the different Firs that Julie has at her Flower Farm.

The thing about growing my own Tulips is I can have lots of different varieties and colours not available from the larger commercial growers. In addition to being able to pick on demand and the added benefit that my flowers are much kinder to the environment, with zero air-miles. I have planted more varieties than I can print here but if you follow my blog and social media feeds I show pictures of them as they come into bloom. Below are a few pictures from last year.