British Flowers Week - It's all in the planning

It's all in the planning, and today it felt like I didn't have any. Too much to do, not sure how to fit it in or where to start. So with regards to flowers, I only made it to the allotment in the afternoon. I did a fair bit of weeding and digging in the last of the horse manure for the sweetcorn bed - yes, still not planted out, as the mice ate the whole of my first sowing, which was late anyway.  I went home with sweet peas, pinks and sweet williams, a container full of strawberries and a toddler holding her own bunch of flowers who had eaten plenty of strawberries already. 

Since I started with this blog I have panicked on several occasions thinking that I wouldn't have any flowers to make a bunch. In the end it always worked out, often with more luck than planning. But I am learning. For example, this autumn, I will definitely sow quite a few hardy annuals, from cornflowers to Ammi majus, but also sweet peas, less both in quantity and variety. I now have four large bamboo wigwams, but some plants are absolutely miserable as I only sowed them in the spring and planted them out late. Having said this, I still seem to have plenty, so I have sowed and planted far too many. 

Now is also the time to sow biennials. I have already sowed phlox, sweet williams, foxgloves, Canterbury bells and hope to sow a few more such as wallflowers in the coming weeks. Sowing biennials as well as making autumn sowings should help both spread the pickings and reduce the work in spring.

One of the things that is most definitely going to help me with planning for next year is the brilliant British Flowers Chart which was produced by New Covent Garden Flower Market for this year's British Flowers Week. Here you can find details of how to get one yourself. You can download a printable (A4 or A3) pdf. In case you are lucky enough to be able to visit the market this week, they are handing A1 posters out or you can buy one and have it sent to you. If you don't have the time or space to grow your own this chart will help you to know what British flowers should be around when and you can ask your florists for these. 

So now for today's bunch. Yesterday after picking lavender and indulging myself in it scent, I decided that I was going to go for fragrant flowers. Being inspired by some of the great pictures on www.newcoventgardenmarket.com/britishflowersweek I made a hand tied posy, without any foliage.

Ps if you pick your flowers and you find little black beetles (pollen beetles) all over them, put it in a dark place, like a shed, with the door slightly ajar. Leave it there for a few hours and the beetles will fly away to the light. This is what I ended up doing with this posy. It didn't work 100%, but quite a great deal.