Becoming a Cut Flower Grower

Hello and welcome to (a very wet) Tuesday 27 January 2026.
The disasters are coming thick and fast this week (and it's only Tuesday). There is endless rain, my car window has broken (again), and something has eaten a third of my tulips. To console myself I've just made a gloriously rich and decadent tartifette and will worry about the calories in the spring.
Tonight I have two epic chats for you: the first concerns the recent news that the Church is considering a ban on floral foam and imported flowers. It will be formally debated soon so that will be interesting. I'd love to know what you think about this. 
The second chat is about selling to florists and this is a biggie. I'll share my thoughts on this including why florists are not the be-all-and-end-all (although they are for my business model), where you could sell your flowers as an alternative to florists, everything I learnt about selling to florists in 2025, what I tried and (spectacularly) failed at, and what did eventually work for me. However I still have so much more to learn this year.
I hope that you will come back and join me for the next episode - you're always very welcome. Hopefully it will have stopped raining by then too. 
Connect with me
If you like what you hear, please follow/subscribe to this podcast so that you're the first to hear new episodes when they become available every Tuesday and Friday. And if you enjoy this episode, please take a minute to leave a review because it really does help more cut flower-lovers just like you to find the podcast. 
Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot. And you can find my website at www.henhillcutflowers.co.uk.
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.

Hello, it's Friday 23 January 2026.
The laptop is back and normal service has been resumed so today's episode has the proper introduction and music, phew. However the audio quality isn't brilliant at the beginning so apologies for that. It does get better about five minutes into the episode so maybe I did something silly with the microphone.
Tonight I'm talking about photoperiodism: what it is and why it matters to cut flower growers. I have been looking into this recently so that I can treat my plants in the best possible way to get long stems and predictable flowering periods. I feel that the more I know about my plants, the better my harvests will be (that's the plan anyway).
I share my final list of annuals that I'm growing in 2026 and it's not as long as I thought. Perhaps you're growing some of the same as me? And also in tonight's episode I'm continuing my plant profile series with Orlaya. This is a gorgeous white flower that I grew in 2025 and it was so popular with my wholesale wedding and event florists that I'm growing more this year. If you haven't tried Orlaya before, give it a go this year and let me know how you get on.
I hope that you will come back and join me for the next episode - you're always very welcome.
Connect with me
If you like what you hear, please follow/subscribe to this podcast so that you're the first to hear new episodes when they become available every Tuesday and Friday. And if you enjoy this episode, please take a minute to leave a review because it really does help more cut flower-lovers just like you to find the podcast. 
Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot. And you can find my website at www.henhillcutflowers.co.uk.
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.

Hello, it's Tuesday 20 January 2026.
Tonight’s episode sounds a little different because there’s no introduction or music because my laptop is at the repair shop and I’m having to upload this episode in a completely different way.
Since last week’s episodes I have received lots of really great questions from listeners about my seed sowing plan so I thought I’d answer these in this episode, including the point of a financial goal, how planning now makes things easier when it gets busy, and how the notes I’ve made about my annuals will help me when it comes to conditioning stems this year.
I also share exciting news that I’ve just bought more annuals (when I said I wouldn’t). I’ll give you all the details when I get my laptop back… 
Fingers crossed, normal service will be resumed so please do come back and join me for the next episode on Friday - you're always very welcome!
Connect with me
If you like what you hear, please follow/subscribe to this podcast so that you're the first to hear new episodes when they become available every Tuesday and Friday. And if you enjoy this episode, please take a minute to leave a review because it really does help more cut flower-lovers just like you to find the podcast. 
Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot.
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.

Hello, it's Friday 16 January 2026.
My seed/crop planning is still in progress and just when I think I've cracked it, I discover more things that I need to work out. So I have been drowning in a complicated spreadsheet this week as it has poured down with rain outside. I've also ordered a new wall calendar plus thousands of sticky dots to stick on it. And I've realised all the additional data that I need to collect this year.
In the second part of tonight's episode, I continue my Plant Profile series with Sweetpeas. These are some of my favourite flowers because they're beautiful and they smell divine. I talk about how I grew mine last year including sowing, planting, support and harvesting, and then list all the improvements I'm making for 2026. Finally I end with some tips that I go by and you may find helpful.
Finally, I end with a reminder to take care of yourself because before long we're going to be super busy and normal service tends to fall by the wayside. We need to get ready now for what's coming! Please come back and join me for the next episode on Tuesday - you're always very welcome. 
LINKS
https://www.timeanddate.com/date/
Connect with me
If you like what you hear, please follow/subscribe to this podcast so that you're the first to hear new episodes when they become available every Tuesday and Friday. And if you enjoy this episode, please take a minute to leave a review because it really does help more cut flower-lovers just like you to find the podcast. 
Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot.
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.

Hello and welcome to a rainy Tuesday 13 January 2026.
Lots of things going on at the moment including a broken inner car door handle, more rain than I thought possible, outrageously elevated hormone levels and getting into the Alpine spirit with home-made Tartiflette. 
Crop planning started in earnest today and I'd like to share my thoughts with you on this episode. I started out with an enormous list of plants I planned to grow (which needed revising down to start with) and ended with a concise (and far more manageable) list. But the actual 'seed-starting dates' element of the planning has yet to be done so that's for another episode. 
Today I have been using a very useful collection of free crop planning tools from Johnny Seeds (link below) which calculate seed starting dates based on your desired harvest date. Have a look - it might make your planning quicker and easier.
LINKS
https://www.johnnyseeds.com/growers-library/online-tools-calculators.html
I hope you enjoy the episode and that you'll come back and join me for the next one. And if you're interested, my new website is www.henhillcutflowers.co.uk.
Connect with me
If you like what you hear, please follow/subscribe to this podcast so that you're the first to hear new episodes when they become available every Tuesday and Friday. And if you enjoy this episode, please take a minute to leave a review because it really does help more cut flower-lovers just like you to find the podcast. 
Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot.
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.