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Hello, it's Friday 6 February 2026. The stats are in: we've had a lot of rain. According to the Met Office my region of the UK has had 188% of its average rainfall in January. It's no wonder I have been grumpy this month: missing days of work and nothing doable on the field. On the plus side I have collected a lot of rainwater but I'd swap that for some dry days.  In light of this I'm discussing the impact of flooding and waterlogging, what makes it worse and action we can take, including the use of raised beds. I hope you're not experiencing flooding at the moment but if you are, please don't give up.  Part two of this episode continues my Plant Profile Series with Verbena bonariensis. This stunning plant is super-easy to grow and generous with its flowering. If you haven't grown it yet, I hope my profile will encourage you to give it a go.  Please 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 3 February 2026. Another wet week!  In today's episode I realise that I don't have enough growing space for all the annuals that I'm planning to grow, which is a problem. I have come up with a solution and hopefully you'll agree it's a good one (although the chickens may not approve). I discuss my seed sowing plan in great detail including all the calculations I have made and the reasons behind them. I'm playing it safe with the dates. The formulas behind the numbers mean that I can make any number of changes and the calculations will be done automatically for me. I hope it proves to be helpful and it's a tool that I will be refining over the coming years.  I'll be continuing my Plant Profile Series on Friday so please 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 and welcome to Friday 30 January 2026. Tonight I'm talking all about the magic of compost. I absolutely love making it, talking about it and using it. Given the price of compost these days, it's so much better to make my own plus it has the added benefit of being tailored to my soil conditions. So I talk about how to make simple compost bays, what to add (and what to avoid), turning it (or not), covering it (or not), plus the importance of using the right compost for the right plants (and the science behind this). If you're not making any yet - please start, it's so much fun! In part 2 I'm continuing my plant profile series and tonight I'm talking about Echinacea purpurea. This wonderful perennial was No. 3 on my Most Profitable Flowers 2025 List and I'll talk about why it's so easy to grow and the benefits it offers to florists. I think I'm going to grow the white one as well this year. Please 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 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. 

Hello, it's Friday 9 January 2026. Welcome to the latest episode! I've been hunkered down indoors this week finishing my new website, which I'm excited to say is now live. It has taken me a while because I wanted to write the text using all the information I learnt on my recent flower faming business course with Jenny Marks. So I hope that I have captured the spirit of the plot on the website. The second part of this episode is the first in a new series of flower profiles that I thought would be interesting to share with you: tonight I'm starting with Didiscus. As well as talking about the plant itself and its ideal growing conditions, I talk about how I grew it last year and how it worked out for me, and why it makes a great cut flower. 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. 

Welcome. It's Tuesday 6 January 2026. We had more snow today! It was so pretty and fluffy but it did settle on the plot and made negotiating the slope a nightmare. It's melted away now but in the next few days we have a named storm coming in bringing with it a ton a rain. Always useful for topping up the water bowsers but not so good for getting any physical work done.  With that in mind, I've created a list of nine things I could be doing when it's not possible to work outside. Topics range from auditing last year's activities to double checking seed orders and sorting photos into proper albums. All very helpful things and those which really need doing on rainy/snowy days before spring arrives and everything goes to the wall. I hope you find the episode interesting and that you'll 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. 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. 

Welcome. It's Friday 2 January 2026. Tonight I'm talking about the new year resolution I've made to improve my time management and fingers crossed I can do better in 2026. I really must stop running around like a mad thing. I'm also answering three brilliant questions from listeners in this episode that I've received in the last couple of days and I hope you enjoy the answers. The first one is about my rose planting technique (and how this differs from how I would plant roses in a garden); the second is about the interplanting of my bearded iris amongst the peonies and how to ensure that the rhizomes get enough sunshine; and the third is about how I'm succession sowing this year. Do please keep your questions coming: I'm not an expert but I'm always happy to share how I'm doing things and (sometimes) I do know what I'm doing.  Please do 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. 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. 

Welcome to Tuesday 30 December 2025 and the 100th episode of this podcast! To celebrate this milestone, today's episode is an extra long one because I wanted to include the hens and then take you on a walk around the plot to chat about what's going on, and then finish part 2 of my review of 2025.  The hens are an integral part of my cut flowers: they provide much needed organic fertiliser for the soil and they do help to keep pests away and aerate the soil. They're also the best company and I love working with them around. I thought that part 2 of the review wouldn't be long because some of the letters are tricky but it turned out that there's so much to talk about. I hope you enjoy listening to the successes and failures I had on the plot this year - and maybe you can relate to some of what I talk about! Please 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. 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. 

Welcome to the latest episode on Friday 26 December 2025. I hope that you've had a great Christmas.  It's Boxing Day and to celebrate the end of Christmas and (almost) the end of the year, this episode is part 1 of my End of Year A-Z Review where tonight I chat about everything on the plot from Annuals to Ladybirds via Cosmos to Irrigation, Bells of Ireland to (lost) Keys, Hydrangea to Leafmould, tonight's episode covers a lot. It's been really fun to look back at everything I've been doing this year and assessing whether things were a success or not: I hope you enjoy it. Part 2 of the Review will cover everything from M-Z and this will come out on Tuesday next week as usual. Please 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. 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 23 December 2025. It's a shorter episode tonight - I'm feeling a bit blue. I'm missing my regular routines and I'm not enjoying the disruption. I also have a mole on the field which I was very excited about and then realised it may well cause havoc with everything I've planted so far (and what's still to come).  Routines are a mainstay for me: I need them to stay sane and I like to have structure in my day so I really struggle at Christmas time, and this year is no exception. So in this episode I talk about the plans I have in place to cope with the holiday period including getting on the field, doing some planting, and hanging out with my hens.  I hope that you have a great Christmas and that you will come back and join me for the next episode - you're always very welcome and I promise to be more cheerful! New podcast I'm enjoying: Bloommates with Katie from Grown by Lightning Hollows and Sarah from Quayle Cottage in Australia. It's great! 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 19 December 2025. Phew - we've made it through another week and I've had so much rain here in the UK. My Six Figure Flower Farming course with Jenny Marks of Trademark Farmer has come to an end and I'm feeling rather sad about it: I will miss everyone. I realised in the final graduation video call just how much material we have covered in the last month (it's been a lot!) and just how many techniques and tips I've acquired.  My list of jobs to do on the field remains exhaustive and I have so much to do over the festive period. I'm looking forward to this - it'a a great reason to get outside and stay active. My list is enormous so I hope it makes you feel better if you still have jobs to do and feel like you're behind the curve. This weekend I'll be watching videos on how to make a table centrepiece for my Christmas dinner table so I can use all the evergreen offcuts I have lurking in Kylie's room (aka my studio).  I hope that you have a great weekend: please 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. 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.