Transcript of Bowood Talk!!

This is a direct transcript of the talk I gave at Toby Bucklands Garden Festival at Bowood House on Friday 5th June!!

Bowood Garden Festival -Food Security, Sustainability and the Value of Urban and Allotment Soils

We live in a pretty scary world.

We live in a world where our food supply relies on finite resources from the point of sowing through to harvest and then distribution until it’s final delivery into stores.

This summer we were threatened with food shortages not because of scarcity of seed or freak weather, but because there was concern that we didn’t have sufficient HGV drivers for the distribution systems to keep up with demand.

We live in a world where if a child is asked where an apple comes from the answer is as likely to be Tesco as a tree and when you ask the child who answers with Tesco but where did it come from before then the answer could be, and has been, a lorry. Where children look at you incredulously when you ask where meat comes from as the connection between livestock and food is, in some cases, completely lost.

In 1996 The World Food Summit defined food security as existing ….

“When all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food, to maintain a healthy and active life.”

And yet even in the UK  we have people going hungry, relying on food banks whilst on the other hand we throw away a third of the food we produce before it even gets to a store, and often simply because it has been labelled incorrectly, or it has been deemed ugly or unfit for purpose.

In the UK we have used the same 38% of land since the I industrial revolution to grow our food on. Our population has grown tenfold in that time and the only way we have managed to grow such increased yields on that same amount of land is by relying on the petrochemical industry to provide inorganic fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides whilst paying little or no attention to the health and well being of the soils on which they are relying for their crops. it is interesting to note in that time space too we have almost used up the finite resources that it took the earth 200million years to make. A frightening statistic if ever there was one.

In fact in 2014 the University of Sheffield published research that shows that there are only 100 harvests left in some of the soils we rely on to produce our food. Following this the Soil Association have recently published a report that says that we are globally losing 30 football pitches of fertile soil every minute.

So how do we address this? 2015 is International Year of Soils and surely we are addressing this as a nation as a priority……. How do we ensure that we have accessibility to fresh, healthy and sustainably produced food heading into a future where we know that oil is no longer finite resource and that our soils are slowly dying. And what of this word sustainable? What does that really mean, loved and overused as it is by corporations worldwide. What is sustainable food?

If you go home and Google Sustainable Food the sites that come up at the top of the page are all from Syngenta, Monsanto and Bayer, those huge petro chemical companies that agriculture has come to rely on. But truly sustainable food is food that allows us to be food secure.

Sutainable food is accessible.

It is food that is nutritious.

It’s food that keeps us healthy in body and mind.

And it is food that is grown in a way that cares for the world in which it is grown through good methods of agriculture that insist on earth care alongside food growing.

Moving forwards, in a world where the finite resources we have come to rely on are going to become less accessible and more expensive this means relying on local food where possible and supporting local growers. 

And allotments have a vital place in this.

iN 1943 there were nearly one and a half million allotments in the UK and those plots provided 10% of food needed to keep the nation fed, albeit in the difficult circumstances of WW2. Today, according to thE national Society of Allotment Holders and Leisure Growers we have around 330,000 plots, with waiting lists of 93,000. Much of the historic allotment land has been sold off for development but much of it is still there, unused, by the side of railways, being grazed by ponies or simply just sitting there, waiting.

A report was published in 2014 by the University of Sheffield proving that allotment land is significantly healthier than our traditional agricultural soils. In Leicester soil samples were taken from 27 plots across 15 sites in the city, alongside soils from parks, gardens and agricultural land in the area.Amongst the properties tested were carbon levels, nitrogen levels and the ration between carbon and nitrogen which are all signals to show the amount and the quality of organic matter in the soil. The results were quite remarkable.

Compared with the local arable soil the allotment soils has 32% more organic carbon, 36% higher carbon to nitrogen ratios and were significantly less compacted. 

All of this was put down to allotment holders using sustainable soil management techniques, with 95% of the allotment holders composting waste matter created from their plots in order to feed their soils. 

As allotment holders we understand the importance of feeding our soils and the healthy glow it gives us as we barrow around a couple of tons of rotted manure each winter.

We also understand the need to look after pollinators.

To cover the soil with green manures when they lie fallow to stop those pesky weeds using all the nutrition we have worked so hard to fill our plots with.

On our urban plots, across our cities nationwide, farmers regularly bring large deliveries of their waste into the city to feed our soils from the peri-urban surroundings of the city.

So to increase food sustainability and security should we be looking to using those urban soils that traditionally have been used by allotment holders? Should we encourage allotment holders to grow more? Or should we increase the amount of food grown in our cities by allowing local small producers to access allotment land that isn’t being used for whatever reasons. 

We certainly ought to be encouraging allotment use as well as community food growing projects in our urban and peri urban areas, reuniting people with lost skills, skills that could be far more important heading into the future but which are being lost as our connection to food is lost.

But we also should be safeguarding this land. With the majority of Grade 1 soils being in areas that are floodplains these soils may become what is needed to feed us and yet as it stands, road and house building always seems to be more important than food growing land, often with cities making little effort to find alternatives to putting these high grade soil assets under tarmac, losing them forever. Only a change in policy to protect these soils will change this and this is vital if all the allotment sites under threat across the UK are anything to go by. These pockets of valuable land, our heritage and part of what could be the story of creating a sustainable and secure food system need to be shouted about and change demanded.

To quote Nigel Dunnett, Professor of Planting Design and Vegetation Technology at the University of Sheffield, 

“We need to dramatically rethink our approach to urban growing and use the little space we have as efficiently as possible. Cities must become places of food production”

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Edible flowers

Flowers are generally not for eating they are left so that you can grow vegetables which are generally much tastier. Having said that; there are some flowers which are definitely worth eating. The reason may be that in not in all cases these flowers develop any tasty fruit. Or in some cases they can be added to you cuisine to add a different tinge to the taste buds. Though there are many vegetables which are biologically flowers, like cauliflower or broccoli but we have not added them here as they are considered more of a vegetable than flower.

This article is about flower which may not be popular vegetables but you can definitely use them as for some change in your cuisine. Some of the flowers which you can eat are:

Squash flower: All squash flower are edible. You can use both summer and winter squash flowers for stuffing and other type of cooking. Plants such as Zucchini are famous for their large sized edible flowers.

Nasturtium: Young flowers can be used in salads. It has pepper and slightly spice tasty. Apart from the flowers you can also use the leaves for eating purpose.

Borage: Borage flower taste like cucumber. You can add this to salads drinks etc.

Marigold: they are called poor man’s saffron. You can use the petals to color your dishes. They can also be used as a garnish on salads.

Rose: The petals of roses are used in many Indian dishes. Those fragrant petals always add the special aroma to the food. Click here to know more on rose gardening.

Basil, chives, dill, fennel, and arugula: These flowers are all aromatic and can be used in the food for flavor or color.

Here are a few tips on edible flowers:

Feed the plants once the first bud appears. Plants such as roses need a good caring. If you are planning to grow roses check out our tips on rose growing.
Choose the compost ingredients which are rich in Potassium (K) and Phosphorous (P).
Use much to control weeds and retain enough water into the soil.
Do not eat any flower on which any pesticide or chemical has been applied.
Not every flower is edible. Some can even be toxic. Use the scientific naming process to select your flower.


What is your favorite edible flower? Share your experience. Use the comment box below:

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British Flowers The Chelsea 2015 Edition

After the Valentines Bouquet 2015 fiaso which you can read about here, I was slightly surprised to see a Tweet earlier in the year frrom Interflora saying that their Chelsea 2015 stand would be all about celebrating Bristish flowers and I immediately sent them a message asking someone to contact me. I received an email from a Brand Manager introducing herself and saying how pleased she would be to show me around the stand. I replied, sending the article I wrote, and said, in essence, dont do this half heartedly and dont let the growers of the UK down.

So imagine my surprise to hear from Gill Hodgson of Flowers From The Farm that she had been informed there were Dutch bought flowers being put into the stand. I emailed everyone I could think to email at Interflora and got a message this morning from their Marketing Director that she was happy to speak. And here is the run down of the conversation.....

It seems the decision to go British was to link in with the RHS who at one point wanted a British theme to the Floral Marquee this year. But then the RHS changed their brief, Interflora realised they didnt really need to go the whole hog to use British flowers but just didnt bother to say they werent going to. And my guess is they think they would have gotten away with it if it werent for the beady eyes of those there!!

However, shocking and appalling as that is, its the next bit that really got to me. This Director seemed quite adamant that the UK flower industry was not able to fulfil what she wanted for the stand. I asked which growers she had spoken to and it quickly became apparent that there had been one conversation with one wholesaler, and nothing else and that the flowers had been ordered only in the last few weeks, not months in advance as they ought to have been.  Having spoken with Gill this morning, we now know that many if the required blooms are available, and that growers across the country have a huge array of other blooms ready and waiting.  When this was questioned she asked me how I would feel if I were a bride and the flowers I had been promised or requested werent available, to which I naturally replied I would trust my British florist to know what would be available and expect there to be substitutions due to our climate if and when necessary. But apparently this is not how Interflora work, which is no surprise in reality, but just very disappointing that they have leant nothing from the previous furore. No understanding of seasonality, or that dreaded word sustainable, and I doubt any thoughts for air miles or chemical footprints. 

Interflora had asked me to write an article for their in house magazine, Mercury, and the original idea would be that off the back of the Chelsea stand I would explain to their florists why they should buy British where possible. But considering this exchange, their corporate stand that if they want it they shall have it and their total lack of real engagement with the amazing British growers across the country who are continuing the amazing fight to keep our cut flower business growing, Im not going to write that article. 

Instead Im going to repledge my allegiance to the British flower farmers, growers and the florists who fight for them by using their blooms. And Im going to ask you to do the same. If youre visiting Chelsea buy a British buttonhole to wear to the show. Ask the florists which blooms are British. Ask why they are not all and what Interflora are doing to support our blooming industry. And away from the show ground? Support them with your hard earned pound. Talk about them. Tell your friends and families about the way flowers are produced in South America and Africa and ask them to see flowers as a luxury item that you cant buy for a fiver with your weekly shop.

I guess what we take from this is that the fight must continue and it strikes me that whilst Chelsea is bringing horticulture to the fore in the next few days, we must shout loudly and be heard. Use social media, tweet @interflora, comment on their Facebook and join in with the #grownnotflown hashtag on both Twitter and Instagram!! Lets get this out there whilst we can. The British Flower Industry has resurrected itself, lets make sure its success continues.

British narcissi snapped at Common Farm Flowers! Beautiful, scented and UK grown.

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British Flowers the 2016 edition begins!!

Its been a while since my last British flowers post and I am very aware that most folk were left hanging after RHS Chelsea last year, when I promised to report back from conversations with Interflora about their stand. It wasnt that I didnt want to but was simply because on Press Day there was no one to be seen on their stand to talk to, which was a shame. The cynic in me says they were hiding under one of the flower covered cupcakes.....Ill leave that thought there!

So this week I was kicked into action by a tweet, as often happens in my world. An organisation in Bristol is fund raising to create an online project supporting Fairtrade over Valentines. Although I completely back the ideals behind Fairtrade when looking at products that cant be grown in the UK, in order to support local economies we must look to supporting our own growers first surely? Particularly in an area where we have lots of people growing flowers all year around and who depend on Valentines Day in many cases, to kick start their business year.

Stunning buttonholes made by Fox and Cat flowers here in Bristol from entirely British grown blooms.

It seems to me a real shame that still we are having to have this conversation. Surely we all understand the need to support local business? Local businesses ensure that our high streets remain vibrant and exciting, and that our local growers, be they of food or flowers, remain working our local land. Local business also ensure our local economies grow, keeping money and skills in the local area. Instead of our hard earned pounds going into the coffers of multi-national organisations, concentrating on local and independent business means you know where your money is going and who it will be supporting.

But with our flower growers, as with our small food producers, it is so much more than that. They are looking after the land on which they grow. I could write a whole oiece on that alone but georgie Newbery of Common Farm Flowers has blogged about how they are stewards of their land here, in a wonderfully emotional piece that describes her and Fabrizios amazing emotional link to their land.

I set about trying to have a discussion with this organisation, and I hope that discussion will move on from where it is today as I have thus far only spoken to the Fairtrade organisation they are working with. They suggested that in the flowers section they mention local growers, to me at least and that they would never normally "actively promote" anything that has to be flown, but seem to think that the fit for flowers in the campaign was so great they would overlook it. However something they said really hit me as being patronising and not understanding our British growers at all. The quote is this.....
"However tough it is for for local flower growers its still not an issue of whether they can feed their families......."
As if the belief is that growing flowers is a nice little thing that people do but that isnt something that is full time or that pays enough to be a primary income. This really shocked me as I know there are flower growers up and down the country who rely on their flowers as their income, and will be horrified to read this!!

So the conversation, I hope, will continue and with luck, (or a little bit of persuasion),  they will mention the many flower growers in the South West as well as across the country, and at best they will remove the idea of Fairtrade and mention that second to our amazing UK flower industry.
after all if we truly "love the future", we must look after the here and now.........

Stunning rose at Common Farm Flowers

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Grow Your Own Wedding Flowers Georgie Newberys latest flower farming book is here!!

Being sent a copy of Georgie Newberys new book, which, by the way will be published in early November, was a complete treat and made my day on Saturday when it arrived. It is a thing of beauty. A coffee table tome. The kind of book you would be proud to display when you wanted to show off a bit perhaps. Its cover is a beautiful bouquet that could only have come from Common Farm Flowers, full of exquisitely conditioned roses and sweet peas, fennel and poppy seed heads. It is a quintessentially English bouquet that any bride would be thrilled to have as part of her special day.

Now to actually review a book by a friend is hard, and so, frankly, Im not even going to pretend that is what this is. However, I do have one issue and that is the name of the book, Grow Your Own Wedding Flowers, ought to be Find A Wedding To Grow Flowers For, because this book is not just how to grow flowers for your wedding. It goes far beyond that. From cutting and conditioning, to quantities of stems needed and advice on how best to manage the floristry as well as tips on scheduling and how to manage the flowers and floristry at the same time as everything else, what this book gives the reader is an insight into how Common Farm Flowers grow, manage and cut for weddings every season of every year. But you could change the word wedding and add any event that flowers might be appropriate at and this book is for you. In fact you could decide you wanted to grow a great bouquet for yourself, a friend or relative and this book is for you. And even if you decide not to grow your own flowers, this book is full of inspiration to help you decide what you want from your event flowers.

What I found really wonderful are the four chapters that help the reader to decide what it is they are going to grow for the appropriate season that their special day falls in. It doesnt just concentrate on what you can grow, although it covers that comprehensively with sections on annuals, perennials, bulbs and shrubs, but it also looks at how wild flowers, the plants already growing in the garden, including plants for foliage, can be added into the palette of plants being produced, as well as separate sections on how to cut and condition these. Alongside these are sections about the symbolism and meaning of individual flowers; daisies for loyal love, sunflowers for loyalty and longevity and on each page are the most startlingly beautiful photographs of weddings that Common Farm Flowers have created both flowers and floristry for.

What is particularly special about this book though, more than the words and the photos, is the insight into the work that Georgie and her amazing team put into not only each and every wedding they create such wonderful floristry for, but in fact the work and effort behind running such a hugely successful business as Common Farm Flowers is. She speaks lovingly of slow flowers, allying the way she and Fabrizio work the land with the Slow Food movement, one at which love and care for the land and the other species that inhabit it is constantly at the centre of everything they do. She speaks of organic practises, compost teas and the gentle ways in which they steward the land from which these magnificent flowers are cut and with this knowledge it is no wonder that the quality of both the flowers and the floristry sing through.

At Common Farm Flowers a successful business has been made growing flowers for cutting and creating floristry with those flowers in a way that is kind to the earth, wildlife and people. This book proves that you can have an ecologically sound and principled business, producing a really extraordinary product that is also sustainable and principled. Take this book and apply the principles to your garden and you wont go far wrong, in both growing and ecological practises. And you will have some magnificent flowers that you could, if you wanted to, use for a wedding.

I forgot to mention that Sarah Raven wrote the foreword. I also forgot to mention that if you can get through the acknowledgements without a tear, then you are a less sentimental soul than I!

As a little addendum I have to mention the Common Farm Meadows. Teaming with butterflies, pollinators and full of orchids and native wild flowers, they are a complete marvel and speak of Fabrizios understanding and love of the land for which he cares. Whilst Georgie is the force behind the floristry and the commercial business, Fabrizio manages the land, always with an eye on the natural turning of the seasons and the vast amount of other species who inhabit the land alongside the family and the team. Once upon a time I commented that these meadows are on a par with those at Great Dixter, and those who know me also know I would never say such a thing unless I truly meant it. This summer they were stunning and could only have been brought into being by a man who knows the land. I doff my cap to Fabrizio, steward of the extraordinary land at Common Farm.

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British Flowers The Chelsea 2015 Edition Part 2

"Seasonality. 

Its a word we know, and most of us understand but in a world where we can pretty much get anything at any time if the year, its hard to remember that the vast majority of things that are grown, are only available for a limited time in the year. Its somewhat bizarre that strawberries can be bought at Christmas and asparagus at any other time than mid May to June is little short of sacrilege, and yet they are both pretty much available all year round. 

But if youve eaten strawberries at Christmas, youll know they pale into nothingness in comparison to the deep sunfilled sweetness of a strawberry picked and eaten in mid summer. They lack taste, fragrance and their texture is usually too hard or too soft but theyre strawberries out of season and so they are bought,with little thought of how they arrived or from where.

So what does this have to do with flowers or RHS Chelsea? 

Well every year the floral marquee at RHS Chelsea is filled with the most spectacular displays from our amazing nurseries and growers from all across the UK. There are everything from stunning narcissi, to tulips and hyacinths and alliums-all plants and flowers you would expect to see within a six week window at either end of the show week. There is always a strawberry display that you can smell long before you can see it. The bulb companies show off their spring and early summer flowerers whilst the larger nurseries show what they have new for the year ahead. Its an amazing, inspiring, fragrant pavilion that you know youre entering by the fanfare of scents and colours that meet you as you enter, and I for one have been rendered speechless by the beauty of the exhibits on more than one occasion. It can be emotional, particularly when you understand the pressure these growers put onto themselves to produce the perfect bloom, the perfect plant. 

At a nursery I formerly worked at we called it the Chelsea dance. Plants being taken from sun, to shade, from heat to cool and back again, often all in the space of a day,to ensure they were in perfect condition for the day they finally went to the show ground. Working 18-20 hour days in the run up to the show is normal and a culmination of months of preparation and specialist growing. As a grower its exciting and challenging and although the pressure was huge, and everyone says thats my last year, never again, if Im honest I miss it. 

The RHS proudly announced last year that 95% of the Chelsea Floral Marquee was British grown. The pedants among us might have said why not 100% but there are a few stands where clearly there are going to be some foreign grown plants, such as the quite incredible South African and Carribean stands that are so inspirational and educational. 

So with all this being really at the heart of what the Floral Marquee is about, beautifully, mainly seasonal, British produced plants that speak of our horticultural heritage, you would hope that the foral displays produced by Interflora who are bringing us a stand that by design is about the Britishness of garden parties, drinking tea and presumably being surrounded by quintessentially British gardens, would want to support the British flower industry as it rises like a Phoenix from its own ashes, reinventing itself all across the country, and bringing us those perfect early summer blooms. Sweet Williams, one of the British flower growers staples, beautiful scented pinks, Larkspur, Ammi, Geums, Sweet Peas......the list goes on, are all available here and now. 

But instead they chose to try to source Paeonias, Roses, Stocks and Allium Gadiator from UK growers whilst sourcing what else was needed from Holland, but failed to check these would be available or, and more importantly, order the plants with plenty of warning so that the Chelsea Dance could begin. The reality of the stand is that less than 20% was ever going to be British grown and today I estimate that it is far, far less than that. If Marks and Spencer could see that they would need to work with UK growers last year so that their paeonias were ready in time for the show, how on earth did Interflora not look to do the same?  To check that there was a large scale producer of English roses as cut blooms might have been wise, not to mention ensuring that the required Allium variety was grown commercially, and its horrifying to be in the knowledge that this was never done. No Chelsea gardens planting is set in stone until the day it is finished for this reason precisely and to take into account that things go wrong, so why would the designers involved with the Interflora stand not have used that thinking as they were designing? 

And sadly the answer is a lack of understanding or care for seasonality. An expectation that they can have what they want, when they want it, regardless of the cost to the environment or the industry which they are snubbing. Hinting that they felt let down by the UK industry when they actually hadnt even engaged with them, but just gone through a wholesaler, is far from being acceptable but the saddest part is their lack of understanding of the business in which they are set and its dependence on the seasons and the way it regularly reinvents itself when needed due to the vagaries of the British weather and the pressures of the market. And so they will present a stand tomorrow with un scented Carnations from South Anerica whilst next to them are Whetmans Pinks with their stunning display that not only looks like English summer but smells of it too, bringing true seasonality and excellent nurserymanship to the Floral Marquee.

Our British flower industry is blooming, but it needs support from the people who are at the centre of the flower industry as well as from us all. Yes British grown flowers tend to be dearer but they are also beautifully grown by people who are passionate about what they do and long for the recognition they deserve. Often they are grown in places where the environment is being nurtured as closely as the flowers, free of chemicals and by growers who understand the importance of keeping our soils healthy and full of life. These people dont see growing as a job but a lifestyle choice, a way of supporting themselves as they support the land. Going into an uncertain future would you rather spend a fiver on a bunch of garish flowers from the supermarket that are chemically treated and have travelled thousands of air miles or save that money for a monthly treat from a grower at your local farmers market or an online florist? And having read this morning that the huge Dutch greenhouses produce blooms that have a higher carbon footprint than flowers imported from Kenya, can anyone happily buy these chemically produced blooms? 

Interflora could be at the forefront of showing how flowers can be bought seasonally and still be beautiful and bespoke. Théy could encourage their franchisees to buy British blooms where possible and to highlight them as a premium range where possible. Théy could be producing seasonal bouquets of British flowers , encouraging florists to become engaged with the industry that so many assume are behind them, whilst demanding that the Dutch lower that carbon footprint. They could be running a range of organically grown blooms and highlighting the reasons why they are a premium range. And for certain they should be saying to anyone who buys from them that sometimes substitutions need to be made because to guarantee a rose in February really in the UK. Is like guaranteeing strawberries at Christmas-a sad lack of understanding of seasonality and proof that we think if we want something we should be able to have it whatever the cost. 

Part 3 will follow.........

Proof British flowers are available all year-these received from Common Farm Flowers in January!! 

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