Our Little River Flower Farm

For many years we have grown some of our own flowers and foliage in our shop garden. However, in view of the movement to local we decided that we would like to increase production and are establishing our very own flower farm.

We have a series of raised beds and are also cultivating larger areas of approximately 0.25-0.5 acres each. On the raised beds we are using a no dig method. Weeds are supressed using wool from our own sheep or leftover cardboard and paper from our own shop. All of our foliage and flower trimmings are shredded and then composted to place on the flower beds. Hardly anything is wasted. We even use manure from our own cattle in the compost!

 

Our two methods of weed supressent in the raised beds (to get things started). Wool from our own sheep or leftover cardboard and paper from our shop.

It all biodegrades.

Although initially a bit sceptical about ‘no dig’, having trialled it for a couple of years we now know it works—and works very well.

For the larger areas our own pigs will be clearing the ground before planting (a great way to manure the ground too).

Just some of the things we grow.

Each year should see an increase in flower and foliage types.

Of course we realise that we cannot grow all of our own flowers and foliage. Many of our customers appreciate more unusual exotic type flowers which simply cannot be grown here. However, more and more growers are adapting to environmentally friendly methods of production where there is no use of chemicals or insecticides and a strict coding system means we can readily identify these growers.