Before I was loaned a plot of land to develop for growing cut flowers, I already had a front and back garden and three quarters of an allotment. The allotment is still a work in progress after 10 years or more and the front and back gardens are the same. Perhaps that is why the progress of the plot is slow…

Work in progress on back garden

For quite awhile now, the front and sides of my house have become a small scale, homespun nursery for the plants (flowers and veg) I grow to fill the different plots.

Makeshift nursery in front of house

Sometimes, in fact quite often, I sow all the seeds in a packet and end up with literally hundreds of small plants. This was how the very small business I run with my flower friend started. She is also a keen grower of plants, but more knowledgeable (being RHS trained) and circumspect when sowing seeds. In September 2013, we decided to see whether we could sell our little plants at a local farmers market in Wolvercote to make some room at home and to raise money for more seeds and plants. We wanted a name for our stall and settled on Homesown and lots of lively and optimistic planning conversations have taken place with wine and food in Oxford.

More moth mullein than I can fit in my garden

So we experimented and sold our healthiest and toughest plants once and sometimes twice every spring and summer month and then started supplementing plants with cut flowers from our gardens which is how the idea for the developing plot has come about.

This Sunday is the first farmers market of the year for us and it is going to be mostly perennial plants with, if we are lucky, a few bunches of unusual daffodils and tulips. At the developing plot, the sweet rocket is healthy and the cornflowers are bulking up, so hopefully flowers from the plot will be on their way soon.