February news from Common Farm

News about our e-newsletter

Well it’s all change here again at Common Farm. Yes, the new studio is finished, yes I’ve ordered new shrubs, yes kid one is about to do his A levels. What more could there be to change?

Well, even the platform we use for our newsletters doesn’t stay the same with us. Over the years we’ve had a blog on the website, spent a lot of time on social media, used mailchimp and more latterly klaviyo to hold our mailing list details. And now we change again.

From now on, and for the moment, and until the world turns in a different direction, welcome to our new format newsletter being sent to you via this new (to us) platform, Substack.

Why move? 

Substack is a more versatile place where we can post video clips, recorded voice clips and written work. We’ve brought our lovely Common Farm Flowers Club over to here from YouTube because these varied ways to communicate are joined, on the Club, by a chat area where club members can enjoy the connection they have made with each other whether I’m there or not. (To join the club simply opt in to being a paid subscriber here on Substack. As well as all the chatty benefits and extra clips and posts, you also get 10% discount on website bookings)

I’m really enjoying having a place where I can talk about flower farming, floristry, and there’s room to post some writing work in progress (Licence to Crenellate,) and the Club can keep me accountable on that score.

What difference will you see? 

If you've signed up for our newsletter at some point over the past fifteen years you will continue to receive it as normal. The only difference to you going forward is that you will receive emails from us via Substack rather than Klaviyo, the previous system we used for sending newsletters. We will endeavour to keep the content informative and hopefully inspiring as well as sharing information about what’s coming up here at the farm, or online.

The Common Farm Flowers Club 

Since we started the Club three years ago it’s become a thriving community of gardeners, flower farmers, florists, creatives, and small business people from all around the world. We’ve moved the Club from YouTube over here to Substack because here you can take out a year’s subscription for less than the cost of two of my online demos - an annual membership wasn’t an option available on YouTube.

As the Club membership increases I can put more and more of the workshop and demo information directly into the Club live chats (paid subscribers can see our list of upcoming topics here) which happen weekly here on Substack on Thursdays, 5pm UK time, during term time. This frees me up to make more interesting content for the filmed clips. I’m all about using time to our best advantage and I’m excited to see how this evolution continues. It would be amazing if Club membership expanded to the extent that all the workshop and demo information could be shared as part of the Club membership - we need a few hundred more members, but it is an achievable objective.

Flower Farming 

Meanwhile what about the flower farm? Well the ranunculus are looking happy in the poly tunnel, the sweet peas need netting to climb, the seeds to sow 15th Feb, when we will have ten hours of daylight, have been sorted, the packets year dated, the trays are clean, the compost delivered, and we have more weddings booked in for this coming summer than we’ve ever had this early in the season. Even 2026 is booking up.

Right now the sun is shining, the back door is open for a blow through, and outside Sue is weeding and edging the beds. Once I’ve posted this I’ll be following behind with barrow loads of mulch. We are trialling RocketGro this year after years of loving Dalefoot’s Lakeland Gold. RocketGro is made in Somerset and we are always looking for ways to cut this business’ carbon footprint which is why we’ve changed supplier. I’ll let you know how we find it but so far it’s looking good.

What's happening in February? 

We’ve dived back into workshop and demo season now that February’s here, and have a full schedule of sessions, many new to our list, to take you through till the autumn. Check the website and book one or two of them for yourself or for a friend. My colleague Nicola has made lots of bundles of our classes so you can book two or three together as a course. As usual all the online sessions are recorded so that if you can’t join live you can download and watch at your leisure. If you’d like to offer a learning session to a friend or family member as a gift, but don’t know which to choose, buy a voucher.

Common Good Plant Sale 

It’s time! Over the years we’ve held many plant sales in aid of village church, hall and other local charities. This year the date is 10th May, 9.30am, Charlton Musgrove Village Hall, BA9 8HF.

And there are lots of ways you can get involved.

If you’re local please come along. It’s a bring and buy plant sale so do bring your spare seedlings and cuttings to donate, and buy ours as well. We always have an exceptional amount and variety of good plants for sale and we charge only £2 a pot, whether for a teeny little snapdragon seedling, or a large tree donated from someone’s garden. Last year we raised over £3,000 for local charities and need locals to help do even better this year.

If you’re further away then do consider holding your own Common Good Plant Sale on the same day. Imagine the ripple effect? In a world where bad news bubbles across our tv screens like lava out of a volcano we can all protest against it by doing a good thing. And if many of us hold plant sales in aid of local charities on 10th May there’ll be pockets of fun and achievement and the sharing of plants all around the world. Instead of bad news there’ll be the uplift in community endorphins caused by neighbours getting together in to do something for the common good.

If you don’t know which charity to raise money for then I suggest you find your nearest gardening charity and get in touch with them. Some of the money we raise goes to The Growing Space in Wincanton. This is an invaluable spot where people who need to be outside growing things can spend time, learn, be inspired, can contribute to their community by growing plants. It’s an amazing resource supporting mental health as well as teaching gardening skills. Some of the plants they grow there are used for other projects in the town. It’s a charity which punches well above its small local weight. Do you have a charity like this nearby which would benefit from a plant sale organised by you?

Now the point of the exercise is not to raise competitive amounts of £££. A small community plant sale can raise just a few quid and on the way bring neighbours together, encourage people to grow something, raise awareness of a gardening charity which people might not know about, or which might make a life-changing difference to a person who comes across it through you. I had letters from people who held Common Good Plant Sales last year all of them saying that while it was good to raise a bit of money, it was the get together, the chat, the sharing of energy, focus and plants, which gave the most enjoyment.

So if you held a Common Good Plant Sale in 2024 will you join us again on 10th May 2025?

And if you would like to hold a plant sale then ring a friend and invite them round for coffee and biscuits and plan together to make a difference.

If you can’t find a local gardening charity to raise money for, may I recommend to you The Lemon Tree Trust which is ‘transforming refugee camps one garden at a time.’

I’ll be making a filmed Plant Sale Clip with tips and useful recommendations shortly and will share when it’s loaded in case you’d like to know more.

And in the meantime thank you for your attention and happy gardening!

Georgie x