The Flower Farming Intensive Workshop (at the farm)

The Flower Farming Intensive workshop is a three day workshop, delivered by flower farmer Georgie Newbery at Common Farm Flowers between Bruton and Wincanton in Somerset, which ultimately aims to help you grow your flower farming business.

You can book the full three days or book one or two days individually (see below for links.) 

Members of our YouTube Club receive a 10% booking on all website bookings. Find out more about the club here.

Here's what to expect on each day of this workshop. 

Day one: land management and growing practice for a flower and foliage crop you can rely on

After a little time spent getting to know one another we will set off out into the fields here at Common Farm Flowers and analyse what is good and bad about the layout and bed management.  In considering the ‘why’ of our operations here we can understand the ‘how’ and apply the principles to your growing space.  We look at costs, time management, soil health, biodiversity, and see how all of these contribute to flower and foliage growth and therefore possible sales.

When growing flowers for sale, your physical time spent in the fields, and the costs of growing flowers, both have a huge impact on potential sales and ultimate profit.  This is a day which can be transformational to both the quantity and quality of the crop you grow, but also dramatically cut the time you spend in the field and so make it possible for you to sell more.

Day two: business planning and marketing

We'll consider business plans, cashflow forecasts, an efficiently planned year, a clever collaboration between your website and your social media.  This day will help increase the kinds of sales you want to make.

It is easy to be so flat-out busy flower farming that you feel you don’t have time to make sure you are financially optimising the time you spend growing and harvesting flowers. 

Being busy is no accolade.  Making a good living, and still having the time and energy to think about a little extra for fun is the way to keep yourself interested and amused as a flower farmer.  This second day of our intensive three day session is when you focus on being honest about identifying where the profit is in your flower farming business, the cost of administrating each sale, and why posting strategically on your social media can be transforming.  This is the day when we look at the sums and the opportunity cost of being too busy to strategise.

Day three: cutting and conditioning your crop, and floristry

We'll consider everything about cutting flowers, conditioning them, floristry and packaging.  A flower farmer grows the best quality flowers, which must be treated when being cut and used in creations as the best quality product – because they are! 

On this third day of our Flower Farming Intensive course we will harvest from the fields here at Common Farm Flowers, and consider the principles of making the best of the product we’ve grown, while putting ourselves for the day in the shoes of our clients. 

We may be flower farmers, but it’s important, even if we never do any floristry ourselves, that we understand how our customers will work with our product, and therefore how cutting, conditioning, wrapping, and delivering can transform our relationship with our customer base so that they will order from us again and again. 

Of course we focus on sustainable practise – no greenwashing here at Common Farm Flowers! And we look at how our customers really appreciate working with us so that their desire for cut flowers does not cost the earth as well as their wallet. 

You may want to spend the day developing your floristry skills for your business, or you may want to understand more about how your customer will arrange your flowers, and in both cases you may want to know more about sustainable floristry mechanics and packaging.  This day will answer your floristry questions and give you the opportunity to work with my flowers in order to improve the product you offer with yours. 

Each day can be bought separately if you’d like to focus on one or two specific areas for your business. If you would rather book one or two days, you can do that via these links: 

Flower Farming Intensive Day One

Flower Farming Intensive Day Two

Flower Farming Intensive Day Three

The full intensive workshop comes highly recommended by our previous customers. 

Suitable for:

People who’ve some experience of growing flowers for sale, but who want to refine their processes, strategise to optimise their time and their crop growing, make more of their land, and make sure they are taking advantage of many different possibilities for earning which flower farming offers.

Here's what some recent students had to say about this workshop: 

"Just completed the Flower Farming Intensive Workshop. Georgie's wealth of knowledge and experience made the workshop invaluable. I am beginning my flower farming journey, but my fellow 'learners' have developed businesses and Georgie encompassed our, very diverse, knowledge with consummate aplomb. I left feeling empowered with much food for thought... onwards and upwards!!"

"Brilliant 3 days at the farm with the team visiting and revisiting the nuts & bolts of running a real flower farming and artisan floristry business. Good pace, enormous amounts of practical information shared and the right amount of ‘doing’ to bring home key points on organisation & budgeting of both time and resources. Plenty of individual inspiration & support. Excellent number of students in group & what a lovely bunch! Delicious no faff lunches from a local farm shop. Not my first workshop and likely not my last."

Paying for a 3 day workshop:

Generally a place is only secured on one of our workshops when full payment is made, but we appreciate that for some people they may prefer to budget for this 3 day session. Therefore we are happy to arrange for you to pay by instalments if you prefer, as set out here:

• If you wish to book a 3 day workshop more than 3 months ahead of it taking place we are able to take a non refundable deposit of £300 at the time of booking. The next instalment of £300 will be payable 3 months prior to the workshop. The remainder of the workshop cost will be payable no later than one month prior to the workshop taking place.
• If you are booking a place within 3 months of the workshop taking place, an initial payment of £600 is required (£300 of this is a non refundable deposit). The final instalment of £300 is required 1 month from the date of the workshop. 

If you would like to arrange to pay in instalments please email nicola@commonfarmflowers.com

Why do a workshop with Common Farm Flowers? 

Georgie Newbery has been building her small business growing flowers for sale and creating floristry with material she’s grown on the farm since 2010.  She is a Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Floristry Judge, RHS dahlia trials committee member, and Garden Media Guild New Talent Award Judge.   

Georgie does not see other flower farmers and florists as competition, but rather as potential colleagues and collaborators.  Georgie knows that it is in her interest to teach her students everything she knows.  And she spends a great deal of time talking to other flower farmers and small business owners and learning as much as she can around the subject of running small businesses and farming gardens and small acreage. 

There are no secrets held back from you at a Common Farm Flowers workshop.

Information about all our workshops at the farm: 

You are welcome to join our workshops whether you grow for pleasure or profit, although some workshops will be more suited to flower farmers or small business owners. This should always be clear in the workshop description. 

Full day workshops at the farm generally take place between 10am and 3pm.

Workshop numbers are generally restricted to a maximum of 10 students.

The cost of a full day workshop includes lunch at a local farm shop. It is important that you please advise us of any food allergies / intolerances / other preferences at the time of booking. Please bring any mid morning / afternoon snacks you might like. 

Workshops at Common Farm Flowers take place in our studio barn, as well as out on the farm where there is no cover. Please wear clothes suitable for the weather (eg layers, waterproof clothes) and bring shoes / boots that are designed to walk on rough, grassy paths. Even on a sunny day flip flops and sandals aren’t advised and we suggest long trousers where possible due to the risk of ticks, bites and stings. A sun hat and sun protection are also advised, as we can’t always stand in the shade. 

We will be in touch a few days before the workshop with your joining instructions. This email will come from nicola@commonfarmflowers.com. If you’ve not heard from Nicola 48 hours before the session takes place please email nicola@commonfarmflowers.com but do please first check your junk / spam items and make sure you are checking the inbox of the email address you used to book your place. 

Please familiarise yourself with our terms and conditions in case you need to cancel your workshop place. 

Nearby Bruton and Wincanton are full of lovely places to stay to suit every budget. See our links page for good ideas or get in touch and we will do our best to help. A three day workshop at Common Farm Flowers can be made into a learning holiday, which will send you off at the end of your stay inspired and enabled as well as having had a wonderful time in this beautiful corner of Somerset.