City girl Jen Stuart-Smith and her country cousin Beck Bibby have started a farm growing and selling seasonal English-grown flowers in the Kent countryside. But with the highly competitive wedding flowers business as their target market, their blooms must be superb and their supply reliable. So could choosing a weed-infested small-holding with some of the poorest soil in the county turn out to be a big mistake?
Problems come to a head when a bride-to-be cancels her order, turned off by their scruffy site. The cousins call on Monty Don to help, and he soon realises that the laid-back cousins are treating the farm as a hobby rather than a proper business.
Can Jen and Beck learn to take their work seriously and put their customers' needs first? And will they rise to the occasion when called on to provide all the flowers for a nine page glossy magazine spread - a challenge that could make or break them?
An update from Jen:
So much has changed since our summer with Monty and the TV crew. Bek gave birth to Rowan at the beginning of October and has been on maternity leave since then, leaving me to keep an eye on the plot. During that time, we've had gales which knocked over our new wind break, heavy snow and rampaging chickens... But things are looking up, with the sprouting of spring bulbs and the building of a cosy office next to our shed.
After appearing in Wedding Flowers and Wedding magazines, as part of the programme, we have started to get inquiries and bookings for wedding flowers for 2010 and even 2011. There have also been several emails from fellow flower growers around the country, congratulating us on what we are doing, and encouraging us to spread the word. Our vision of a network of 'local flower growers' is taking shape.
We will be selling bouquets online from April and have developed out own recycled and compostable cardboard vase with the help of a packaging company in the next village... the MD of which complimented me on being the only client to have arrived on a bike. The other big news, apart from new babies and my mended leg, is that Bek's brother is taking over the former Yalding Organic Gardens, with cafe and farm shop, so, we'll have a gorgeous 'shop front' for our bouquets as well as selling online.
More:
For more information visit Jen and Bek's Blooming Green website
You can also keep up to date with their progress by following the Blooming Green blog
