From sowing...
The Niewoudts set about preparing a piece of land close to their house in the spot where the old farmstead’s horse paddocks and stables were previously located. Andrew put up shade cloth and eradicated the existing kikuyu grass.
“It was first dug over with tractors and then it took 10 men three weeks to pull out the grass by hand,” says Adene.
“We incorporated 100 cubic metres of compost into the soil and installed irrigation lines. In the meantime, I read every book I could find about cut flowers and devoured every piece of information about them online!”
Adene began importing seeds from the US, the Netherlands, Germany, England and Italy.
Once she receives the seeds, they are sown in a special germination medium and then grown out in a tunnel. After about four to six weeks, the seedlings are transplanted into well-prepared rows under shade netting.
Each worker plants about 2 000 seedlings a day. To ensure that there are flowers throughout the season, they follow a programme of succession seeding (once one plant is ‘harvested’, another is planted). “We only need to sow zinnias three times a season because they repeat-flower so well. On the other hand, we sow Queen Anne’s lace continuously because once their flowers have been cut off, they don’t form new blooms,” explains Adene. “Once the plants’ lifespan is over, they are lifted and within days new seedlings are planted in their place.
“I do harvest seeds from some of my annuals but if you want to be absolutely sure of what the flowers will look like, it’s better to buy new seed. With harvested seed you never know if it was crossed with another plant and whether it will look different. It’s too much of a risk – I must be able to guarantee buyers that they are getting what they asked for.”