I meant to take a photo of the broom before I made up today's bunches, but I forgot, and all that's left in the house is this one stripped sideshoot.
In one of our local flower farmer meet-ups, I was speaking with another grower who has a dry, poor soil. A completely different challenge for growing to the challenge of our wet heavy clay. This white broom is always in demand. We grow it in the polytunnel to get an earlier crop - and also because it likes it on the drier side.
This is one crop that does prefer poor soil and copes well with drought.
If you are on a thin or sandy soil, growing roses, peonies, or dahlia is going to mean enriching your soil annually with lots of well rotted organic material, such as good farmyard manure. And watering. A lot. Very time-consuming.
Finding a crop that does well in the soil you have without too much help is always a bonus. So if your soil is a little dry and sandy, broom might be worth a go. The native yellow form is a bit of a thug and great for spring oomph, but as always, the cultivated lemon, white, and pink forms are the ones the florists love.
Are there any more suggestions for good perennials or shrubs that will cope well in a dry sandy soil? Let's start a list to help other growers out!
#bedfordshiregrower #bedfordshireflowerfarm #grownnotflown