Ben Cross ( aka Alstroemeria Ben - he can often be spotted on social media in his ' British Flowers Rock ' T - shirt ) is a quaternary generation prime raiser with his great grandparents being one of the original families to take part in the Land Settlement Association ( LSA ) back in 1936 . Crosslands Flower Nursery in West Sussex specialise in growing alstroemeria in a rainbow of colour , and championing sustainable British flower is at the nub of everything Ben does .
The flowers he grows are not spray with any chemical after being reap and go into recyclable and reusable boxwood , before arriving with customers the next day . No ground cool techniques are used to pressure production and some prime beds are over 20 years older and still producing premium quality stanch . Under 5 % of the crop is replanted each year , so desex the land is kept to a minimum .
Alstroemeria do n’t demand much heat input or watering : in wintertime , optimum heat ( 13 ° C ) is maintain at nighttime via a biomass steam boiler and the crop is watered for just 20 minute once a calendar month , rise to 20 second once every 10 years in the summer .
When his flower have been pick they do n’t go into large freezers as the cooling storehouse organization at Crosslands is unremarkably turned off between November and March . When the flowers call for to be stored in affectionate conditions , they ’re only chilled at about 6 ° C instead of 0.5 ° C like most imported flowers . They ’re only stored for a distich of years before they ’re with the customer , so they ’re a mickle fresher than prime from the other side of the existence . Most importantly , all the stems are harvest at the ‘ right big avoirdupois bud ' microscope stage , yield a bigger , more vibrant peak , as Ben does n’t need to occupy about how many he can compact into sauceboat and plane .
What ’s been good about being a fellow member of the FFTF internet?I only link FFTF in May this year but it ’s been majuscule to speak to so many growers already and I ’m looking forwards to my first confluence and to host my realm ’s gathering in January 2019 . It ’s been awesome to see so many FFTF members spreading the British blossom know , and it was especially gravid to see them advance Gold at Chelsea .
Is there anything you ’d like to see FFTF doing in the future?I hope that all British agriculturist , whether growing on a large or small scale , keep working together to produce sentience and educate the populace about where our flowers come from . We need to encourage flower store and the public to support British grown flower as much as potential .
What are your hopes for your business next year?To keep spreading the countersign about British flowers . I ’m already booked for over 50 talks and term of enlistment of the greenhouse ; I ’ll be going into floristry schools and college as well as carrying out apprentice scheme with horticultural colleges .
Source : Flowers from the Farm ( Rebecca Sant )
