Growing Buxus English Box

I grow my freesias in the greenhouse which means I have an empty shadehouse year round so this season with the help of a friend it was decided to diversify and offer cheap plants of all sorts  at a cheaper rate  by selling them as smaller plants either bare rooted or fitting into a small pot.

Most of the cuttings have come from the many plants I have but I must admit visiting friends has now taken on a new dimension and I usually come away with a bag of plant material as well.

I started with the hedging Buxus English Box and as I have a couple of these plants I had plenty of cuttings. I cut pieces about 20 cm each in length and stripped off all but the top leaves then dipped the ends of the plants in a rooting hormone.

I filled some growing trays with sand which we have in abundance on the banks of the stream at the back of our property. the Buxus were then put into the sand and I can fit approximately 500 cuttings per tray.

I removed a row of freesia bulbs last season as I had to many so the trays of cuttings were put on this bed and an automatic misting system was set up.

The mister is set to operate for a minute over 7 times in a day and it depends where in the season we are as to what time slots are set up .

When the cuttings developed a rooting system they were then planted out into beds in the shadehouse to continue growing until sold.

I am selling them  on the local trademe auction site and am now just starting cuttings for the next season

Brenda Baker

Thirty- forty years ago it was quite normal for the wife to stay at home, be the main childcare support, look after the house and in doing so provide a happy loving environment for the family unit. The man of the house provided the earnings and it was quite possible to live comfortably on this one wage.

This is certainly not the case today.We live in a more materialistic society and certainly want more from life than being a stay at home mum. Woman are encouraged to get qualifications and compete in the business world more than ever before and they are doing this very successfully.

There are two points of view as to whether children are better off being in day care or having nannies rather than having a full time parent being the main child care . Its a very contentious issue and certainly offers some robust debate on what is the best for your children.

We all want the new car ,overseas holidays and the latest gadgets we see advertised but the trick is finding ways to get these without compromising our family values.

The Internet has provided opportunities never imagined so now making it possible to have the best of both worlds if you choose to stay at home with the children.

Being your own boss means you can work flexible hours and make business decisions but it also has a downside where you are accountable for those decisions and may have to suffer consequences if you make a mistake. If, however you are ready for the good and bad then a home business may be a great idea.

No business will succeed without passion and this means you have to be prepared to devote time and effort for probably little reward for a period of time.

Many people tend to think of working from home as something that can utilize domestic skills or online capabilities. There is certainly a lot of home business that subscribe to this but more and more online business is being set up that require highly specialised or technical skills and  creative abilities.

Working from home may require less in terms of capital but that doesn’t necessarily make it a risk - free investment. You may eventually have to make some tough choices which may directly affect your way of living, whether this be a short term or long term choice. These choices can be exciting and scary at the same time, but the challenge can also provide the drive to make a home business a success.

I was already operating my freesia  flower business offline so taking the step to bring information about growing freesias online was an extension of what I was doing. This can be done with any offline business with a bit of lateral thinking.

Brenda Baker

Livinrural Marketing

The freesias were very late flowering this year and as we have had a very warm spring many of the flowers all flowered at the same time giving a shorter season.

I must admit the greenhouse did look beautiful with an abundance of flowers but as most of the florists in New Zealand will tell you the economy has had a flow on effect and it means a lot less flowers have been purchased.

Unfornately flowers are at the bottom of the chain for household expenses so I certainly didnt sell as manyu as I should of but I will now nurse the bulbs along and hopefully have a better season with selling the excess bulbs.

Brenda Baker  Livinrural

I have a lot less bulbs this season as I really thinned the trays out at the start of the season and it seems to be paying off as there is less competition for nutrients etc  for each plant.

The season is very short this year as the low light meant  the first blooms didnt appear until the second week in September instead of the middle of August and now that the spring temperatures are getting warmer the freesias are flowering rather quickly.

The first few flowers had some boytritis but i got on top of that quickly and I dont see any sign of that any more.

I should have enough flowers to sell until the end of this month then I will shut off the water supply to encourage die down

Brenda

Flowering at last

What a bad start to the flowering season it has been . We have had almost continual rain for the last month, hence lack of sunshine hours. I cannot remember a season where the end of winter is so wet  and the ground so sodden. It sure makes working out side very unpleasant

We have had sunshine the last three days and I hope we have a few more days before more rain appears. I have managed to get hay fed out to the cows today without the tractor slipping and sliding everywhere in the mud so not only do the paddocks have to dry out but the damage the tractor wheels have made will have to be repaired at some time.

I am normally supplying the florists the beginning of August but up until this week I haven’t had anything at all. I have managed to pick six flowers the last two days  certainly  not enough for selling but I guess its a start.

The white/cream freesias are always the first to flower and looking across the beds of flowers within the next two weeks I should have a variety of colours ready so I don’t expect to be in selling mode for at least two more weeks putting me a total of six weeks behind.

A shorter season will be the result of flowering late as I will still have to  think about  next years growth and the schedule I follow.

Brenda