CoirProducts.co.uk Featured Grower this week is Nicole (@nicoleatcherrygarden). In this blog post, Nicole talks to us about how she started gardening, her love for dahlias and other flowers, and some of the most valuable lessons she has learnt over the years. She also shared with us Let’s Grow, Girl’s podcast. She also reminds us that there is no time like the present to grow from seeds, and while some things might not work out, how important it is to find what we love to grow and keep learning from our experiences. 

Nicole started gardening about five years ago. Recalling how she got into gardening, Nicole says, “I had seen a café au lait dahlia on Instagram and desperately wanted one, so I called my local florist and asked if they had any in stock. She explained how delicate they were, especially that variety, and if I wanted to have one, then I should think about growing my own. So I did! And I’ve never looked back and grown more and more dahlias every year since, as well as a whole bunch of other stuff.”

Nicole mostly grows on an allotment plot, and she explains how she has come to learn so much, especially in terms of planning her allotment space, over the past five years. “When I first started I had no idea about laying things out to make the best use of space or what things like to go near each other. I just put everything in wherever it grew. Since taking over my new bigger part I have become a lot more methodical about having rows and beds and trying to keep things that go together in the same area. So for example I keep all the dahlias together and I like to organise them in colour and size order. And then I’ve got a dedicated veg area there too.”