INTERVIEW WITH MANDY REID IN TENTERFIELD, AUSTRALIA_

Who do you deliver your flowers to?

“We travel to Bangalow, Byron Bay, Currumbin and the Gold Coast Flower Market. We also travel to Brisbane, as we have our seven florists we sell to there. We do that once a week with the van. We’ve set up the van so it has air conditioner and two levels. The kids (schnauzers) have a little bed there too. We do it all together because it’s about fourteen hours all up. We sell mostly dahlias, tulips, ranunculus, roses, bearded irises and hellebores. We have about 350 roses. Florists can only really get hellebores elsewhere from Victoria and by the time they get them they’re a little bit sad. So as you can see there’s no shortage of hellebores here. I did a pick the other day and I got 600 for the florists. They don’t repeat flower but I leave some of the flowers on them. What you should really do is wait until all their stamens have dropped. But if you splice them with a Stanley knife they last for ages and ages in the vase.”

It must be so inspiring for people to visit you here at White Cottage Flower Farm. Especially those that may not be necessarily leading a creative life but feel there’s something in them that just wants to be creatively expressed somehow, but maybe don’t know what that looks like yet?

“I really believe that all women have a creative side. I think we all have something we can be strongly passionate about, and it’s something that we can create. Some women can go through their whole life and not find it, but often it’s just about giving something a go. It might be pressing flowers, it might be baking. I think the passion that I have for antiques and gardening makes people visiting passionate about it as well. I mean, when you’re talking about your passion it’s infectious. I can talk about flowers and gardening all day! I think it’s been good for lots of people to come here because they always walk away happy and think - wow that’s just fantastic, look at her and look at what’s she’s done. I can achieve that. I can do that too.”

What are some big life lessons you’ve learned from the garden?

“Just keep trying. Get out of bed with intention - that’s what I say. I’m 65 and my husband turns 65 this month. We’re never bored, we get out of bed and say ‘right what are we doing today?’ It’s like life, you’ve got to be like that, two feet on the ground, lucky that you got to this age and think, this is it, we’ve got to keep going, no matter what. The older you get the more melancholy days you have because you lose people. Once you’re out in the garden and your hands are in the dirt though it all fades away. Whereas I know a lot of people my age, they think, I’m too old, I can’t do anything. That’s rubbish, you’ve got to get up and say ‘well this is what I’m going to do today’. And you feel good about yourself. In the afternoon we normally have a break. We have a lunch break for an hour, get a bit of a rest in and then we’re good to go for another three or four hours.”

There’s so much to look forward to in the garden isn’t there?

“Because we love our seasons so much living here in Tenterfield, you’re just about sick of winter by the end of it and you’re really looking forward to spring. But then come around to autumn or winter and you’re looking forward to those seasons again. It’s really nice, it gives hope as well. It’s really good for the soul.”

How have people mostly found you?

“Instagram is probably my main point of sale. All the florists come to me through my photos on Instagram. I just find it a great social platform. I really love it. There’s no nastiness for me on there. I get lots of people who travel from Sydney and stop on their way to Brisbane. I’ve made it appointment only because I just want people here who love what I do. Appointments make it feel more intimate which is really nice and people love it that way.”

Tell me a little about your growing style?

“We have laid a lot of weed mat, because I’m just over wedding, and Hamish fashioned a gas weed burner and put a spaghetti can on the end of it and burned holes on the grid. That’s where we planted them, in the holes. I got my ranunculus corms from Van Diemen Quality Bulbs and planted them in the nursery and grew them on down there in the shop. We plant ranunculus densely so they’re looking for the sun. It’s nice to have a point of difference, like growing hellebores and bearded irises.”

What are some takeaways for people who are just starting out on their growing journeys? What are some big lessons you’ve learned in the garden?

“Probably always look at soil first, make sure your soil is good. You’re spending a lot of money on plants and they’re expensive, so if your soil’s not good you need to start there first because they’re not going to do well otherwise. Also look at the positioning of your plants, where the sun is coming up and down, how long they’re in the sun, that really is important. I did a lot of wasting of money on plants and really not taking notice of where they should be planted. And you’ve got to be feeding your soil. It’s the same as when you’re feed yourself and how you react that day. Because if you have something pretty horrible you’re not going to feel good all day. And it’s the same for plants, it’s eating in the soil so it needs to have good soil.

I’ve always fed my garden on lucerne. Never anything else. If you’re spending that much money on plants, like I buy a couple of plants a week, put the extra money that you’re not buying one plant with with a bag of lucerne. Because lucerne will go into the soil, it feeds the soil, it breaks down to soil. I’ve done experiments with love grass on one pile of dirt and lucerne on the other and it’s an amazing difference. Because the love grass that they use around here as a mulch, it just breaks down and disappears into the air. Whereas when I lifted the lucerne it was wet underneath and there were worms. Just put it on top. The worms will come up and eat the lucerne and turn it into soil after months and months. I can’t tell you how good it is. That is the best advice I can give.”