A Year In Thrift: Flower arranging

I do like to have some cut flowers in the house - especially if I’ve just cleaned, I like to add a little crowning glory with some flowers. Bought flowers are a luxury. My cut flower bed on the allotment is not yet established enough to offer very much so for the time being I have to make do with flowers from the garden. My garden is the size of a postage stamp, it really is tiny but in June and July it is full of flowers and so I can have a few indoors.

Here is a clever tip Kirsty Allsop introduced me to. I love Ms Allsop mostly because she has made all the things I love cool and trendy - so, for once in my life, my friends think I am cool.

Here is a clever tip for arranging flowers with short stems such as those you might have in your garden. You need very little skill to do this, flower arranging is not something I have much aptitude for but I can do this.

You will need:

a container (a short vase or shallow container even an oven dish would work)

sellotape

scissors

water

an assortment of flowers from your garden

Take your container and fill it with water. Now run long strips of sellotape across it. Do this horizontally at first, and then vertically to make a grid.

Now, starting with your largest flowers trim the stem to a suitable length and remove any foliage that will be below the water line. Poke the stem of the flower through the grid.

Add more flowers and play around with your arrangement until you have a basic shape you are happy with. Continue to fill the grid until no tape is visible. Don’t forget foliage - I love to use fresh herbs in my arrangements for fragrance.