Where's all the daffodils? Brexit?

[lurchersforlife]

At this time of year supermarkets usually have bunches of daffs on sale for £1, which is a cheap way to cheer up the house at this cold and generally shitty time of year. This year I've managed to get one bunch. Most places just don't seem to have them - not even empty boxes, just no sign of them at all. Yesterday in Lidl there were 2 bunches left in the box but already in bloom and wilting so I didn't bother.

Anyone know why? Is it the same factors that have affected the salad stuff? Or are they grown here and can't get picked? Either way it's fucking Brexit isn't it?

They are in M&S and Waitrose having a party with all the tomatoes and cucumbers where I live

Plenty here in West Lancs too.

Yes, because we have to eat and I like salad.

Slightly off-topic but the letters in daffodils once rearranged spell -

A dildo ffs

Maybe this has something to do with it?

Loads of daffodils in Lidl and Waitrose in our town. 🤷🏻

Loads here (and in my garden).

@Cupcakequeen75

Yeah, but SO WEIRD!! That's why I wondered if they'd planted bunches (together in string) of flowering bulbs.

planting cut flowers is bloody odd & will only last a day or so with nothing to physically support then and no root system to hydrate.

beyond odd 🐸

So what exactly do you think should be done about climate change then? Seems you'd like to make it worse for the sake of a tasteless winter tomato.

Loads here in Surrey. I love daffs, don't often buy flowers, but often buy daffs, had 2 bunches already.

Loads in M & S the Co op and Tesco.

I think the ones grown in the open air are a bit slow in blooming this year, bad weather in Spain.... & so many bulbs are older now and quite frankly, many have retired early, we need to get them back flowering, also, far fewer flowers from EU are willing to come here like they used too, delays at the border and new visa requirements.

We knew what we were voting for.

Who do you think picks the bunches? It's not the British, I can tell you that.

I'm also in west Cornwall, plenty in the fields but nobody to pick them. Of course it's Brexit, as someone pointed out upthread. Very few farmers still grow daffs on the IoS because it's simply not worth their while and it's even more difficult to get pickers. I think there's maybe one or two farms still growing.

I'm in NEMids near Sheffield and there's been plenty here.

They don't need subsidising, they need buyers and therefore consumers to pay more for them. In the UK we have underpaid for our food for so long, we are completely disassociated from the actual costs of food production. We are now seeing a re-alignment. If you want to support UK farmers, you are going to have to pay more.

Picked some up yesterday's in Sainsburys. I'm in south London and there were 3 full boxes to choose from.

Been buying them weeks. 4 bunches a week from
Sainsbury
Tesco
Asda
Lidl
Depending where i am at the time

I'm in the North West and we had loads in our Morrisons, bunches and small pots.
They had a whole trolley filled with the small pots reduced to 10p and they had another trolley with pots of hyacinths reduced to 30p.

I managed to get 10 pots of the daffodils and 2 hyacinths. Yes, they needed a bit of love, attention, cutting back and a good water but right now they have created a wonderful display in my bedroom window that I wake up to.

Once they start to naturally die back I will be planting them in my front garden ready for next year.

What annoys me is that if the staff had simply spent 5 mins cutting out the dead flowers then they could have carried on selling them for full price. But Morrisons lost is definitely mine and my gardens gain.

Last year I brought 2 reduced cheese plants that had been reduced from £10 to a £1. Once again I took them home and brought them back to life and last week I had to separate and repot them - I am now the proud owner of 8 cheese plants!!

I work in this field (sorry, couldn't resist the pun). To start with, UK grown daffs were slow to grow this year after the cold spell before Christmas but now the temps are up a bit, the industry is actually inundated. And there is definitely enough labour this year! It is well paid work if you are fit enough and for most of the season no competition from other crops.

No need to import daffs. The earlier daffs tend to be Cornish, then East Mids, then Scottish (following the climate). But this year they were slow to grow enough (see my other post).

Conscious that I am now a daffodil bore 🙈

@Welliesandpyjamas

well, you've now upset all the anti brexit mob, whining their usual tune

I hope everything goes well for you with whatever comes next after daffodils!

@WinterMusings 😂

well, either way, I'm not here for the politics. I can happily share what it has been like to use 'foreign labour' for cropping both before and after Brexit. And also what it's like to export. If anyone is intetested, obvs. I'd say it'd be boring reading though, as it isn't half as dramatic as the media portray it or as the occasional growers always the same ones like to present it.

Daffodils grown here in the southwest have been in Sainsbury's and Lidl for at least a month, and at the gates of growers. All £1 a bunch. Sent a relation Scilly-grown narcissi in early January.

They do need subsidising. The majority of people are really up against it and aren’t going to buying British anything if they have a twice as cheap alternative. They are literally just trying to go week to week and feed their families best they can. Sure you might splash out for the free range chicken and the red lion eggs, but unlikely for a tomato.

And I do think it’s something worth subsidising. It’s not just subsidising food, which is maybe why you think it’s not ok. It’s subsidising farmers to look after our countryside and our habitat, our culture, a traditional way of life for future generations. I am not upset about my taxes going towards that.

Been in our local Tesco since Feb 5th. £1 a bunch, as normal.

you can look at my tete a tete to cheer you up