We’re excited to introduce Emily Arnold, the creative mind behind Turntable Hill, a local flower farm that’s recently started supplying us with beautiful, freshly picked flowers. From Icelandic poppies to snapdragons and Italian ranunculus, her stunning flowers are now available in our tea shop in Te Puna, Tauranga.

We took a trip out to Turntable Hill, where Emily gave us a tour, with her dog Ollie happily leading the way. She shared more about her journey, love for flowers, and what inspires her every day.

 
Hi Emily! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself please?

I grew up on a lifestyle block on Turntable Hill - about halfway between Katikati and Tauranga. I’ve always loved the outdoors and count myself pretty lucky to have had parents who wanted to take us camping, tramping and sailing as much as they could - hobbies that I still enjoy now. These days I live in Tauranga with my dog Ollie. When Ols and I aren’t out adventuring I can be found cooking for friends or pottering away on various creative projects. 

What inspired you to start growing flowers and sell them?

My flower farming journey started in January 2022 with a passing comment I made to my mum about how much I like dahlias and would like to give growing them a go. Mum loves to shop online and doesn’t need much more than a passing comment to inspire her. She ended up getting so engrossed in the gardening section on TradeMe she bought 100 dahlia tubers and then realised she had no garden space. Fortunately Dad had room in his potato patch at my childhood home on Turntable Hill (hence the name of our farm) and gave me a hand getting all the tubers in. 

It was great fun watching them all grow and bloom. I was headed off overseas and my boyfriend at the time and I decided to sell a few blooms on instagram to make a few extra dollars, and it all kind of kicked off from there. By the end of the season we’d had a few florist orders and supplied flowers for a wedding, and I was hooked. While travelling, I ended up working part of the summer season on a flower farm on Vancouver Island in Canada where I picked up some more skills to apply to our garden at home. Since getting home the business has grown with very little effort (aside from the weeding and digging and manual labour aspect) so I am excited to see where this journey will take me.

We adore the freshly picked bunches you drop off to the tea shop - I’ve become particularly fond of the Icelandic poppies. What’s your approach to growing different flower varieties?

Ahh, the Icelandic poppies! I could never have predicted how much people would love them. For the most part, we keep our growing practices pretty simple - sun, soil, water and the occasional top up of compost or seaweed fertiliser. We have yearly soil tests and add extra nutrients as required - but I will say we are lucky as we had excellent soil to begin with. That being said, different flowers require different levels of care - snapdragons for example need support netting to keep them from being flattened by the wind, and some varieties can be particularly prone to diseases. We try to nip any flare ups of disease in the bud (no pun intended) and use good bugs and beneficial bacteria where we need to to keep our pest pressure at a minimum. 

I imagine growing flowers can be quite seasonal. How do you manage this through the year?

This is a skill I haven’t mastered yet. Ideally I would be sowing seeds every month to have a consistent supply of flowers coming on in our garden but I haven’t had the bed space or really even the time this year to keep on top of our plantings. I’ve got a better plan coming into next year and I think my succession planting and crop management will get better with time and practice.

What has been the most rewarding part of running Turntable Hill Farm?

Our business philosophy has always been to grow beautiful flowers for everyday enjoyment. I often get photos of some of our loyal customers enjoying their cups of tea on a saturday morning, chatting and watching the poppies as they shed their furry outers and slowly unfurl their petals. For me that is the most rewarding part - seeing our flowers enjoyed with friends and family, alongside good food and conversation. 

Lastly, I love asking this question: If you could have a cup of tea with anyone, who would it be and why?

Alison Roman! I feel like I should put someone flower related down but really I would love to meet Alison Roman. I have all her cookbooks and they are some of the few cookbooks I own that I actually cook out of (most of them I just read from time to time and put back on the shelf). I love her style of cooking and hosting - simple but effective and also delicious.

Thanks Emily! 


You can shop Emily's locally grown flowers at the Tea Shop (7 Clarke Road, Te Puna, Tauranga)

Follow Turntable Hill Farm here