Grow a cut flower garden without needing much space – simply add long and narrow beds to your existing garden.
When planning a cut flower bed, choose flowers that have long vase lives and offer an assortment of colors and shapes. Make sure to include fragrant blooms that dry well as filler flowers.
Location
For optimal cut flower gardening results, find a spot with plenty of sunlight that is easy to plant, weed and harvest from. That way you’ll keep blooms coming throughout the season!
Cut flower patches or integration of cut flowers into existing landscape plans can both provide beautiful solutions. When planning for separate planting areas, keep color and height variations in mind for an eye-pleasing display of blooms. It is wise to distinguish plants that require staking (dahlias) from those which require fencing (sweet peas) or benefit from netting (snapdragons).
Before beginning, do your research and consider adding late winter and early spring blooming bulbs such as tulips or narcissi to extend the picking season. By planning carefully, you can create stunning bouquets to bring life and brightness to any home – from vibrant jam jar posies to soft organic displays featuring wispy grasses – creating show-stopping bouquets is never more accessible!
Soil
As soon as you start planning a cut flower garden, begin by finding an area in full sunlight that receives no shade at all. Full sun exposure will significantly improve a crop’s health and longevity; many cut flowers also need rich, well-draining soil; adding compost annually can further improve these conditions and enhance its nutritional availability.
As soon as your beds have been designed, the next step should be laying out your design if desired. This makes weeding, staking, and harvesting much simpler. Check plant tags or seed packets to determine ideal spacing between species; some annual flowers, like zinnias and sunflowers may need additional support in the form of trellises or stakes to prevent them from flopping over.
If you include bulbs in your cutting gardens, plan to incorporate early, mid and late blooming cultivars to extend the picking season and incorporate both perennials and annuals for color, height and texture – using both together can significantly decrease labor requirements for upkeep of cutting gardens.
Water
Cut flowers rely on regular access to water and nutrients in order to thrive; for maximum longevity it’s essential that they can easily access their flowerbeds for watering, weeding, harvesting and more. By doing this, weeding, watering and harvesting become much simpler tasks.
Attentive soil drainage is also crucial. One effective way of doing this is through adding organic material to the planting bed on an annual basis, helping ensure it remains nutrient rich and free from weeds.
Consider planting an assortment of cutting perennials and annuals in your garden, providing an array of colors, heights, textures and blooms for bouquets. Incorporating plants that produce foliage as this will further add depth and dimension to your arrangements.
Pruning
Cut flower gardens offer an ideal way to bring vibrant hues into any room or give as gifts, with proper planning making it simple even for novice gardeners to grow and create showstopping bouquets.
To make harvesting and arranging flowers as straightforward as possible, a cutting garden should be easy to access and weed-free. For optimal harvesting and arrangement of flowers, this means keeping it in an accessible shape such as wide planting beds or rows with garden paths running between rows allowing access to plants without accidentally trampling others or picking flowers up in their way.
Plan your garden by grouping plants that share similar growing conditions and flowering times together, in order to give each its needs while preventing it from being overshadowed by those with differing requirements. When plants begin to fade, replace them with something fresh so your garden remains beautiful throughout its seasons.