Growing a cut flower garden doesn’t need to be complex or time-consuming. Simply incorporate blooms for cutting into existing perennial and vegetable beds for easy success.
Select long linear beds that provide easy access to the flowers when they’re ready to be harvested, and always ensure you have clean pails, vases and cutting tools on hand as bacteria can quickly clog stems.
Sunlight
Full sun is ideal for growing cut flowers, but even if your space doesn’t provide it, there are numerous “cuttables” that tolerate partial shade. Also keep accessibility in mind and ensure you can move easily between rows without stepping on or over your plants as well as making sure taller blooms don’t cast too much shade on shorter blooms.
if you have a small garden plot, try staggered plantings of different heights for maximum vertical interest. Also keep clean water handy to rehydrate cut stems quickly after cutting them to reduce the likelihood of them rotting faster, and always use clean shears; dirty tools spread bacteria that leads to faster flower rotting. Finally, allow some flowers to seed so you’ll have future blooms to harvest from.
Soil
A cut flower garden requires an environment free from weeds and grass to allow your flowers to flourish, with well-draining soil rich in organic matter to increase water retention and nutrient availability. For its success, an area must also be free from obstructions like tree roots that inhibit flower growth, as this will allow your gardener to focus solely on creating their blooms.
Build your garden using raised beds for enhanced control over soil quality, or add trellises to support tall blooms and keep them upright.
Make sure to harvest your flowers early in the day when they are most hydrated; this ensures they’ll last longer in a vase. Also remember to deadhead throughout the season by pinching off spent blooms at their base where stem and base meet, which helps plants focus energy on creating more blooms.
Water
Cut flower gardens can make an elegant addition to any yard and are an excellent place for experimentation with growing flowers. Most species require full sunlight and well-draining soil in order to flourish and produce blooms.
Create flower beds so that tall plants are in the back, medium-sized ones in the middle and short flowers at the front, making it easier to access each bloom without accidentally trampling over their surrounding plants. This way, reaching each flower without accidentally treading on any is easier.
Choose an array of easy-to-grow annuals and perennials for your cutting garden, such as hydrangeas and tulips, that provide long-lasting color and texture in bouquets, while annuals provide greater versatility in creating seasonal arrangements. Consider including vines or “spillers” such as sweet peas and climbing nasturtiums to give it added height and variety.
Fertilizer
Cutting flower gardens require regular fertilization with balanced fertilizer applications once every month. A layer of mulch also plays an integral part in maintaining temperature regulation and restricting weed growth.
Ideal gardens should be located in sunny spots with easy access for cutting flowers. Although a dedicated cutting garden may be preferable, you could also create one by planting pollinator-attracting flowers into existing vegetable or ornamental gardens.
Plan the garden by grouping together plants with similar growing conditions and flowering times, making it easier to tend them and provide them with proper care and attention. Deadhead regularly during the season by pinching off finished flowers just below where they meet the stem, encouraging plants to produce longer stemmed blooms while providing seeds from some blooms to replenish your seed supply.
Pruning
Cutting gardens can be subtle additions to your landscape or the highlight of it, depending on their placement and your personal taste. Either way, planting one should take accessibility into account as this will make weeding and harvesting much simpler. Find an area with lots of sun while considering shelter from wind as many cut flowers grow tall enough to be easily knocked over by strong gusts of wind.
Zinnias and sunflowers, for instance, grow on vines that require support such as netting or trellises to stay upright. When planting your cut flower bed, plan to plant vining plants at the back, with shorter varieties in front. Group your annuals according to their cultural needs so as to give each species exactly what it requires without over or under-watering another nearby species.