Betsy and Cathy suggest adding compost or leaf mold to the soil prior to planting your cut flower garden and using raised beds so excess water drains away from its roots and into drainage channels.
Annual flowers make wonderful additions to a cutting garden as they quickly bloom with staggered planting for maximum impact and provide an array of vibrant colors, shapes and sizes that help create stunning floral arrangements.
Planting Season
Cutting gardens provide a fun and productive way to explore a range of flowers. To facilitate picking and maintenance, select perennials which return year after year as well as annuals that can be easily replaced each spring.
Plan your garden on paper by drawing up a crop plan that takes into account various flower varieties, bloom times and growth rates. To facilitate harvesting more easily, plant in wide rows so you won’t have to reach as far for stems.
Focusing on organic matter to improve soil texture and water retention – crucial aspects for cut flowers grown in challenging clay soils – is particularly helpful. Pinching may also encourage some plants, like zinnias and celosia, to branch out more and produce longer stems.
Soil Preparation
Cut flower gardens differ from garden beds and borders in that their purpose is solely to produce blooms for interior use. Although creating one isn’t difficult, proper planning and preparation are key to its success.
Start by choosing a site that receives ample sunlight and boasts deep, rich soil that drains freely. A raised bed allows for easier maintenance and more control over watering needs.
Consider including both annuals that won’t return the next year as well as perennials (larkspur, peonies and yarrows), plus cut-and-come-again varieties like cosmos and zinnias with cut-and-come-back blooms to provide constant summer blooms. Arrange plants accordingly by like types and keep in mind which require staking such as dahlias while others such as snapdragons and sweet peas can benefit from grow-through netting; ensure there are enough pathways between rows so access can easily be provided to any area that needs it for easy gardening activities!
Watering
Cut flower gardens can make an easy addition to any landscape, but when choosing its location it’s essential that care is taken in selecting its site. Plants require full sun to flourish so check seed packages to see how much illumination each variety requires.
Beds should be easily accessible so it’s simple to harvest flowers for arrangements. Consider whether tall plants, such as zinnias and sunflowers, require stakes. Climbing plants such as nasturtiums or sweet peas may require additional support with either netting or trellises as they grow larger.
Successive planting is the key to ensuring an uninterrupted supply of blooms in any garden, and sowing seeds every two or three weeks ensures this. To further boost flower production, add liquid organic flower fertilizer or compost when planting as well as every two or three weeks during the growing season.
Fertilizing
Cut flower gardens are great projects for both newcomers and experienced growers. When starting out, beginners may wish to focus on easy-care annual flowers like zinnias and sunflowers while experienced gardeners can experiment with various annuals and perennials. If space is an issue, raised beds offer cleaner environments that are easier to manage.
Since most annual plants bloom only once, it’s important to choose varieties that bloom throughout the season. Pinch back the tips of many annuals such as zinnias and celosia to encourage branching out and longer stems; you could even collect seed at the end of each year to reseed next season! Additionally, certain flower types provide nectar or pollen, drawing beneficial insects like bees to your garden.
Harvesting
Planting both perennials and annual flowers together is the ideal way to ensure blooms for your cut flower garden year after year. Select varieties with varied bloom times and heights for the most productive combination, and aim for even spacing and straight rows when selecting plants to access easily – this makes accessing plants simpler when carrying buckets of water or baskets full of harvested stems than trying to navigate a patchwork of plants and branches!
For optimal results, plant taller flowers like sunflowers in the back, with smaller ones like zinnias in the middle and shorter-stature plants like sweet peas in front. Some vineing nasturtiums may require additional support via netting or trellis structures.