An indoor cut flower garden can be an extremely rewarding experience. These blooms can be used in various floral arrangements and arrangements; just make sure that they’re planted in an ideal location!
Choose a sunny site that is accessible for planting, watering and weeding purposes. Consider adding organic mulch as it helps regulate soil temperature while suppressing weed growth.
Plan Your Plot
Growing flowers at home is an eco-friendly alternative to buying them at a store, allowing you to have greater control over the quality of bouquets you create. But before planting any seeds or bulbs, consider first how much room there is available and which flowers would make the best cutting garden plants.
Select a convenient location as you will need easy access to the plants for pruning and picking. If possible, plant cutting flowers in rows rather than clusters – this makes weeding and picking easier while helping ensure good stem length.
If your gardening space is limited, another solution for growing cut flowers would be growing them among existing garden borders or raised beds. Just ensure to space each one evenly so you’ll have enough for cutting when its time.
Decide on a Soil Preparation
Cut flower gardens require rich, well-draining soil. It is wise to have your soil tested, adding organic matter if necessary for the best conditions for growing cut flowers. Raised beds can provide additional control over depth and quality of soil composition in raised beds.
Keep in mind that most plants in a cutting garden have long stems, so they need plenty of room to thrive. Group plants according to their sun exposure (six hours minimum recommended) and height so as to prevent short plants from being overshadowed by larger ones.
If you plan on planting cut flowers from seed, succession growing can be used to your advantage. Most seed packets should contain an instructional chart showing when each type of seed should be started.
Choose Your Plants
Choose flowers for your cut flower garden can be both enjoyable and rewarding. Start by perusing seed catalogs or visiting nearby nurseries for easy-care varieties that you like the look of.
Some plants, like tall zinnias and sunflowers, require stakes or netting to prevent their tops from flopping over. Annuals such as sweet peas or climbing nasturtiums that grow on vineing plants require additional support in the form of trellises or another form.
When selecting plants, take note of their heights and growing conditions as well as their color and length of stem when cutting. Be sure to add fillers that add height, volume and wispiness for an appealing bouquet arrangement.
Create a Layout
If you want to experience the fresh scent of sweet peas or colorful roses year-after-year, creating a cutting garden is a wonderful way to do just that. Cutting gardens differ from regular flower beds in that their main goal is producing blooms for bouquets and arrangements rather than simply being ornamental spaces for blooms to grow in.
As Dani of Summer Skye Gardens in Spring, Texas demonstrates, you can build a cutting garden anywhere – be it traditional garden beds or dedicated areas. When designing your cutting garden, be sure to incorporate plants with long stems that make harvesting simple. Plan the space so all flowers can easily be reached for cutting purposes. Learn more about creating one from Dani who holds Gardenary Certification from Gardenary International!
Water
Cut flower gardens require more attention than your average garden. Most flowers can be easily grown, while certain species require additional steps like staking (dahlias) or fence support (sweet peas). Some require special consideration such as netting (snapdragons).
Sunflowers require a tall and sturdy structure and should be deadheaded regularly using clean pruning shears or snips, cutting stems at an angled cut for increased surface area and water uptake.
Many flowers benefit from an annual application of well-rotted compost or slow-release organic fertilizer at planting time, and throughout the growing season. Mulching should also be implemented to deter weeds while helping retain soil moisture – for quick, low-cost mulch, try shredded leaves or straw; when decomposition begins to take effect, replenish it as necessary with new material to ensure weed-free blooms.