How to grow your own cut flower patch

Here is a little pic of how my cutting bed in my garden is planned out. As you can see its rammed! If I was to take a photo it would actually be quite difficult to make everything out. Its roughly 3x2 meters and despite its relatively small size it will give me blooms throughout the year, at least until October.

I haven't shown you the bulbs on this picture, but there are 20 different varieties of tulips, 10 daffodils and I plant a few ranunculus in spring, plus every time I buy hyacinths they end up in here! It smells divine and starts flowering from March.

In the summer months I have 5 roses, drifts of cosmos, cornflowers, 5 sweet peas, 2 dahlias, 1 hydrangea, some fennel and I've shown ammi too although that will be going in next year, at the minute I actually have lavender there.

I'm lucky to have quite a nice sized garden with lots of borders, but when we moved in I decided to make one of them just for cutting as I didn't want to be constantly taking blooms out of the main beds. It's amazing what you can do with such a small space! 

Here are my top tips for creating your own cut flower patch:

A little thought and preparation goes a long way, it's worth finding out what kind of soil you have first, you can get kits from most garden centers. You also need to think about how much light your new bed will get, I like to have mostly sun on mine. Also consider raised beds if your soil is poor or if you have limited space, some are available as flat packs and can be put on a balcony.

Next think about the seasons and which flowers you love in them, after all you want your cutting patch to provide you with blooms for the maximum time possible. Mine goes like this Winter- snow drops. Early spring- tulips, anemones, paper whites, bluebells. Early summer- roses, sweet peas, lavender Mid/late summer- roses, sweet peas, lavender, cosmos, fennel, dahlia & hydrangea. Autumn- dahlia, hydrangea & cosmos.

Now that's quite a list and planting things  at the right time is key! Firstly map out where anything potentially big that stays put year after year (roses/hydrangeas) should go, I like to plant roses in a triangle formation to get maximum air around them. Roses are my favourite flower so I also planned my bed around them, after all it may be a cutting bed but it's still in the garden so I wanted a sweeping  natural feel rather than rows.

Next set out your planting schedule from the list of blooms you've drawn up.

Example:

Spring bulbs - plant September/October. 

Roses - plant bare root in November or as a bush in spring/early summer.

Dahlias - start your tubers off (preferably in a green house) March time. I will do a special post on dahlias after Christmas, I know.... But you'll soon get used to thinking ahead!

Cosmos/larkspur/summer seeds - buy seeds from now till next spring, or start collecting them now!

Follow manufacturers sowing instructions. Seeds will often be sown between Feb/June, (again I will post on this in Febuary so don't worry).

Plant out these seedlings after risk of frosts have gone.

Now is the best time to start your cut flower patch and if you suffer like me from SAD there is nothing like gardening and the anticipation of your own blooms to get you through winter.

If you need any help you can chat to me on Instagram or leave a comment here and I'll get back to you.

Emma x