Lotts and Lots | Creating a cut flower garden - Where to begin? % (2024)

It’s the time of year when the longing for cut flowers really kicks in. The earth is bare and full of windblown stems, leaves and flowerpots. A summer garden bursting with colourful flowers feels a distant dream. However, now is the time to start planning a cut flower garden for the year ahead.

When planning a cutting garden it can be hard to know where to begin. You can read all the books, watch every episode of Gardeners’ World – those are the fun and easy bits. The hardest step of any project is the first and I want to hold your hand and take you through getting set up and your flowers growing this summer.

First, pop the kettle on and grab yourself a drink as we are heading outside (unless you are reading this at night!). Give yourself time to walk and really explore your growing space. Where could be a good spot for a dedicated cutting bed? Are (ugly) shrubs taking up valuable space? Where gets the most light? Make notes and come back inside.

A growing space doesn’t have to be large – it could be a collection of pots gathered together or a dedicated area in an existing bed. A growing space needs to be flexible and accessible.

When I truly started growing cut flowers I used an old luggage chest and small raised bed. From that tiny space was rewarded with flowers all summer long. As I always say, use what you’ve got and make it beautiful. You want a space that gets plenty of light, ideally away from a fence and somewhere you can walk all the way around. Once you get confident. you can always move the bed or expand.

What you want to work out at this stage is your intention for growing, your “why?”. When I began, my first aim was to see if I could get anything to flower. Once I realised I could, my goal was to have fresh flowers on my mantle from the first Daffodil to the last Dahlia. And then things escalated..!

Take a look at your year and see when you’ll be wanting/needing flowers. Is there a special celebration coming up that you’d like to add flowers too? Or perhaps you don’t work Fridays and want to carve out time to potter and play? Once you have that established, look for annuals that’ll flower during that particular month or ones that are cut and come again annuals like sweet Cornflowers or blousy Cosmos. Use those requirements as the cornerstone to planning your flower harvest.

A good but strange habit, is to sniff the air everyday. When the garden is in deep winter slumber the air smells crisp and clear as the months move on it becomes sweeter. Tune into this as you watch seedlings sprout in the bare earth. This will tell you when it’s time to get planting. Whilst you’re sniffing, take a moment to listen, bird song is another indicator of planting time. Gardening and growing is really about tuning into your five senses, the quieter you are the easier it becomes to read the earth.

I went wordier than planned in this post. Here’s an easy guide to setting up a cut flower patch.

Take a look at your space – find somewhere light and bright.

Make a bed – either by clearing a space in an existing space or creating somewhere. If I was starting out I’d be really tempted to use these planters or these pots. This Creating a Cutting Garden post shares how I made all my flower beds.

Fill with a standard multi purpose compost (available in all garden centres/DIY stores)

Choose your seeds – This post will give you a brief guide.

Once spring arrives you’ll be ready to get started with the seed sowing.

I’ll be starting my seed sowing towards the end of the month. Find me on Instagram @Lottsandlots where I share the garden on a regular basis.