If you have ever wanted to plant a cutting garden, join me as I give it a shot by trial and error. My five year old nephew has had one for a couple of years now and watching his from afar, I have finally decided it was time for me to stop talking about it and do it. You know how children have no fear… so let’s follow in Solomon’s footsteps and give this a shot!
Fresh bouquets of flowers are so beautiful and I have always thought it would be nice to be able to afford a bouquet from the grocery store each week as a bonus for having to spend part of my weekend in that dreaded place! But the few times that I have tried it, those bouquets started losing petals the moment I released them from their packaging.
So, what’s a better, cheaper, more fun way to get fresh bouquets? Plant a cutting garden!
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Pick out a spot to call your cutting garden
Actually naming this my cutting garden circumvents my biggest problem, which is mentally allowing myself to cut my flowers to bring inside, something I have always struggled with. I never felt like I had enough blooms to justify cutting them and removing them from their natural habitat. Now that I have designated these flowers for this purpose, I have no reason to feel guilty.
I chose a corner of my vegetable garden, but you can choose anywhere that works for you.
Purchase seeds
Because I wanted as many flowers as I can get for my money, I chose to plants seeds. One of the easiest to grow, most colorful and long lasting cut flowers are zinnias. They come in varying heights and sizes, so I purchased six packs of seeds, two of each size.
For your shopping convenience, here is a link to California Giants Zinnias and Zinnia Flower Garden Collection.
Prepare soil
The seed packets will have instructions on the back which I use as a guideline for planting. Basically, you just need to know how deep they should be. Most flower seed are tiny and do NOT need to be planted deeply in the soil. I used my rake to scratch the dirt lightly and rake some of the top soil to the edges.
Sow the seeds
Sprinkle the seeds on top of the ground where you just removed the small amount of soil. Try to space the seeds out and not drop them all in one place. Then rake the small mound of soil that you have pulled to the edge, back on top of the seeds.
Water and wait
You can let the rain naturally water your seeds, or if you are impatient like me, gently water the seeds. You will need to keep the seeds moist until they germinate. So water them probably once daily if it doesn’t rain. They should quickly pop their little green heads out of the ground.
The zinnias were such a success that I plan to expand my options when planting a cutting garden next year and try a wider variety of seeds. I am thinking I want to add some daisies, coneflower, and cosmos at least.
In the meantime, let’s enjoy some zinnia beauty!
Solomon also inspired me to try Growing Pumpkins!
Aaaaiiii, I have the exact same problem. I always have this picture inside my head of an arm full of flowers to put inside the house and it seems wrong to cut just a few blooms. Our rose bushes sometimes give me that arm full but I need to plant a few zinnias. They’re such rewarding little plants and I love their happy colors. I just need to find somewhere that gets loads of sun
Michelle, I think we are kin. And I love that! xxoo
Oh, la, la. What beauties (I will pin it). Congrats on your cutting garden and thanks for hosting Over the Moon #133. So many fun posts and great ideas. Have a marvelous week. Nancy Andres @ http://www.colors4health.com
I had a cutting garden last year. We took a load of seeds, mixed them together, and planted them in raised beds beside our lattice privacy fence. On the first day of August, 2019. We live on the border of zone 8b and 9a in southeast Texas. It was hot and dry then, so I watered the seed beds lightly morning and evening. We were overwhelmed with the amount of flowers! Zinnias in all colors and sizes, cosmos in maroon, pink, lavender, white, and orange, marigolds, and sunflowers. No weeding necessary because there were so many flowers! It looked like a meadow! This year we have made a cottage garden in an expansion of that same area with short white picket fence and wooden arbors for vines. We have clematis on the lattice fence, Queen Ann’s lace, marigolds (French and African),volunteer zinnias and cosmos from last year, lantana in many varieties, twenty rose bushes, one lavender plant (an emperiment – new’Phemononal’ variety), coral vine (arbor), four-o-clocks, hummingbird vine, lonicera, American wisteria, moonflower, daylily, wild ageratum, lemon thyme, and Greek oregano! And many container plants on the front porch.
A lot of work, but worth it. We built a patio in the middle of the cottage garden, and it’s really nice with solar lamps. So much fun!
That sounds FANTASTIC!!! and I’d love to see pictures.