How to Plant Your Very Own Cutting Garden

4 Materials
$25
2 Hours
Easy

Wouldn't it be awesome to have fresh cut flowers that you grew yourself? It's totally doable even for a non-gardener. Follow along and I'll give you the easy steps for planning and planting your very own cutting garden.

Don't freak out! I'm a gardening nerd and when I can't be in the garden, I do things like plan my next gardening project on paper. Still, it's best to have a plan whether it's drawn out on paper or in your head.


Here are some things to consider when planning out your cutting garden:



  • Pick out a spot in your yard that gets full sun.
  • When you're planning out your cutting garden, pay attention to the way the sun hits the bed at certain times of the day, so your tallest flowers don't shade your shorter flowers.


You will see in my pictures, I'm using a raised bed for my cutting flowers. You really don't need a raised bed to have a cutting garden, any sunny space in your yard or garden will do. If you need help figuring out how to prepare your cutting garden for planting, when you've finished up here, pop over to the blog and read the article: Flower Gardening 101.

Now that you have a plan in mind, the next thing you'll want to do is gather some supplies.


I have lots of perennials flowers in my other flower gardens, so for this cutting garden, I'm using annual flowers. Keep in mind, you want to choose flowers that are over 2 feet tall. The flowers I'm using in my cutting garden are:



  • Zinnias
  • Cosmos
  • Marigolds
  • Snapdragons
  • Lysianthus
  • Sunflowers (shorter varieties designed for cutting)


It's important to note that I'm using bedding plants, but if you need to go frugal, you can totally use seeds. Just follow the directions on your seed packet for planting information including height.

Now it's time to plant. Simply dig a hole. Next, I like to mix in a bit of Osmocote, which is a slow release fertilizer into the soil. Next, plop your plant in the hole, fill the soil in around the plant and gently tamp the soil down. Again, if you're planting seeds, just following the instructions on the seed packet.

Here's my little cutting garden all planted. If you aren't getting rain, be sure to water your plants a few times a week according to the temperatures in your area. In about a month, I'll be cutting flowers from this garden.

As a result of your minimal time investment and money, you'll be rewarded with lots of beautiful bouquets for your home. The cool thing about cutting flowers is when you cut flowers off a plant, it just goes crazy and produces more.


For a complete tutorial and a printable list of the Perfect Flowers for a Cutting Garden, be sure to check out: How to Grow a Cutting Garden.

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Joanna - Gingham Gardens
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Frequently asked questions
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  2 questions
  • Zee Zee on May 22, 2019

    What size is your designed bed? Also, Cosmos can get over 5ft tall, will sway over & need staking

  • River River on Jun 30, 2019

    Hi Joanna, you're welcome! Teddy Bear Sunflowers are really cool! I'm not sure this a word but I love the way they look "poofy"! Kind of like a Dandelion but a lot prettier! Do you have any photos of cutting garden? If you had it on hometalk, I missed it but would love to see them!

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 5 comments
  • Shelli Shelli on May 22, 2019

    Great idea. I sketch projects and ideas too. Love the color coding idea

  • River River on May 23, 2019

    These are beautiful! I really like snap dragons, I think they are just too cool! I was wondering about the sunflowers when I looked at your diagram then I saw where you use shorter varieties, sunflowers are really cool too! Very beautiful flowers, great job, thank you for sharing!

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