How to Start a Successful Cut Flower Garden

Maybe you’re thinking of starting a cut flower garden for the first time or you need a better start compared to your last garden. Either way, I’m hoping this post will guide you in the right direction with giving you a great start on what will hopefully be a successful garden this year. I’m sharing everything on how I plan, what I take into consideration, how I start my seeds and staying organized so that I enjoy the process.

Pre-Plan Your Garden

The first thing you want to do before you purchase a single seed packet or stick your hands in dirt, is plan! Sometimes we get so excited about the final result, that we dive in before thinking of our garden goals. For example, what type of garden layout would you like this year and the size of it? You can choose from a container garden, patio garden, raised garden bed or directly into the soil of your yard.

You can never start the planning too early! For me, as soon as the new year arrives, I’m already planning. This is key to figure out first because it will determine how many flowers you’ll need to start growing from seeds. Keep in mind, you can start planting your seedlings in the ground after your zone’s last frost so you’ll want to start your seeds early.

Deciding What to Grow

Which brings me to my next point: what do you want to grow? Of course we’d all love to grow anything and everything, but you need to take into consideration the zone you live in and what grows best in that zone. For example, I live in zone 9b (find out yours here). As I’m researching flowers, I’m also looking up to see if they’re compatible with my climate. Still not sure? Head to your local nursery and ask what flowers do best in your zone. You’ll also learn what does and doesn’t do well as you try new things in your cut flower garden year after year.

Once you narrow down what you’d like to grow, it’s time to order seeds! Of course, you can find them at your local home improvement store but you can also order them online. Especially if you’re wanting a specialty flower. Remember to take into consideration the size of your garden and the number of different flowers you’d like to grow.

Starting Your Seedlings

Typically you want to plant your seeds 6 weeks before the last frost for your zone. Why? So when that last frost has come and gone, you can transplant your seedlings directly into the ground. But how exactly do you start your seeds?

For the past few years I’ve used peat pellets that come in a tray. You simply add water, the dirt expands and you add your seeds to each one. It’s a very simple start but one wrong move can cause your seedlings not to grow. It’s so important to look up how to plant each seed. For example, you cover cosmo seeds with a thin layer of dirt but with poppies you don’t want to cover at all. I learned this the hard way last year when my poppies didn’t sprout after covering the seeds with too much dirt.

You’ll drop a few seeds in each pellet to give you the best chance of a seedling to sprout. And for that reason, I always plant at least 5 pellets of each flower. You plant more than what you need because you never know how many seedlings will actually sprout. The seeds may all grow or you might get lucky with only one. Better safe than sorry! You’ll place the lid on your container, leave it in a sunny spot and wait for the sprouts to make a appearance. This will be a post for another day on what to do from there.

Get Organized

This is a sponsored post on behalf of Full Circle but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

My biggest hope throughout this whole process of growing your own cut flower garden is that you’ll enjoy the process. One of the ways you can do this is by staying organized from the start and throughout growing your garden. I do this by using my Ziptuck bags by Full Circle for all my smaller seeds, gardening tools and resources.

For example, my seeds go into the snack-size Ziptuck bag for a couple of reasons. The obvious reason is to keep them all in one spot but with the air tight seal, I know if any seeds spill out they’ll stay in the bag. Plus, it’s a great storage solution because of the air tight seal and keeping the seeds from going bad due to humidity.

I also love to keep my seeds nearby because of the information you can find on the back of the seed packets. It’s hard to keep track of each flower’s needs. Therefore, I can easily find out the amount of sun, days to maturity, plant spacing and when to pinch the seedling by quickly pulling out packet since they’re all organized in the Ziptuck.

As for my larger Ziptuck, I’ve placed a few gardening tools and items that I frequently need. It can be a little frustrating running around my home and garage trying to find these small items. But with this reusable bag, it’s no longer an issue. In it you’ll find my favorite pair of snipping shears, garden markers, a marker and garden tape. The best part? My smaller bag will even fit inside.

So, I know what you may be thinking. Why not use a regular ziplock bag? They wear out over time and aren’t as durable. These Ziptuck bags are reusable, BPA free, and the biggest perk of all? They’re hand washable. Which is amazing since garden work can be so messy. I place both of these bags on a shelf in the garage and can have everything I need within seconds when heading out to work on my flower garden.

This is how I prep and start my cut flower garden every year to make sure I set myself up for a successful growing season. My hope is that you gain the confidence to do the same and try a garden for the first time. Even if it’s just a small container garden where you start with a few flowers.

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