There are many similarities between growing annual vegetables and annual flowers. Just like a vegetable garden, a great annual cut flower garden takes a little planning. This week we discuss general planting considerations and take a look at some of our favorite and most reliable direct seeded annual flowers for cutting.
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In this episode, we discuss:
How to prepare for planting flowers
Direct seeding vs. transplanting
Species and varieties we love
For scale, Hilary in a patch of comos
NIgella ‘Deflt Blue’
Important Take-aways:
Some species will thrive when direct seeded into the garden, and some need to be transplanted.
As with an annual vegetable garden, I highly recommend planting your annual cut flowers in a bed that has specifically been set aside for annual crop production. Remember that annual plants are those which complete their life cycle in a single season and need to be replanted every year.
It is important to plant your flowers into a bed that has been properly prepared. The soil should be nice and loose, fertilized, and the bed should be set up for some type of regular irrigation. From my experience, all of the species that we will discuss today will thrive in a bed that has been prepared (soil tilth, pH and nutrient wise) for vegetable production.
Direct-seeded types:
Comos
Unique
Double Click
Sensation
Dill
Mammoth
Vierling
Nasturtiums
Empress of India
Trailing types
Alaska Apricot
Nigella
Love In The Mist
Delft Blue
Sunflowers
Zinnias
Benary’s Giants
Oklahoma
Cactus-types
Queen Red Lime
Queen Lime With Blush
For more information on growing these flowers and photos, check out the blog post I created a few years ago that inspired this episode: Planning Your Annual Cut Flower Garden
You don't need a ton of space! This 2x8 foot bed along a house was ample space to grow flowers.
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