Planning Checklist
Reviewed what plants you already have growing ✔
Written a wish list of plants ✔
Edited wish list using the ‘flower seasons guide’ ✔
Added which type of plant is which ✔
Now in week 4 of the planning your cut flowers, we are focusing on flowering attributes
Catch up on the previous weeks here -
This week, a final piece of the decision puzzle - which plants are worth their space; depending how long they flower for.
If you are struggling to contain your wish list from week 1, this might help.
Most plants will produce flowers repeatedly for about 6 weeks. Some more (looking at you dahlias), and some, will flower once and that’s it. It was quite the surprise to me when I realised the nigella wasn’t going to send up more flowers for me to cut and dry as seed pods when I cut the plant back. I couldn’t believe the value of huge cosmos plants repeatedly flowering. That sweet peas will simply run to seed and stop flowering if I don’t cut them as often as possible.
I have had lots of garden visitors tell me that they never want to cut the flowers off their plants. They love seeing them but also worried they will stop the plant from flowering. The best news is that, for most plants, they will simply produce more flowers. But some won’t. ARGH. Which ones?
I categorise my plants into -
Single Cut
Medium Producers
Repeating or ‘come and cut again’
This information, as you’ll see below is as crucial as what type of plant each is. Using those two bits of information, I can write a sowing schedule that will ensure I sow at the right time, and have a fairly good idea as to when they’ll flower and for how long. This both ensures I use my plot space effectively but also have combinations of flowers I really want.
For instance, sowing single stem, single flowering sunflowers every 10 days from April since they are a half hardy annual. While sowing cornflowers 3 times for flowers across the summer.
We had some great discussions on the live call last night (recording below along with the printable list) about our own experiences.
Here is a list of the different plants and which category they fit into with how often to sow these if you want continual cropping:
Single Cut Varieties
Needs sowing little and often - every 2-3 weeks to ensure you have a fresh crop of stems to cut as the previous harvest ends.
