A suitable garden
In fact, any garden is suitable for creating a cutting garden. Its location doesn’t matter since flowers grown for cutting will grow anywhere: in a vegetable garden, a city garden, a country garden and even on a balcony or patio. The only condition for the plot or planting container is that it should receive enough sunlight for the plants to produce lots of flowers.
Why summer bulbs?
Summer bulbs are perfect for a cutting garden because, unlike many other plants, they will produce masses of flowers during their very first season. With the right choice of summer bulbs, you could be picking your own flowers from June until far into October. What could be better? And, last but not least, summer bulbs give you such a wide range of gorgeous shapes, sizes and colours.
Choosing
Almost all summer bulbs are suitable for cutting gardens. Why not choose flowers in your favourite colours? Dahlias could very well be the most rewarding of all the summer bulbs because they produce large showy flowers that keep right on coming until the first frost. Or choose from gladioli, calla lilies, lilies and crocosmias. Each and every one will provide stunning flowers.
Planting and picking
So, exactly what will you have to do before you can start the delightful task of picking? First of all, it’s up to you to buy some very special varieties in the prettiest colours. Good sources are garden centres, home improvement centres and webshops. After that, it’s simply a matter of planting them, waiting a few weeks… and picking!
- Summer bulbs should be planted during the spring once the risk of frost is over: the best months for this are April and May.
- Since they prefer a sunny location, choose spots where the summer bulbs you selected can do some sunbathing all day long. Another factor to consider is their height. Tall flowers produced by summer bulbs will look best at the back with the shorter varieties in front.
- Loosen the soil with a trowel or spade and remove any weeds and small stones.
- Place the summer bulbs carefully into the soil; most should be planted twice as deep as their bulb is tall. The exceptions to this rule are the dahlia tubers. These are planted just beneath the soil surface since they need the warmth of the sun to grow.
- Summer bulbs will thrive not only in the garden but also when planted in flower pots and plant containers on the patio or balcony. For this purpose, fill a generously sized flower pot or planter that has holes in the bottom with enough potting compost for the tubers or bulbs to grow.
- After planting, give them a nice splash of water to get them started on their growth spurt.
- Also, remember to water them when they produce flowers if the soil is dry. On hot days, summer bulbs will really appreciate some water in the evening.
