Ideal time to plan that cut flower bed

Kitty Scully on the benefits of ready to order colour from veggie patch.

Love, chocolate and flowers are in the air — but if your garden is anything like mine in February, there will not be a lot of fresh floral action — apart from some salad rocket and oriental greens run to seed.

Good things come to thosewho plan, however, and now is the perfect time to prepare a cut flower garden or a simple cut flower bed within your vegetable patch.

It’s a win-win situation. You can enjoy the intoxicating beauty and scent of fresh flowers for the house or for gifting — smug in the knowledge that insects and bees are also enjoying a new source of food— while increasing your garden’s biodiversity and pollination.

There are lots of floral veggie garden suspects, prized more for edible qualities than cutting, including nasturtiums, violets (Viola odorata), calendula, borage and daylilies (Hemerocallis).

There is a debate as to what constitutes a good cut flower. My research concludes that those flowers that last longest in a vase and grow prolifically are hot contenders.

Traditionally flowers for cutting were grown in a designated plot in the vegetable patch but as times have changed, so have cut flower areas and often they are worked, wherever they fit, into the patch. Remember that even in the smallest of plots and spaces it is possible to grow a few flowers to harvest, be they dotted through a flower border or in containers in front of the house.

However, there are clear benefits to having a dedicated patch as growing flowers for cutting in existing borders will inevitably lead to over-picking and obvious gaps. Growing cut flowers in rows, too, makes sense as it facilitates easy planning, planting, weeding, staking and picking.

Flowers are generally not hungry feeders like vegetable crops, but that said, soil preparation is vital and plants will do best in good topsoil mixed with compost to improve soil structure.

One thing is certain — cut flowers will need a good amount of light so do not stick them in a shady unused spot in your garden. Shelter is also vital, as it is with most crops, and cut flower plants will suffer huge set backs if hit by winds especially when young and vulnerable.

At this tender stage, roots are only settling, so wind-rock and dry soil caused by wind, can have a detrimental effect on plant establishment. Don’t underestimate the space each plant will need nor the supports that taller flowers require.

Cutting flowers can be annuals, biennials, perennials, climbers, bulbs, tubers etc and when it comes to choosing what to grow it’s good to consider the season and choose a range of plants that will flower right through late spring to mid autumn.

But if, like me, you are new to cut flowers, a small area of easy summer annuals is not a bad place to start.

Last year my successful attempts growing Cosmos, Larkspur, Sweet Pea, Love-in-a-mist (Nigella), Sunflowers and Cornflowers have whetted my appetite for growing more.

Most of these were direct sown in May bar some cosmos, sweet pea and sunflowers, that were started in plug trays in March before later transplanting. Annuals are easiest grown from seed and this is certainly the most cost efficient method and allows for the most interesting plant and colour selection.

However, if you are time challenged, there will be a host of plug plants available at good local garden centres. If there is one golden nugget of advice I have gleaned when it comes to flowering annuals, it is to steer well clear of packets offering mixed colours.

Unless they are a specially selected pick of pastels, you are more than likely going to end up with a splash of colour slightly more garish than those pictured on the packet. Single colour flower seed packets work best, allowing you to grow flowers in blocks and create your own palette of colours.

Nothing quite beats flowering plants for dramatic impact and for sweetly perfuming the air in a garden or a room — just because you are a dedicated grower of vegetables, like I have been for so long, it does not mean that you cannot dedicate an area to grow flowers for harvesting.

It’s a well-known fact that flowers make us feel better so what is there not to like? When it comes to readily locating a good range of seeds for cut flowers, Seedaholic ( www.seedaholic.com ) is the perfect place to start.

This fantastic online store not only supplies an extensive range of interesting seeds but gives incredibly detailed notes, pictures, cultivation and botanical information.

From cut flowers, foliage and fillers, dried flowers, edible flowers, potpourri and natural dyes, you’ll find all the seeds you need and didn’t even know you need right here at the push of a button.