Have you ever wondered how to grow cut flowers, have you sown your seed to see them fail and wonder why? I have collected all my knowledge and and have placed it here to share with you to help you get success with growing beautiful flowers for your garden. This is totally free no sigh up needed no spam emails in your inbox just sharing knowledge and if your interested in a grow along i am currently on Tiktok, Facebook, Instagram, You tube links are below so give me a follow and a like if you want up to date real time videos sneak peeks and updates on seedling plants and flowers as they grow so you can follow along and try for yourself. Just scroll down the page to a part that interests you and your garden.
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Subjects on this page
Jobs for January/ February
Sowing seeds by month
Flower information and conditioning
Other information
Pruning the garden in January /February and some other jobs for February
You may not think there is much work to do in winter for the garden but there are many job that can be done. Caring for roses, fruit trees and flower trees such as Buddleia all need to be pruned. just hit the links to find a simple video showing how to prune.
Planting out perennial foxgloves
Preparing beds for the year ahead
Sowing seeds
So often i am asked why someone has failed when sowing flower seeds and most of the time it is down to 4 things timing, temperature, light or water whether that be in humidity or just simply how and when to water.
Below i have all the seeds that i sow month by month listed out by name with a video explaining how to sow and showing you what these look like so you to can add beautiful flowers to your garden.
Of course you will need to pay close attention each year to the weather as no two years are the same and also to where in the world you are growing as climate zone is very important to starting seeds and planting out those precious plants you have nurtured.
If you are doing autumn seed starting you will need a greenhouse or a polytunnel this does not need to be heated as the all the seeds are from the cold family of flower seeds.
for spring and autumn it is useful to have a hot mat but not necessary as a good south facing window gives the perfect place to germinate seeds as most peoples homes are of a temperature of between 17-20 degrees combined with the light from the window give perfect germination conditions, if you are using a hot mat i recommend setting this at 20 degrees to compensate for colder evening to keep a good temperature for seed germination, however not all seeds will need a greenhouse with a hot mat a cold greenhouse will also do.
February seed starting
Cerinthe major gorgeous purple green foilage flower
Ammi majors tall white umbel
Ageratum a great filler flower fluffy in texture
Rudbeckia beautiful daisy like flower matches well with sunflowers
Snapdragons a tall spike flower and showstopper
Daucus gorgeous purple umbels
Cerinthe Major final update
Sweetpea update
Germination lift off
February round up in the green house
March seed starting
Clary sage a great filler flower and looks great planted in drifts
Statice a great filler flower as well as a dried flower
Phlox a tricky seed to sow but give my tip a try and see if it works for you
Strawflower and must for the cutting garden and a great dried flower
Phlox tip update see the result of my tip to germinate phlox seeds
Bee balm also know as Lamada, Monarda and bergamot very beneficial to pollinators
Malop a beautiful tall trumpet plant that can be cut a few times for flowers great for any cutting garden
Amberboa fabulous sultans hat flower that keeps giving
Cosmos who doesn’t love cosmos the butterflies of the garden
Alcea Annual Hollyhocks another cottage garden plant and great cutting flower
March Planting out and potting up other jobs
Larkspur what this looks like when the plant drops the seed vs sown in a pot
Cerinthe Major part of the cool flower family this plant doesn’t mind a bit of frost
Ammi Majus part of the cool flower family and tall airy white disc flower that looks a bit like cow parsley but so much better
Sweet rocket Part of the cool flower family a lovely spring flower that gently sprinkles around the garden
Annual foxgloves sown in autumn these could have gone out earlier but this year was very wet and cold
sweet peas sown in autumn just watch out for the pigeons
Potting up Februarys
Daucus and Ammi, fast growing and easy to do.
Potting up Statice update sown only 2 weeks ago they have their first true leaves and great roots
Potting up geraniums cuttings taken in late January doing well
dividing Shanasta daisies beautiful cottage garden staple but every 3 years they benefit from dividing
How to take a dahlia cutting want to increase your dahlia stock for free
Delphinium cuttings be quick you want to get the stems before they form tubes
May Jobs
Cosmos Setting up my Cosmos bed and how to pinch and plant
Flower information and conditioning
Flowers should be picked in the cool of the morning or evening and placed in a big deep bucket of water for a long drink to make sure they are viable flowers, it is rare but occasionally you will get one that flops over i think i have had 2 in 7 years but it is always good practice to do the following have a clean bucket that has been washed as you don’t want to spread bacteria that will kill your flowers, cut flowers and place them straight into the clean bucket with fresh water and let them sit to condition and take up much needed hydration before arranging with them. Some flowers have special conditioning techniques and i have placed videos below of these along with interesting information about certain flowers.
Daffodils picking and and conditioning
Other useful information
My use of take away pots and my heat mat
Apical dominance and the importance of pinching out some plants
Seed starting compost my mix of compost to start seeds in
My potting up compost send your plants out with a power pack to produce flowers
Making free fertiliser for your garden mother nature gives us all we need
Soil temperature when you do not have a hotmat
my favourite digging tool and why not to buy those lifestyle tools
Note keeping importance reference
Worm tea and the benefits to plant health
Bokashi reducing household waste and turning it into compost
Worm bins and how to make one to gain good worm compost
5 Useful things to do with egg shells
How i make the holes in my take away tubs
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