You Ask, We Answer: How Do I Create a Cutting Garden?
Spring in Connecticut is bursting forth in all its glory—and this year, it seems sweeter than ever to see the tulips and daffodils standing to reach the sunlight. At Calcagni Real Estate, we know firsthand the positive effect a yard in bloom can have on a home! If you dream of bringing fresh flowers indoors but don’t want to leave your yard empty of color, it’s time to explore the joys of a designated cutting garden.
What is a cutting garden?
A cutting garden is a garden designated—and designed—to provide you flowers and plants to be cut and brought indoors for your enjoyment throughout your home.
Cutting gardens are accessible because they don’t require a professional landscaper, but they should still be planned out in advance so you can enjoy blooms throughout the year—not just a burst of color all at once. You can use a free tool like this one, or just a pen and paper to map out what you’ll plant, where. You’ll want to consider when the flowers bloom, how long they bloom, how wide and tall they’ll grow.
Where should you plant your cutting garden?
You can plant your cutting garden anywhere in your yard that gets lots of sunlight and has well-drained soil, but if possible, choosing an “out of the way” spot is ideal. That’s because you don’t want to worry about creating a perfectly balanced, landscaped aesthetic with a cutting garden. Its sole purpose is just to allow flowers to bloom so you can cut them—so if things look a little “wild” or “messy”…all the better!
In fact, companion planting your cutting garden among an existing vegetable garden is a great idea; many flowers—like borage, pot marigolds, cosmos, lavender and sweet pea— actually work to resist pests and attract pollinators. Plant your flowers and veggies in rows to make it easy to tend to weeds and to cut them as they bloom, and don’t be afraid to spread them out. Avoiding clusters will make it less noticeable when you do your cutting.
What should you plant?
This is the fun part! Here is where you can really experiment. Mixing and matching perennials and annuals, flowers and flowering shrubs (we love a hydrangea in full bloom!), grasses and even herbs can yield you a cutting garden you’ll use all year long.
Get to know your growing zone in the different parts of Connecticut for the best chance at success, then let your imagination run as wild as your flowers!
