As promised I have braved the cold today to take some photos of the bare bones of my Cutting Garden. This is the first of my monthly Cutting Garden reviews which I will be posting on the last Friday of every month.
Before I start I have found myself with two copies of this lovely book – ‘The Flower Shop In Your Garden’ by Sally Page. The Flower Shop books are a lovely series about a flower shop in the Cotswolds. I have them all and so when a friend gave me a copy of this one about using flowers from your garden I decided it would make a lovely giveaway here in my Cutting Garden review.
For a chance to win the book, please leave a comment saying you would like to be included in the draw. I will put all the names in a flower pot and my son can make the draw on Monday – I will announce the winner in my ‘In A Vase On Monday’ post. I am happy to post abroad, so please do not be shy about entering.
My Cutting Garden in January is a rather wet, dank place. I tend to avoid it for most of the early winter as there is little I can do without damaging the waterlogged soil. My two dogs are always happy for a run around this area of the garden though, so let me open the gate and take you in.
This fenced area of the garden is protected from the rabbits by a double layer of chicken wire – even then there are the odd break-ins! It is known in total as the Kitchen Garden and encompasses the Cutting Garden, the Vegetable Garden and the Fruit Garden. It is divided into quarters by central paths – the main path is lined with developing espaliered apple and pear trees. One of the quarters is at present unused.
The Cutting Garden occupies one of the quarters. As we go through the gate turn immediately right and you will be in the Cutting Garden. You can see my rhubarb bed in the far corner and the developing yews that will eventually enclose this area.
The first beds that you will come across are the autumn raspberries and the strawberry bed. As soon as conditions improve this strawberry bed will be the first bed that I will be weeding – the strawberries will be protected by a net tunnel before the birds start picking at them in late spring.
The raspberry bed is looking very bare (and cold) as the autumn fruiting raspberries have already been cut back to the ground and mulched with compost. Last year I tried a system called double cropping, where I left half the plants standing for an early crop of raspberries. Whilst I had plenty of raspberries I also had raspberry beetle for the first time, which made both the summer and autumn crops inedible. I have cut everything back to the ground early hoping that the birds and the cold weather will kill off any overwintering grubs.
You can see the rhubarb is just beginning to sprout, so I must get out with some straw to fill the forcer and get it into place.
Next to the strawberries is a large square bed where I grow all my orange and dark red flowers – the peach, orange, maroon and back tulips are planted around the edges of the bed and I grow a selection of dahlias in these colours (including that beautiful Cafe Au Lait) in the centre. Between the tulips and the dahlias I am building up a collection of apricot and yellow roses. After the tulips flower I will plant hardy annuals over them, which in this bed will include english marigolds, cosmos Bright Lights, sunflowers and zinnias. I have also ordered some apricot coloured gladioli for this bed. At present you can see that I still need to cut back the dead dahlia stems (a job that should have been done in November!!). As this area of the garden is so watered logged I am not optimistic that these dahlias will survive the winter, so have ordered new tubers just in case.
Next to the raspberries you will find another large square bed, where I concentrate on purple flowers. None of these colour schemes are rigid,however, as sometimes vacant space dictates where plants will go. Again there are tulips all around the edges, but the tulips here are all white varieties as this bed is slightly shady and the white will stand better in the cooler conditions. I am collecting roses in various shades of purple/red for this bed and again the centre is planted with purple dahlias and gladioli. The annuals will include cerinthe major, blue clary, larkspur and my favourite purple asters.
Below you can see the tulips just starting to emerge.
Walking past these two large square beds we come to four narrow beds, which are used to grow rows of annuals, sweetpeas, herbs and a few perennials.
At the moment one is covered with a fleece tunnel under which rows of autumn sown ammi majus, nigella and larkspur are germinating. I should be able to thin these rows in a few weeks. This photo is slightly foggy as it was taken looking through the fleece.
The second bed has been filled with tulips and biennials (sweet williams and sweet rocket I think). I also scattered seeds of hardy annuals across this bed, but without the protection of the fleece tunnel they do not seem to have germinated.
The third of these narrow beds has some large sedums and nepeta in it – although these were initially housed temporarily they have been such a magnate for bees that I have left them for two years now. These are also underplanted with tulips. In the foreground you can see the third large square bed, which houses my collection of pink roses and perennials. One lone pink rose is claiming this to be the pink bed.
The final large square bed is devoted to white plants, although the tulips in here are pink. I need to add some white roses this spring and I will grew all my white dahlias, gladioli and annuals here. The annuals will include cosmos, ammi major, orlya, gypsophilia, snapdragons, white nigella and white larkspur. You can see that I am gradually adding a box edging around these large beds to give more formality and some evergreen colour to the beds. The wooden edging was put in last year and has helped to keep the field weeds from encroaching into the beds.
Finally in the Cutting Garden there are another two narrow beds which house my asparagus bed (below) and an assortment of perennials awaiting a new home in the second bed. Provided I have moved these perennials in time this second narrow bed is earmarked for the sweet peas. The other colour that I love is blue, but I plant my blue flowers (cornflowers, nigella, salvia patens to name a few) wherever there is space.
It has been difficult to explain the layout to you without an aerial shot, but hopefully you are getting an idea of how the garden is laid out. For next month’s review I will include my hand drawn plans, so that you can better see how the beds and paths are drawn up.
Before we leave the garden we must walk across the main path into the quarter devoted primarily to vegetables. Here there are two narrow beds running alongside the main path across the vegetable garden, which house my growing peony collection. I will leave the brown stems standing until I have weeded and mulched this bed in late February, to make sure that I do not do any damage to the emerging pink buds.
I have included this final picture of the ground today so that you can see how wet it is – today is actually a good day as the water is not sitting above the level of the grass as it often does at this time of year.
I hope you have enjoyed our walk around this rather sad January Cutting Garden. Things will only get better from here and next month I will write more about what hardy annuals I am sowing, as well as showing you any developments in the beds (assuming we do not have a month of snow ahead, in which case changes will be minimal). I would love to hear about your Cutting Garden plans for this year and if anyone would like to join me with a monthly review do add a link to your blog post in the comments so that we can all have a look.
Please do remember to leave a comment if you would like to be entered into the draw for the book ‘The Flower Shop In Your Garden’ – this lovely book will certainly inspire you to start thinking about what blooms you could be growing in your own garden! The winner will be announced on Monday.
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You are inspiring me, but I’m a long ways from the large, organized beds devoted to certain color combos, etc. This year I will start by sowing seeds of showy annuals and adding them to existing beds. High hopes for more serious undertakings in years to come.
Thank you Ricki – good luck with adding annuals to your beds – I fill any gaps in my perennial beds with spare annuals as they add so much colour to the borders later in the summer.
It’s important to show the beds now as they begin to emerge from a dormant stage. Any sign of life is encouraging in late January and soon it will gather a pace.
Thank you – the emerging bulbs are very exciting and I know there will be lots of colour soon.
I so enjoyed your post today! Our cutting garden is under a foot of snow and it is going to to -3 F which I think is about -20C. We are in NY on the Canadian border so keep the inspiring pictures and descriptions coming! They are appreciated more than you can imagine!
I used to live just outside Toronto as a child, so have crossed the Canadian border at Niagara Falls – I remember the winters were very cold and snowy and did not end until April!
Yes, please do enter me in the drawing: glad you will post abroad!
It’s good to see the beds now, as they are going to be so gorgeous and full and lush in just a few months. Isn’t it wonderful to know that spring is the next season? And right now, it’s 5:20 PM for me, and it is still so light out!! Wonderful indeed.
Thank you Libby – it looks a bit different to when you saw it!! The days are certainly getting lighter, but it is 5.15pm here and going dark so not quite as long as your days are right now.
It is so grey, snowy and typical winter here in New York, USA that your blog diminishes the lulls and makes me look forward to glorius Spring.
Thank you Lita – I am pleased that I am helping you through the grim winter you are having.
Yes please Julie, can you enter me into your draw too. Your dogs are gorgeous!
Thank you Julie – they are not so gorgeous when covered in mud which is how they seem to be all the time at the moment!
Please enter me into your draw too!
Beautiful Julie. I love your layout. Ironically, I just received a note today from Swan Island Dahlias (who ship all over the world) that Cafe’ au Lait is available now. I think they lost a substantial amount of their inventory in an unexpected freeze that lasted far too long last year. It looks pinky/peachy. Can you tell me what it is in your practical experience? It sounds as though you love it. I have many dinner plate dahlias in the hot colors for the summer, my pink, blue and white gardens tend to be in full display in the spring. I’d love to know where to put this dahlia. Thank you.
Thank you Susan – I am not really sure how to describe the colour and I have heard that it varies between plants. Mine were more peach than pink and certainly going towards coffee coloured, but I have seen them in bouquets looking quite pink. They worked well in a hot coloured border last year – wherever they are you will notice them as they are quite a statement dahlia.
P.S. Kindly enter me into your giveaway. How I miss the Cotswolds! Lovely pups you have btw…
Beautiful photos, beautiful gardens, plants and flowers.
I would like to own the book for my collection! 🙂
Thank you Magdalena.
I would love a chance to win a copy – I grew up in the flower shop!
How lucky to grow up in a flower shop – do you work with flowers now?
Only for my own pleasure and to give to friends. I’m working on a memoir that has many flower shop memories.
We work with flowers in the same way Valorie – your memoir sounds very interesting – I would love to read about your flower shop memories.
I’d love to be in the draw! Your garden is so organised! It takes a lot of work to look like this!
Thank you Julia – it is actually quite a mess at the moment – I think it just photographs well!
First of all I must say how lovely it was to see a proper photo of your two gorgeous doggies! I have noticed them from a distance in the corners of some of your photos before. It really is enjoyable to see how your cutting garden is planned and I shall follow with great interest as the year progresses, even though I don’t have a cutting garden myself… at the moment anyway. Separating the colours is a good idea too. I’d love to be entered in the draw for the book. It may be useful for Monday vases!
Thank you Cathy – I should include the dogs more often – they are always happy to pose for me!
I would love to be entered in the giveaway please! I’ve just taken on an allotment so will have a bit of space for growing flowers for cutting for the first time – your patch is very inspiring!
Good luck with your allotment Laura – my advise for your first year would be not to try to grow too much – just choose 3 or 4 varieties of seeds and perhaps a few dahlias and see how you get on.
You are so lucky Julie to have so much space to devote to cut flowers, I would love to have more! You have arranged the beds in such an orderly manner, it really helps with maintenance, doesn’t it? I really hope I’ll be able to see your cutting garden in the flash, so to speak, when I’m next in the UK, until then, I find it very helpful to know how you organise your beds. Please enter me in the draw, you can send the book to my MIL if I’m lucky enough to win. I’ll try do an update this week.
Thank you Christina and I hope you will be able to see it properly when you next come over! The advantage of buying a house with a field is lots of space – the disadvantage are all the field weeds which are trying to take over.
Please enter me in your draw . Your garden looks amazing . I often wonder when reading your blog if you get any help
Thank you Chris and yes, I do have help. I could not manage this amount of space on my own, so I am in charge of the beds and I have a great gardener who helps two days a week with the grass, hedges, maintenance etc. I would be overwhelmed by this garden without him.
I like the idea of being able to see your cutting garden on a regular basis. You are so well organised. What a wonderful selection of flowers you will have to cut this year. I would love to join in the draw. I hope to see you soon, once this snowy weather has gone.
Thank you Chloris and I am looking forward to our trip when the weather improves.
Back again, here’s a link to my post about my cuttings garden today. https://myhesperidesgarden.wordpress.com/2015/01/31/the-cutting-garden-in-january/
Thank you Christina!! I am so pleased you decided to join in – I am going straight over to have a look at your Cutting Garden.
Julie this is quite an extensive area. Loads of work but oh the satisfaction. I have been inspired by both you and Christina with your cutting beds and am trying to work a plan to add one or 2 for annuals as I have many perennials in my garden and loads of veg beds already. If I get the area and materials I will certainly join in and post about it. Even if it is just in containers this season, I think I will join in.
I think it is marvelous that you are giving away a copy of this book and even more generous you are willing to post abroad so I definitely would love to be entered in the giveaway.
Thank you Donna and I am looking forward to seeing what annuals you grow and where you decide to grow them. In pots or in any gaps in your perennial beds would be a great place to start.
What a lovely ordered cutting patch you have and starting to be full of promise already. What a delight when everything will be in flower. I really must grow some tulips and then plant over the top with annuals. I love the idea of a bed devoted to peonies – they are such big and blousy flowers. Roll on the warmer and dryer weather! Please enter me in your draw.
Thank you Angela – I am glad I am giving you some ideas – just remember to plant your tulips deep if you are going to plant over them and choose varieties that are long lasting if you want them to flower well in future years – I find Spring Green, Purple Prince, Shirley and Ballerina all flower well year after year.
Thank you so much for sharing this with us! I am surprised that you already have plants growing in the garden in January! What is a fleece tunnel?
Thank you Elizabeth. You can buy fleece tunnels in the garden centres – they are about 3 metres long and are made up of hoops covered with a fleecy material that keeps plants warm in winter. I use them to protect over-wintering seedlings and to warm the soil before planting early vegetables.
Please enter me in your draw. I am growing cut flowers in my garden for my sons wedding in June and need all the help and advice I can get! Enjoy reading your blog.
Good luck with the flowers you are growing for your son’s wedding – I find growing flowers for a wedding a bit nerve racking – I have one in April and I am already having a few sleepless nights worrying about what will be in flower. If you have any questions please do leave a comment or email me.
Do your tulips come back year after year? Gosh I’m jealous some of mine maybe last two year but most get replaced yearly
Tulips are very variable Paige – some only last a season ( particularly frilly and parrot tulips) and some will last for years. I mentioned in a comment above that I find Spring Green, Purple Prince, Shirley and Ballerina seem to last for years. They do need to be planted in a fairly sunny, well drained spot and they never seem to reflowed if I leave them in pots.
I’d love to be entered in the draw! I don’t have a cutting garden, just a garden 😉 but I have rented a dahlia garden this year. I have never groen dahlia’s so we’ll see what happens
A dahlia garden sounds very exciting – I wish you luck and lots of flowers!!
I’d appreciate being entered in the draw, thanks. I will start a new cutting garden here where we moved a few months ago. The garden was entirely overgrown, one neighbour tells me no one has touched it, other than occasionally cutting the grass, this last 30 years. So I follow your posts with interest, any tips for a complete newbie to a cut flower garden?
https://mossfighter.wordpress.com/
Thank you mossfighter – I can see from your end of month review that you have taken a lot on and it looks like you are making a lot of progress. My advice for your cut flower garden would be to start with a small area – you can always add more space in future years. Direct sow some seeds (a few hardy annuals in April) and start some half hardy varieties in your new greenhouse in March or April. My favourite cutting garden flowers are cornflowers, cosmos, ammi majus, asters and zinnias. And try a few dahlias – you will have endless flowers in late summer from them.
A most helpful reply, thank you. coincidentally I bought 3 packs of 5 dahlias at the weekend, I’ve always thought of them as garden flowers as, on the odd occasion I have picked them, I found earwigs in them! I’ll take your advice on starting small, I knew I should be needed to be prodded, there’s so much space that I’m tempted to “go large”, but won’t now.
Earwigs can be a problem – there are good years & bad – last year I didn’t have any. Small upturned plant pots filled with straw and balanced on stakes amongst the dahlias will often attract the earwigs away from the flowers – they are just looking for somewhere cosy to sleep.
Thank you your detailed review of your garden. I am so looking forward to the forthcoming drawings. Love the photo of the happy dogs! Thanks for that! And thanks for the referral of these books. I will have to see if I can find a set for my library. All the best to you and yours.
Thank you – this really is a lovely set to own so I hope you find them.
I’ve just discovered your blog and love it very much. Please enter me into your giveaway. I plan to make a cutting garden this year, so it could be very helpful.
Welcome Ester and thank you for commenting. I wish you luck with your cutting garden and am always happy to answer questions so do leave a comment if you have any.
Please enter me in your giveaway. I could do with some inspiration. Thank you.
Hi Julie – hopefully I will be back tomorrow to link to y sparse cutting beds! Thank you so much for sharing yours – you have made me realise it would be useful to have some sort of layout plan for the plants and seedlings I hope to add to them. So sorry about your raspberries – mine cropped for about 7 months in total . Please include me in your draw
That should have said ‘my’ sparse cutting beds!
Fab seeing te garden Julie, and i just love red setters. I was hoping to join you with a post but will wait till i have got a laptop sorted as i find it hard on the wrists to write too much on the iPad. And obviously would love t be entered into the giveaway…love a new book x
Thank you Rachel and I hope you sort out a new laptop soon – I will look forward to seeing your cutting garden.
January is always so bleak but the promise of the beauty to come is right there in your garden. It’s a wonderful garden with so much to look forward to! Ours is in much the same state but not nearly as tidy and well-planned. 🙂
Thank you Georgianna – I always imagine you in a slightly wild but very romantic garden – filled with roses of course!
Hi Julie – I have posted mine now at https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/cutting-beds-and-cutting-down/
Thank you so much for joining in Cathy – I am off to have a look!
Please can you enter me in your draw for the lovely book tomorrow? I so enjoy your photos your garden is a true inspiration to us.
Thank you Sarah.
I would love to win the book – please include me in the draw. I look forward to following your cutting garden – so inspiring.
Thank you Nina and do please join in if you grow any flowers for cutting – they do not have to be in a dedicated space.
This is a timely post, as I am re-making my cutting beds this year and have started to think about what I really must have in it. Thanks for the tour! -Beth
Thank you Beth and I wish you luck with your project this year – perhaps you will link in with a few posts showing your progress?
Great to hear about your cutting garden plans and to see the bare bones of your beds. It’s very exciting to think in 4 or 5 months time how bare soil will have been transformed.
Thank you wellywoman – I love this time of year when it is all plans and I have not had time to fall behind or for anything to go wrong!! This year it will all be perfect (if only!).
So well organised, and what an inspiration. I’m just starting to dig a bit of cut flower garden, but don’t think I can aspire to what you are doing!