Welcome to my February review of my Cutting Garden. After the success of my Giveaway last month, I have decided to try to give something related to the Cutting Garden away with each monthly post as a thank you to all my readers who are so supportive. This month I am delighted that the lovely team at Sarah Raven have donated a Best Purple Dahlia collection for my Giveaway – more about that at the end of the post.
To begin, I promised last month to show you my notebook plans for the Kitchen Garden. It is hard to explain the layout of this area in words and photographs, so I hope that it will help to see it drawn out on paper. The Kitchen Garden is an old paddock divided into quarters and enclosed with a yew hedge. It encompasses my Cutting Garden, Fruit Garden, Vegetable Garden and Herb Garden. The quarter labeled Roses, Herbs and Perennials is as yet undeveloped and the fruit cage shown in the Fruit Garden is being installed next month.
Within the Kitchen Garden you will find the Cutting Garden, which is divided into a series of square and rectangular beds. The beds are labeled, which helps me plan where my flowers will grow on a yearly basis. The large square beds contain some roses and perennials as well as plenty of bulbs and annuals and are colour themed. I have marked the arches that join the beds over the grass paths. The smaller rectangular beds are used for intensively growing annuals in short rows.
To keep my seeds organised I have a box divided by season and month and I sort my seeds into the relevant sowing month – that way I just work through sowing small batches of the seeds in the current months section so that I don’t miss anything. This box is just for flowers – I keep my vegetable and salad seeds in a different box.
You will already know that I am a fan of Sarah Raven – whilst I do not order exclusively from her, I always love to browse through her inspirational catalogues and most of my seeds do come from this catalogue.
February is a quiet month in the Cutting Garden. The ground is still very wet and apart from a few tulip bulbs making an appearance not much has changed outside since January. I have started weeding the beds and cutting back the roses on nice days, but only when the ground is not too wet. As you can see below to much activity on the wet grass causes a lot of damage.
Seeds Sown In February:
By the end of February I like to make sure that I have sown all my sweet peas and most of my favourite hardy annuals. I have talked about sowing sweet peas into root trainers before. My hardy annuals are sown into half sized trays and left to germinate in the heated propagator. As soon as the seedlings appear I will move the trays onto the greenhouse staging where it is cooler and when I can see the first set of true leaves I will prick them out into plugs to grow on in the cold frames ready to be planted outside in April.
The hardy annuals that I sow every year include asters, ammi majus, orlaya, blue cornflowers, blue and white nigella, blue and white larkspur, white snapdragons, gypsophila, stocks and salvia blue clary. This year I am also trialing ammi visnaga to give me another form of white flowered foliage for summer bouquets.
Hardy Annuals Ready To Plant Out In March:
I made my first sowing for this years plants last autumn, when I sowed trays of hardy annuals in the greenhouse (as well as direct sowing a few in the Cutting Garden). These seedlings were pricked out and overwintered in the greenhouse. I moved them into the cold frame in late January and after leaving the frames open in the day for a week I am now leaving them open all night as well to really harden these plants off. I will start planting them out during the first week in March, as long as the ground is not frozen. As their name says, these plants are hardy annuals so can cope with some frost as long as they have been hardened off thoroughly.
The plants at the back are healthy looking plugs of larkspur.
In the front you can see some very large ammi majus plants.
In the far left corner are cornflowers and next to them scabious with cerinthe major in the foreground.
I am really pleased with how well these plants have overwintered – they are now big plugs which I hope will get away quickly when planted outside and provide the first flowers as early as May.
The Cutting Garden In February:
You can see from this view across the Cutting Garden that it looks much the same as it did in January!
There are signs of life though – throughout the beds the tulips that are planted around the edges are starting to appear. I am hopeful that one or two might be in flower by the time I write my March review.
The biennials have come through the winter very well – below you can see Sweet Williams and Sweet Rocket – I am not sure when these will flower as I have not grown them before, but hopefully they will be in flower before the tulips are over. Last year I had a bare gap between the first hardy annuals and sweet peas starting to flower and the last of the tulips going over. I hope I have plugged that gap this year with the overwintered hardy annuals and biennials sown last June.
My experiment with direct sowing hardy annuals in the autumn and protecting the seedlings with a fleece tunnel seems to be working. Although I know that autumn sowing annuals is generally recommended for earlier larger blooms, my past experience has been that seeds that germinate in September or October do not survive the winter on my wet land.
This year I sowed ammi majus, cornflowers, nigella and larkspur under this fleece tunnel and the little rows of seedlings are doing very well. I will prick out the rows in a week or two and hope that the plants will romp away with the longer days. There are also tulips coming up in this bed – I have a bit of a thing for tulips and fill every space I have with them.
One of the big spring jobs is weeding along the edge of the yew hedges that are growing up to enclose the Kitchen Garden. It is tedious work, but the hedges grow better when they are not competing with the weeds. This is a section I have just completed.
This is how it looked before with weeds and grass growing into the border.
I grew five globe artichokes last spring (Violet de Provence from Sarah Raven) and they all flowered last autumn. The decaying heads have looked majestic throughout the winter, but it is time to cut them back now.
I mentioned this little greenhouse in my January Greenhouse Review. Progress has been slow due to the wet weather, but it is now installed on its base and is ready for the glass to be put in.
The floor has been dug out. There will be a row of concrete slabs down the centre and a bed on either side to plant the tomatoes and cucumbers into.This extra space will allow me to use my main greenhouse for flowers throughout the summer in future.
I have mentioned the Fruit Garden in previous posts and you can see it outlined in the plan above. There are at present four beds with redcurrants, blackcurrants, gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberry bushes. This area is about to undergo a major revamp as I am waiting for my new fruit cage from Harrod Horticultural to arrive. Once the cage is erected the fruit bushes will need to be rearranged to fit within the new space – I will be following the progress of my new fruit cage once it arrives. I am really looking forward to having all of my fruit protected from the birds this year!
Looking out of the Fruit Garden over the developing yew hedge, you can see the silver birch trees that bring so much pleasure in the winter. I have added another 10 trees to the original 4 that were here when we arrived, so it should be quite a feature when the trunks mature.
The final quarter in the Kitchen Garden is as yet unplanted. It will be an area devoted to roses, herbs and perennials with a selection of crab apple trees for height. I want to make sure the other three areas are working well however, before I make any more work for myself.
I am pleased that the lavenders that underplant the espaliered fruit trees are reaching maturity. This avenue should look lovely this year – first with the apple and pear blossom, followed by the lavender flowers and then hopefully branches laden with fruit.
So that is all I have to report for February. I am looking forward to writing my March Review, when I will be planting new peonies and roses, planting out hardy annuals, sowing half hardy annuals in the greenhouse and hopefully picking a few tulips!
This Month’s Giveaway:
Now onto that exciting giveaway! The Sarah Raven Best Purple Dahlia collection contains a tuber each of 4 of my favourite purple dahlias – Ambition, Thomas A. Edison, Downham Royal and Hillcrest Royal. I grow them all and love them equally. I am delighted that the team at Sarah Raven have offered such a generous Giveaway for my readers this month. Sadly I can only offer this item to UK readers due to shipping restrictions. Sarah Raven have also asked me to note that if for some reason the selected items are unavailable, a suitable alternative will be found. I will add all UK comments to a flower pot on Monday and my son will draw the winner, who will be announced in my ‘In A Vase On Monday’ post.
As I do not like to leave my non UK readers out of the fun, I will run a separate surprise draw on the same basis for any commenters who say that they are outside of the UK. I will send the winner a little surprise something that is related to growing flowers.
Finally, last month a few of you were kind enough to join in with my Cutting Garden Review, writing your own reviews and leaving a link in the comments below. I loved looking at your gardens and hope that you will join in again. If anyone else would like to share their cutting garden experiences, please do write a post for your blog and leave a link here or just add a comment about what you are growing. This really is a case of the more the merrier and I am looking forward to sharing and learning from all our different growing experiences!
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It is exciting seeing your cutting garden progress, Julie. I have not been able to write a post this month but will join in again next month. Please count me in for the draw as should I be lucky enough to win it can be sent to my MIL who I will be visiting at the end of April, she a good gardener and will look after them for me. The fruit trees and lavender path looks really beautiful and will look lovely almost all year.
Thank you Christina and I will look forward to seeing your cutting garden in March – I expect it will be well ahead of mine! Hopefully you will have time to pop in if you are over in April – then I can show you around properly.
Your seedling look so fresh and full of promise Julie.
Thank you Susie – I am hoping that promise will turn into a few flowers soon!
Your plans and garden both look full of potential and rather lovely, how wonderful to have so much space Julie. Yes please can you include me in your draw too.
Thank you Julie – space is not something I am short of here – I just have to be careful not to create a monster I cannot look after out there!
Wow. Everything is beautifully ordered and organised. Your seed box is a really practical idea. You must take great pride in your achievements when all grows successfully according to your well thought out plans. Well done! I love the rows of lavender too. Please include me in your draw.
Thank you Angela – I bought that seed box at a Country Living Spring Fair a few years ago and it has made my seed sowing life so much easier – a shoebox works just as well but is not quite so pretty.
Thanks for such a clear presentation of your plans. I do wish I could take part in your drawing, but, alas, there is an ocean out there.
Thank you John – I will put your name in the overseas plant pot for the surprise gift.
At some point I may join in when I get my cutting garden planned although it is not formally a real garden but more containers right now. Your February garden is much like my April garden although I am only planting veg seeds then. I am exhausted looking at all these gardens….you have done loads of work and the lavender fruit tree row is lovely. You certainly have loads of beautiful blooms starting to grow.
Not living in the UK, I miss out on your giveaway. But that is a wonderful gift.
Thank you Donna and I will put your name in the overseas draw. Although your garden year starts so much later than mine i expect your higher summer temperatures mean it soon catches up. The start can be quite slow here in the UK. I do hope you will be able to join in at some point – I would love to see your flowering containers!
As usual a lovely read as I sip my afternoon coffee. I am thinking of giving up my allotment (so sad) but working away from the house even on summer evenings is not so good for the family so I am in the process of trying to add some raised beds and large planters to my ‘quite small’ garden! If I feel I can succeed then the allotment will go!!!! But I can feel spring in the air, the sweet peas are sprouting – planted 12 varieties this year (I world record for me) and I too have that same seed box to organise my seed planting -but I don’t think I am as organised as you Julie! Wonderful as always. Thank you.
Thank you Ruth and I can understand you feeling sad about giving up your allotment. You are right that gardening away from home does not really work with family life though and it is surprising what you can grow in a small space if you think creatively. There are some excellent books around about container gardening and growing in small spaces which might provide some inspiration – even with all my space I like to have some herbs and salad leaves by the back door.
Gosh I am so inspired by your organised sowing that I am now washing my half trays ready to sow annuals. Without a greenhouse I have to wait till now to use the heated propagator and cold frame for hardy annuals rather than sowing in the previous autumn. Then seeds of nasturtiums, marigolds and Californian poppy will be sown direct on the allotment in May for more flowers.
I grew nasturtiums for the first time last year and was amazed by how easy and beautiful they were and I always like to have a row or two of marigolds growing amongst the veg. Perhaps you should try direct sowing some annuals in late September on your allotment and covering them for the winter – that would give you more space for sowing half hardy’s in your propagator.
I love your photos and drawings! I’m just starting to sow seeds for the first time ever, so your blog is really inspiring. Will finish sowing my sweet peas (indoors) this weekend.
Thank you Nelle and I hope you have lots of success with your seeds. As it is your first year do not sow to many – just try to keep things simple this year. I am always happy to answer questions if you come across anything you do not understand or have problems.
You seem to be really well organised and have such healthy looking plants. Looking forward to seeing the results of your labours later in the season.
Thank you Sally – I am looking forward to sharing lots of flowers with you soon (I am keeping my fingers crossed!!).
What a comprehensive review Julie – and your drawings really helped give a clearer picture of what you are working with. I really reading about all that you have been doing or are planning on doing – I completely forgot about including progress on seedlings in my post, other than the ones just about to get planted out, so I shall have to do a top-up post or just include it in my greenhouse review, as I am equally thrilled with my winter and early 2015 sowings too. There may always be that overlap I suppose. Aren’t Sarah Raven kind to provide your giveaway? Please include me in the draw!
Oops, forgot to include my link: https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2015/02/27/not-time-for-beds-yet/
Thank you Cathy – I am glad my drawings helped. I have some very big autumn sown plants in the cold frames and some some small direct sown seedlings in the cutting garden – it will be interesting to see how they compare when the plugs are planted out! Thank you for joining in again Cathy – your sweet williams are doing really well – all mine were transplanted outside in the autumn so there are no buds on them – perhaps I should keep some in the greenhouse this year for early flowers.
Don’t know why I didn’t plant my SW out then too! It will be intersting to see when yours flower. I planted some centaurea and poppy out in late autumn but kept some back so I can compare those
Very envious of your forward flower seedlings. I have seedling larkspur and Orlaya in my potting shed and hoping they will be in flower for our silver wedding celebrations in the garden at the very end of May – fingers crossed. Please add me to the draw.
How lovely to be growing flowers for such a big celebration – I will keep my fingers crossed for you!! As long as you harden them off properly before planting out you should have plenty of flowers by then.
I love reading your posts Julie and always come away with so many ideas so thank you. Your kitchen garden looks fantastic, so full of promise. I have been thinking about growing dahlias on my allotment and looking at the Sarah Raven catalogue for ideas as I especially like the way she groups colours so a chance to win the a collection of purple tubers would be wonderful. Looking forward to your next greenhouse review too.
Thank you Sarah – I can certainly recommend dahlias if you have the space. They produce literally buckets of flowers until late in the year. The purple varieties mix very well with both zingy oranges and the paler whites and pinks, so are very versatile.
A great post Julie, it is lovely to be able to read it having seen it all for myself last week. It’ s all coming on really well and you are so well organised. I think it is a wonderful idea keeping your seeds in the right sowing order, I might copy that idea.
Thank you Chloris – it was lovely being able to show you round! My new snowdrops are safely planted on the bank so I will keep my fingers crossed for early blooms next year. Do copy the seedbox idea – a shoebox divided into months works very well & is great for making sure that you do not forget vital sowing dates (particularly biennials in June – I always used to forget those).
Oh it’s most interesting to see your well thought out plans Julie and I always enjoy peeking into other people’s seed boxes 🙂 I don’t have a cutting garden as such, but I do have a flower bed at the allotment, where I pick the odd bunches of flowers to come back home with me – mainly bunches of sweet peas but other snippings too. Sarah Raven’s catalogue should come with a government warning on the front. Much too tempting 🙂
Thank you Anna – I think a bed at the allotment counts as a cutting garden!! You are right about that catalogue – it is a favourite read of mine and I always just want everything!
I am really enjoying your monthly updates, Julie. From the recipe box to organize your seed plantings to the espaliered trees and lavender (wow!!!!). This armchair tour has been a real treat and I look forward to your March report.
Thank you – I am so pleased that you enjoyed my tour and I am looking forward to having more to share in March.
You have a beautiful blog which combines my love of photography and gardening/flowers! I shall keep my fingers crossed for the draw, how lovely to be able to plant, watch and then photograph some beautiful dahlias! 😉
Thank you Carol – it is always nice to meet someone who shares my love of gardening and photography.
I am so glad to have discovered your blog, your posts are so well illustrated and informative. I’d love to win something flower related, especially as I’m writing a memoir that includes experiences growing up in a flower shop. Thanks for sponsoring this!
Thank you Valorie – I hope you will let us all know when that memoir is completed – I am really looking forward to reading it!
What a lovely post! Your blog is a treat for anyone who loves flowers, gardening and photography! I will keep my fingers crossed for the draw, how lovely to be able to plant, watch and photograph some beautiful dahlias! 😉
Thank you so much – I will keep my fingers crossed for you.
I really enjoy reading your blog and am loving the garden tour. I started my own cutting patch last year and I was so pleased with how it turned out. Looking forward to seeing your garden bloom over the coming months. Sue
Thank you Sue – I am glad you enjoyed the tour and hope that your cutting patch blooms beautifully this year!
What a generous giveaway! I do love dahlias and so do the bees in my garden! Thanks for all your posts, they do inspire me to be more organised and coordinated with my planting.
Thank you Maxine – funnily enough writing about my garden helps me to stay organised too – I am less likely to fall behind when I know I have to report it on my blog!
Your garden is so lovely! I cannot wait to see it when it’s in flower. I’m going to start my own cutting garden (but on a much smaller scale) this year. Looks like I need to get a wriggle on. Are there any books you’d recommend? Fingers crossed for warmer weather soon x
How exciting to be starting your cutting garden – I hope you might add a link here to share your progress. When I started mine I used The Cutting Garden by Sarah Raven as the blueprint for my plot. More recently The Cut Flower Patch by Louise Curley (aka Wellywoman) and The Flower Farmers Year by Georgie Newbery are books that I have found very useful. It is snowing on and off here today, so I am keeping everything crossed for spring to arrive soon!
Thank you so much for the recommendation. I’ll take a look x
I would love to be included in the draw Julie…tomorrow I am clearing my dining room ready for seed sowing later in the day. One day I will have a green house 🙂
Thank you Rachel and I hope your seed sowing is off to a good start. I have a friend who uses the heated floor in her dining room as a propagator and Cathy from Rambling In The Garden sows her seeds next to her Aga – I do agree that a greenhouse is the ideal though. You were right about the weather – we are having beautiful sunshine interspersed with black clouds and sleet/snow/hail. March is certainly coming in like a lion!
Just found your blog – love it!! Inspirational – I’m now determined to be more organised!!!!
Thank you Nancy and welcome – I am glad you found me!
This is the first time I’ve cone across your blog (via twitter) and so pleased I have. Very inspiring to me as my first year embarking on becoming a flower grower. Lovely photos and very well written, I look forward to reading your future (and past) blog posts with interest 🙂 I wish now that I’d planted far more hardy annuals in autumn, yours look so healthy!!
Thank you Rural Florist and welcome. How exciting to be starting the year as a flower farmer – I wish you lots of success! Autumn sowing certainly seems to be the way to go with hardy annuals – it is my first year of trying this and I am very pleased with the results so far.
Hi, soooo organised! Wish I was this sorted! Denise
I have just had a look at your website Denise and I am in awe!! Not one, but two cutting gardens to manage and all those lovely flowers. Thank you for popping by.
I have really enjoyed reading your blog for the first time and being introduced to your beautiful garden. I have been really inspired at how organised you are and loved the idea of keeping all your seeds in a monthly order for sowing. Your over wintered plants are looking so healthy too! We moved 2 years ago to a house with a beautiful established garden and I have just started a cutting garden for flowers within it. I am trying to post something about how I’m getting on each week. The link for it is https://cloudberryflowers.wordpress.com. I am looking forward to reading more of your posts and enjoy more of your lovely photographs as the year goes on.