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Taking time to live well
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cut flower garden.png

How to grow cut flowers

Lottie Storey April 5, 2018

Here's an idea: turn a tired area of your garden into a cutting-flower patch and you'll be picking blooms all summer

If you don’t have green fingers, start with long-lasting perennials and shrubs from your local nursery or garden centre. A trio of scented ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ roses underplanted with pincushions of astrantia, daisy-like echinacea, and the foliage of bronze fennel all make good picking and will supply dozens of fragrant bunches. While autumn is the time for planting daffs and tulips, spring is good for getting gladioli and allium bulbs in the ground, as well as dahlias, with their stunning cactus and anemone shapes. 

For everyday bunches of loveliness, sow sweet peas. They’re easy to grow, and so benevolent with their blooms, you can pick every day of summer. There’s a wide range of colour, too. Build a hazel or bamboo wigwam for them to twine around and plant at the base of each strut. As seedlings appear, encourage them to clamber onto the frame with twine. Tender seedlings are a gift to molluscs, so sprinkle some wildlife-friendly slug pellets, too.

Turn to page 118 for more cutting patch advice, including how to do the groundwork, growing from seed and how to arrange your blooms.

APRIL ISSUE

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More from the April issue:

Featured
Apr 24, 2018
Being boring
Apr 24, 2018
Apr 24, 2018
Apr 23, 2018
Use old bins to grow veg
Apr 23, 2018
Apr 23, 2018
Apr 22, 2018
Natural first aid | Asthma attacks
Apr 22, 2018
Apr 22, 2018

More plants:

Featured
Apr 5, 2018
How to grow cut flowers
Apr 5, 2018
Apr 5, 2018
Apr 1, 2018
Nest | Pilea
Apr 1, 2018
Apr 1, 2018
Mar 24, 2018
Nest | Succulents
Mar 24, 2018
Mar 24, 2018
InNest Tagsplants, nest, issue 70, april, cut flowers, flowers, growing flowers
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The Simple Things is published by Iceberg Press

The Simple Things

Taking time to live well

We celebrate slowing down, enjoying what you have, making the most of where you live, enjoying the company of of friends and family, and feeding them well. We like to grow some of our own vegetables, visit local markets, rummage for vintage finds, and decorate our home with the plunder. We love being outdoors and enjoy the satisfaction that comes with a job well done.

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