Jeff, I'm by no means one of the big hitters on this forum but I would recommend reading Lynn Byczynski's book The Flower Farmer. She gives plans and designs for the beginner cutting garden grower, suppliers, seed recommendations, quantity of plants and where to put them, and just about any other information you are going to need. Other than that, this forum is a wealth of information, from people that are generous of heart and of wisdom. Good luck. Kat

Thanks Kat. Great suggestion!

Jeff,

You will like Lynn's book a lot. Your plan sounds appropriate. I have several cutting garden books and they all tend to recommend planting designs similar to vegetable gardens for easier harvesting and an ability to walk between rows plus allow for easy maintenance.

You may also want to look into lasagne gardening methods to get your beds started and ease the back breaking work of double digging.

Teresa

Thanks Teresa!

Question on the lasagne method. I was planning on renting a rototiller to create the new rows. But that still means I'm pulling out the clumps of roots and grass.

Can you use the lasagne method and plant in the same season?

Jeff~I found this link that explains in pictures and words how sheet mulching works. It's best to wait a couple of months before planting, but not entirely necessary. If you did this in April and waited until June to plant annuals from seed, I think you would be successful.

Keep in mind, the berms you create will sink over time. I found when I planted small shrubs in mine, that I needed to plant them a little deeper when the bed calmed down. Of course, if you're planting annuals, or shallow rooted perennials, that won't be of concern.

I'm new to annuals, having just "re-discovered" them last year. The perennials I would recommend you grow are salvia, daylilies, hostas and sedum. All easy and tough, until you get more confidence. I know from experience these have lots of different varieties and look great with annuals. I also have a thing for coneflowers and yarrow, but these have deeper roots, and have better flowering the second and third years in the ground. Then you can divide them, for renewed vigor, once they take off again.

One of my gardens I'm very pleased with has White Swan coneflowers next to feather reed grass, tapering down to Paprika yarrow, then Pardon Me daylily. Fireworks goldenrod is used as an accent plant to anchor the bed. The edgers are lady's mantle (fine in sun with lots of water) and purple-leafed sedum (which need pea gravel mulch and less water). Oh, and there's a big fluffy Valerie Finnis artemisia and some Fanfare blanket-flowers, that I need to treat as annuals. I'm thinking of trying Flame Grass miscanthus instead of the feather reed grass this year, to contrast with the nearby sweetspire bush's fall colors. Whew. Sorry if I got off-track, I really can't wait until spring!! These are all excellent cut-flowers. :0)

Here is a link that might be useful: No-Till Method

Hi Jeff,

Whether you need to wait depends upon what you use for your layers. For one bed I used horse manure that was three months old. For that bed, I waited six months after building it. On another bed, I used horse manure that had already composted a long time so I was able to plant immediately.

I feel fortunate as I have access to horse manure provided I am patient. If you use layers that won't "burn" then you can plant right now.

Some horse manure can be a problem if the horses are fed grain as horses are notorious for not thoroughly chewing so seed can pass through the manure and create weeds. My horses are fed a pelleted feed and we use stall bedding that decomposes quickly so that helps also--all of which is way more information than you probably wanted!

Teresa

teresa~I'm jealous! :)

prairiegirlz,

It is wonderful--I never thought I would be this happy about all those giant mounds of composted manure. I can build flower beds whenever I want-no digging required.

Teresa

Thanks for all of the great info everyone. I did get Lynn Byczynski's book and I'm excited to get my hands dirty this Spring. My vegetable garden is going to double in size to accomodate a cutting garden. Overall, it's going to be 12 X 20. It keeps expanding each year but I don't want to go too big just yet.

Also, I found a great source that sells loam, compost and horse manure, all organic. I will be getting a great blend and build raised beds over the existing lawn.

29 days to Spring!

Jeff

Jeff,

Make sure you put down several layers of wet newspaper on top of your lawn before piling on your layers. It is extra insurance that grass, weeds, etc., won't grow up through your layers.

You are going to have so much fun.

Teresa

Or cardboard, if you have it. But wet it so it breaks down faster.

Personally, I've found it helped me to wait a couple of weeks between making the bed and planting in it, so that the weeds could germinate and be dealt with prior to planting. I haven't grown anything from seed for awhile, but I sure wouldn't want to nurture little weed seedlings (!) only to be disappointed that they weren't the plants I wanted.

However, it *does* sound like fun!

Did you decide what you're going to grow? :0)

Teresa / Prairiegirlz:

Thanks, I will take your advice and put down newspaper or cardboard first. I've down the newspaper route before for a small bed.

As far as what I'm going to grow, I've ordered the following:

Delphiniums
Phlox
Asters
Echinacea
Peonies
Shasta Daisy
Sib Iris
Gypsophila
Veronica
Yarrow
Columbine
Lupine
Asclepias
Rudbeckia
Celosia
Zinnia
Cosmos

Thoughts?

-Jeff

Great selection, Jeff!

You have quite a few perennials (which I really like), however, you may want to look at the messages posted in this forum as at least one addresses the mix of perennials to annuals.

A few other ideas: have you given thought to fillers? I have a lot of wild Queen Anne's Lace available to me and used the heck out of it last year. There is a comparable commercial variety available--ammi majus. I would also add some annual larkspur to give you some early blues--sow your seed asap as it needs cool weather for germination. It self seeds well so you will be set for next year.

And, if you want bouquets for late Summer and Autumn, you may want some suns and amaranthus.

Teresa