Can I grow cut flowers in a small backyard?

Yes. A sunny strip a metre wide will keep a vase filled all summer, and large pots on a deck will do it too. What matters is sunlight, at least six hours a day, not square metres. Choose productive cut-and-come-again varieties like zinnias and cosmos, plant them closer together than the packet suggests, and pick constantly.

This is the objection I hear most, usually phrased as "oh, I could not, I have only got a courtyard".

I started with a patch of lawn. I now have a farm. But the flowers did not know the difference in year one, and yours will not either.

How much space do I actually need?

Less than you are picturing.

A bed one metre by two metres, planted 20cm apart, holds around fifty plants. Fifty zinnias, picked properly, will keep you in flowers all summer and leave you with plenty to give away. Most people's first bed is bigger than they need and smaller than they think.

Even a single large pot with three or four zinnias in it will produce for months.

The bit people get wrong is not the size. It is the light.

Why does sun matter more than space?

Because a flower is a light-powered machine. Photosynthesis is how the plant builds the sugars it uses to make blooms, so less light literally means fewer flowers.

Six hours of direct sun a day is the minimum for the varieties I grow, and eight is better. A spot with four hours will grow you tall, pale, floppy plants that produce a handful of small flowers and get mildew.

So before you decide where the bed goes, watch the space for a day. Note when the sun hits it and when it goes. The corner you assumed was sunny often is not, and the strip beside the driveway often is.

A north-facing fence line is usually the best real estate in a New Zealand back garden, and it is almost always wasted.

Can I grow cut flowers in pots?

Yes, with three adjustments.

Go bigger than feels necessary. Cut flowers are hungry and thirsty, and a small pot dries out by lunchtime in January. Think 30cm across as a minimum, and larger for the tall varieties.

Water more than you would in the ground. Pots in full summer sun may need it daily. This is the main reason pot-grown flowers fail.

Feed regularly. Potting mix runs out of nutrients in about six weeks. A weekly liquid feed from then on makes an enormous difference.

Cosmos and zinnias both do well in pots. Snapdragons at 100 to 150cm will need a decent-sized pot and probably a stake.

Which flowers give the most from the least space?

Go for cut-and-come-again above everything else. A plant that produces one flower and stops is a poor use of a small bed, however lovely that flower is.

Zinnias are the highest yielding thing I grow per square metre. Cut them and they branch and produce more.

Cosmos is close behind and extremely generous.

Celosia gives you texture, which is what makes a small-garden bouquet look considered rather than thrown together.

Matricaria is the filler. A couple of plants will lift everything else you pick.

Does planting closer together really work?

For cut flowers, yes, and it is a bit counterintuitive.

Packet spacing is usually written for a bedding display, where you want each plant bushy and covered in flowers at eye level. For cutting, you want the opposite. You want the plant to reach upward for light and put its energy into long single stems.

Planting at 20 to 30cm rather than the 40cm a packet might suggest does exactly that. The plants also hold each other up, which saves you staking.

Do not take it too far, because you still need airflow between plants or mildew will find you. But closer than the packet is right.

What should I plant first if I have only got one bed?

One packet of zinnias and one of cosmos. That is it.

Fifty plants across the two, in a sunny metre-wide strip, sown late September and planted out after Labour Day. You will be cutting by Christmas and still cutting in April.

Do that for one season and you will know exactly what you want to add next year, which is a much better way to decide than reading about it.

My Cut Flower Seed Kit has both plus three more, and it is sized about right for a small garden's first go.

Frequently asked questions

How much space do I need to grow cut flowers?
A bed roughly one metre by two metres holds around fifty plants, which is enough to keep a vase filled all summer. Large pots on a sunny deck also work.

Can cut flowers be grown in pots in New Zealand?
Yes. Use pots at least 30cm across, water more often than you would in the ground, and feed weekly once the potting mix is six weeks old.

How much sun do cut flowers need?
At least six hours of direct sun a day, and eight is better. Sunlight matters more than the size of the space.

How close together should I plant cut flowers?
Closer than the packet suggests, around 20 to 30cm. It encourages longer straight stems and the plants support each other.

What is the best cut flower for a small garden?
Zinnias. They produce more the more you cut them, so they give the highest yield from a small bed.