Succession Planning for a successful cutting patch

What can be grown is dependant on where you are located and the equipment and resources you have available to you, Some of these factors may be too difficult or impossible to change, such as the weather and where you live. However by planning your succession of seed sowing and planting you can make the most of each available time period v's your space. 

There is a delicate dance between nurturing the present beauty and preparing for future blooms and ensuring that you dedicate the right amount of space to each takes careful consideration and planning. Succession planning in gardening is akin to composing a symphony of colours and scents, ensuring a seamless transition from one season's blossoms to the next.

Succession planning isn't just about replacing spent blooms, it's about maintaining a continuous flow of flowers throughout the growing season and there are many factors to consider.  

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Mother Nature 

​Understanding when your natural growing season starts and ends in your area is important so that you can begin to plan harvests. Where I am based in Hampshire near the South Coast of England my natural growing season starts in February with the camellias and snowdrops opening up then soon after the Hyacinths and Anemones will start. We still have lots of frosty days and nights throughout March but if I grow the Hyacinths and Anemones under cover I will get a good crop by Mid  March, Without this its more likely to be the end of March. April will be the month of Tulips and a few filler flowers such as Cerinthe, Centaurea Montana and Wallflowers. In the greenhouse I can also expect a good crop of Icelandic poppies in April. Looking to the other end of the season this usually finishes with Dahlias anytime from Sep through to Nov, depending on the last frost. I don't grow my Dahlias in  the greenhouse as I simply do not have the space. If we have an early Sep frost I will usually have some China Asters to save the day and the heirloom Chrysanthemums will have also started and will take me through to December.  So armed with this information I know I can plan flowers from February through to  End of Nov and all it takes is to fill in the gaps. 

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Choosing the Right Plants

Selecting a variety of flowers/varieties with different bloom times can also ensure a continuous succession. Consider bulbs, corms, annuals, biennials and perennials to create a balanced and diverse offer. These will all need to be sowed and planted at different times and planning this ahead is key. Many people think that the gardening calendar starts in March when they sow most of their annual seeds, however I think to think ahead a lot more than this. For me my gardening year starts in mid summer. Around June time when most of the annuals are in the ground for the year and the potting bench is freed up this is when I start to sow my biennials for the following year and a few extra Perennials. In late summer and autumn come the hardy annuals, spring corms and bulbs and then annuals are started in the new year. So my sowing/ Planting year looks something like below  

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