If this is your first year growing, or your first year incorporating cut flowers, be sure to asses the area you have to work with before you start ordering seeds! I’ve made the mistake before of ordering my seeds up front and then having to work backwards to try to fit everything in. It cost me a LOT of time as well as extra money to try to get everything to flow.
If you have flat, square space that’s wonderful! Your life is going to be a lot easier by having all of your rows the same length. My space is [mostly] flat and it’s not square. At all. That’s not a huge deal. But it does require a little bit more math and a lot more care when cleaning up drip tape and landscape fabric at the end of each season.
A surveyor tape and stakes will make your life infinitely easier. If you don’t have them you can make do with any type of markers and a measuring tape. The goal here is to measure the overall area that you’re wanting to use to to grow. If you’re using landscape fabric, I highly suggest giving yourself enough room so that each row can be five and a half feet wide.
I don’t want to go into too much detail here, but it’s important that you also consider how you plan to irrigate your space. Drip tape is my favorite method but overhead watering is a good option too! You’ll just want to make sure that whatever space you’re working with, you can get water out there.
Once you have your area measured out, sketch it out, on graph paper if you have it. This will help you visualize your area and give you a chance to draw in your rows and see how your space will be used. Plan on having four-foot wide rows and I wouldn’t go less than 18 inches for your paths.
Key considerations
- Irrigation. If you’re not running irrigation, make sure your hoses reach your growing area and they have enough water pressure
- Establish permanent paths between your different growing sections – ours was easy, we used the old driveway as our permanent path
- If you’re investing in perennials or slow growing crops, find a spot for them at the edge of your growing space. They’re usually planted out first, or start growing at the beginning of the season, so you’ll save time and a headache by not having to work around them
- If you’re in a windy area, consider planting hedgerows (windbreaks). Most of our growing area is surrounded by aspen so we don’t get a lot of wind, but in some of the open areas I’ve planted starts from our lilac bush. If you need a quick, temporary option corn works great!
- If you have heavy deer pressure, consider a fence. We generally have a lot of deer in our area, but are fortunate that between the dogs and cougars up the mountain we haven’t had much deer damage
- Keep an eye on the space you want to use and track the amount of direct sunlight it gets. You’ll want at least six hours of direct sunlight every day.
