How to Design a Cottage Garden

Cottage gardens were once a common sight behind each home right next to the kitchen garden. They provided cut flowers for the dinner table and parlor from early spring until the first hard freeze. Like their name suggests, cottage gardens make the most of a small space. Large, professionally landscaped yards and the availability of store-bought flowers just about did in the art of the old-fashioned cottage garden, but a re-discovery of the joys of gardening has brought back the idea of planting what you like in a corner or side of the yard to enjoy and harvest whenever you want something pretty for the table.

Things You'll Need

• Graph paper
• Pencil
• Gardening references

Instructions

1. 

   Decide where to put the garden. You'll need some areas of full sun and some part-sun, part-shade if you want to grow a variety of plants. Find a roomy corner or border that's out of the way so you can cut flowers without worrying about ruining the vistas of your landscaping. Ring your garden with edging or rocks to keep the grass from growing into it.

2. 

   Choose old-fashioned, freely blooming plants. Save the fancy hybrids for show--they don't bloom as profusely or for as long as the old-fashioned varieties. For example, floribunda and Hansa roses may have smaller blooms than hybrid teas but they bloom more and will produce flowers several times a summer instead of just once in June or July. Put the drama queens (like those ink-black iris) in the formal garden and choose bright, easy-to-grow flowers for your cottage garden.

3. 

   Plan herbs for your cottage garden if you don't have a kitchen garden. Catmint, tansy, bergamot and mint all have pleasant blooms. Be sure to find a way to separate these prolific growers from the rest of your garden. They spread by runners and can overwhelm other plants quite easily.

4. Draw a plan for your garden. Know the requirements of the plants you're going to put in your garden. Put tall plants in back and give every perennial its space. Plan for growing habit, too. Peonies are slow growers but daylilies may need dividing every four or five years. Bearded iris and tulips must be divided periodically or they don't bloom as well.

5. 

   The idea of a cottage garden is to use a small space efficiently by planting everything all together. Plan for a succession of bloom with different areas of the garden lighting up throughout the growing season. Fill in room you need to leave for future growth of perennials with shallow-rooted, bright annuals. And don't forget that plants crowded in together really need regular fertilization. Mark dates for fertilizing on your calendar so you don't forget.

Tips & Warnings

• There are many sources to find old-fashioned flowers if you don't have a family member or neighbor who remembers them. Start in your library. Many nurseries with provide information about a plant variety's history and culture.

• One of the best ways to populate your cottage garden is to trade "snips" and "starts" with neighbors. Not only does it make good neighbors, it provides a home for plants you've thinned out and guarantees that the plant you receive will be at home in your climate.