The only think I think you could do is look at planting vegetables among your bulbs, maybe consider growing up. I grow beans, peas, cukes,and melons up on a plastic mesh, this lets me grow other plants underneath as they do not compete for the same space. Cukes especially like to be trellised ( not the bush type), and pole beans are more prolific than the bush so I do not need as many plants.

I grow cut flowers for market and though I am not sure your zone, tulips would be done early, lilies bloom around end of July, and when cut would allow any of these vegetables enough room to fill in the space. But the bulbs could not be dug until fall.

I grow my garlic in any space I can, they grow well with lots of things, lettuce is one that comes to mind, I also tuck them in my strawberry bed and with my apple seedlings. In fact I always leave a few garlic in the ground around my rose bushes and do not dig them up in the fall. These are the first things to sprout in the spring with lots of thick green stems, I cut them for stir fry or pull them up, they are small but packed with flavor that is so welcome at that time of year.

I am not sure if any of this would work for you as in a community garden I assume you would like to just till the whole thing in the spring. Good Luck.

Thanks for the reply. It sounds like it might be just easier to save one of the plots for veg and the other for cut flowers. In terms of cut flowers, as you sell them at market I guess you have a pretty good idea, which flowers will repeat bloom (or at least have lots of flowers to cut)? I have grown some bulbs before that just have one flower from them which would make getting enough to use difficult (or take up a lot of space).

I have probably a 4 ft x 4 ft patch and its zone 3. Which of the flowers above would you recommend in terms of value for money and amount?

Thanks

andrew

Your patch is very small, and if you are doing them for cut flowers lillies produce way more than tulips and command a better price as each stem has multiple flowers But this depends on them being left in the ground to increase.

The problem with using bulbs for cut flowers is the the very practice of removing the stem long enough for a cut, depletes the bulb and for some varieties they soon decline and you have to replant. Most cut flower growers buy them in quantities wholesale so they can just throw out the remaining bulb. I grow mine in a patch,cut selectivly and then, as in this year, when they start to decline, leave them alone to grow back. That said, you can grow a significant amount in your small patch.

Tulips come in so cheap from other countries that it is hard for small growers to compete, the wholesale price of a bulb is often more that the flower itself and you are right , it has only one flower.

Actually, many annuals far out produce the bulbs for cut flower production, are very easy to start in your own home and some can be direct seeded in the spring. I do 2000 seedlings in my basement every year. This is small potatoes to many growers but enough for my market.