Planting a flower garden requires proper attention and care of each of its constituents, whether you’re planting seeds, seedlings or bulbs. Each blossom requires enough space for it to flourish so as to minimize fungal infections like rot and mildew.
Be sure to use garden soil that drains well, including ingredients such as mulch, compost, sand and volcanic rock for better drainage. Doing this will prevent soil clumping while simultaneously improving drainage.
Choose the Right Plants
Before planting your flower garden, it’s essential to understand its needs. Aim for an area that receives at least six hours of direct sunlight daily – full-sun plants can perish in shaded locations while shade-lovers like rhododendrons will benefit from bright light exposure.
Decide on your desired color scheme and select blooms with complementary hues and forms. Experienced garden designers often employ staggered bloom times so that the garden remains colorful throughout all four seasons.
Before planting them into the ground, moving your flowers around in their pots is an effective way to visualize how your garden will look and ensure you’ve chosen plants that work well together and won’t become overgrown and block your windows or doors as they mature. This helps create an accurate representation of how it will appear once grown up!
Plan Your Garden
An attractive flower garden starts with careful planning. Create a garden layout on paper so you can get an idea of how the plants will blend before starting to dig.
Make sure the soil conditions are appropriate for each flower you plant, as water-logged soil invites disease and may hinder their success. Heavy clay soil may present further obstacles; most flowers require loose, well-draining soil instead.
Add easy-care shrubs to your flower garden for structure and four-season interest. Flowering varieties are great, while you could also select those with twisty branches or interesting bark.
If starting with seeds, follow the planting instructions found on their seed packet. When working with nursery plants, read their tags and carefully observe any height and spacing requirements before amending your site with composted manure or manure-rich amendments such as manure. Be sure to rake over any bumpy sections so roots can easily penetrate soil for strong flower growth!
Dig the Soil
Once you’ve decided where you’ll place your flower garden, clear out the area by clearing away grass or weeds that may be present. A shovel or spade are useful tools for digging while a garden fork works better for loosening dense soil. However, avoid working the soil when wet as this causes compaction that prevents root development.
No matter if you’re planting from seeds, seedlings, bulbs or transplanted flowers – holes or trenches must be dug for their proper placement. Make sure the holes or trenches are at least several inches deep to allow proper placement and enrich the soil by forking in well-rotted manure or compost while digging.
Flowers thrive in full sun, so choose a spot that gets sunshine all day long. Also, place the flower bed away from other yard activities; nothing would be worse than watching blooms get trampled during a barbecue! Finally, consider adding a pathway or other boundary marker to define its boundaries and keep weeds at bay!
Plant the Flowers
Flower gardens require ongoing care to stay looking their best. Their appearance largely depends on what types of flowers are chosen; for a full bloom experience choose fast-growing annuals like petunias, geraniums and pansies which bloom all summer.
Stick with flowers that thrive in your area’s climate and soil conditions, familiarizing yourself with your USDA growing zone and its frost dates is advised as this will prevent selecting plants which cannot withstand their environment.
Remove weeds as soon as they appear to prevent them from siphoning off resources and water away from your flowers, while pruning dead blossoms and foliage to promote new growth. Add shrubs for year-round interest, mixing heights, colors and textures across your garden for an organic aesthetic. Keep paths wide between beds to protect blooms from trampling; and enclose planting areas when children or pets visit so as to limit any accidental damages by their curious hands.