A flower garden is a place of creative beauty, relaxation, contemplation, rest and play. No matter how constrained you are about space, money or time, designing a flower garden can be done effectively and beautifully. Perhaps, planning and setting up your first flower garden may seem challenging, even a bit daunting, but once you see the result blossoming, the efforts will all be worth it. This simple overview of flower garden basics will help you to start on this enriching endeavor, express your creativity, get closer to nature and enjoy a truly flowering experience.
Here are some practical tips on how to start your fascinating and exciting adventure of setting up a colorful and lively flower garden; from selecting a spot, preparing the soil, selecting your flowers, designing your garden, and planting your flowers.
Practical tips on how to start a flower bed from scratch
Site selection
To begin planting your flower garden, choose a sunny spot that gets direct sunlight the whole day or at least for half a day till noontime. Select a site that is flat as it is easiest to work on. A slight slop is okay too, but avoid a steep hill for your first time planting a flower garden, as it can be cumbersome and challenging.
Removal of Weeds and Grass
Once you have selected your site, remove any existing grass or weeds including the roots from the area. Ensure that this task is done methodically and thoroughly so as to not only prevent problems in the future but also for obtaining better flower gardening results. Getting rid of weeds and grass can be done by hand or by using a sod cutter. You could also smother the ground with cardboard and newspapers topped with mulch or use an herbicide.
Soil Preparation
The next step would be preparing the soil. Loosen the soil and mix organic matter into it. Organic matter consists of decomposed materials such as compost, old rotten leaves, well-aged stable manure, spent mushroom soil, or whatever materials you have available locally at a reasonable cost or in your daily trash. Additional an abundance of soil organisms, from earthworms to fungi, provide needed nutrients to plant roots and keep your flowers healthy.
Garden Size
While deciding the size of the flower garden, it's not always how big it is that matters. If it is your first time planting a flower garden, start small so that it is more contained and manageable. It will allow you to deal with the preparation phase more efficiently as well as keep up the maintenance of the flower garden as the season progresses. The choice of expanding is always there once you have succeeded in building a healthy and colorful flower garden.
Once all the preparations are done, you can start thinking about how you want your flower garden to look; what kind of garden design and style you prefer, how colorful you want it to look, the mood it should emanate and the backdrop your flower garden should have.
The big question that arises then is selecting the flowers to grow in your flower garden. This will not only depend on the gardener's own personal tastes but more importantly on growing conditions, style of the flower garden and other similar practical conditions. Try to pick as many native flowers as possible for best results. However, there may be some non-native flowers that are adaptable and may fit in well with your existing native ones. The key to this is to find a successful combination that works without being environmentally irresponsible.
It is fun to plant flowers, watch them grow and see your efforts come to fruition. But it is critical to quantify how much time you have to spend on maintaining your flowers, and your flower garden, as even low maintenance plantings require regular care. Ensure that you keep some time off every week to take care of your flower garden.
Growing flowers is pleasurable and a flower garden is like a dream. The whole process of flower gardening can be addictive and exciting. Moreover, it's even good exercise. Keeping your flowering plants and flowerbeds well cared for can ensure colorful as well as beautiful results and lead to a truly enjoyable experience.
