A flower garden in your house consists of different flowering plants, mainly planted to get a mesmerizing display and aroma of fresh flowers in the air. People usually plant a flower garden in the back or front of their houses to relax.
Before planting a flower garden, decide if you want to grow annuals or perennials or a combination of both, which will make a beautiful garden but will have different maintenance requirements.
Important Points to Consider
To ensure the success of your flower garden, consider these things before starting:
1. Sunlight
Regardless of its type, every garden needs sunlight. It is the core ingredient required for the success of any garden, so make sure that your garden receives plenty of sunlight.
2. Soil Quality
The second most crucial point to consider before building your garden is the quality of the soil. A soil that is not too hard for roots to penetrate and has enough nutrients for plants to absorb is perfect for your flower garden.
3. Watering Conditions
The garden area should receive plenty of water, either naturally or artificially. It’s the only way to keep the plants alive.
Step 1 – Choose a Location
Location is the key to a beautiful flower garden. Choose a flat spot for your garden because it’s more complicated, expensive, and time-consuming to deal with a sloping spot. Check the sunlight conditions, water conditions, and look for the place that would complement your house if you build a garden there. You can create it outside the back door, near the mailbox, or by the window you gaze through while cooking in your kitchen.
Flowers provide a beautiful sight and aroma in the air, but you have to take care of them, so choose a place where you can access the garden easily for maintenance, if the site is close enough to a water spigot then you won’t have to drag a hose across your entire yard.
Step 2 – Prepare the Soil
Once you have selected the location, you have to prepare the soil for your flower garden. Soil preparation needs some simple steps, which includes:
1. Remove Existing Grass
To prepare the soil, you have to remove the already existing weeds or grass. Take a shovel and dig up the soil to uproot these unwanted plants.
2. Level the Soil
Once the grass is removed, level the soil.
3. Fertilize the Soil
Perfectly fertilized soil is better for your plant’s growth. Check the soil’s quality before planting anything, if it’s rocky and dry, then till it and add organic matter. You can improve the soil quality by adding a 2 to 3 inch (5-7.6 cm) layer of compost, dry grass clippings, decayed leaves, or manure.
Step 3 – Choose Flowers
There are mainly two major types of flowering plants, with different maintenance requirements:
1. Annuals
Annuals are those flowering plants that complete their life cycle in one growing season. You have to replace the dead and plant the new every year. In their flowering season, it feels like someone has painted the garden with beautiful colors. Some examples of annuals are calendula, cosmos, zinnias, geraniums, impatiens, sunflowers, and marigolds.
2. Perennials
On the other hand, perennials can live for many growing seasons. They are low-maintenance plants; after their initial planting, they don’t need much care. Their top portion dies in the winter but grows back in the spring. Some perennial examples are Russian sage, black-eyed Susan, lamb’s ears, pansies, daylilies, purple coneflowers, and phlox.
Step 4 – Colors and Textures
Choose the right colored and textured plants for your garden that compliments the overall theme. Don’t just add a bunch of flowers without knowing how your garden will turn out. There are a variety of flowering plants available with different color schemes. Follow a pattern and select the plant that goes well with each other, creating an eye-catching look for your garden.
Step 5 – Planting
You can grow plants in your garden by following three different methods which include:
1. Seeds
The first method is to sow seeds and wait for them to grow. This method is time-consuming, but it’s cheap. However, seeds require more care than grown plants.
2. Plants
The second method is buying some plants from your local nursery and directly planting them in your soil. This method is costly but can save you a lot of time.
3. Growing seedlings
You can buy seedlings from a nursery, or you can also grow them by yourself. A few weeks before the last frost, grow seedlings inside. Add some seed-starting soil, that you can get from a garden center in a seedling tray and put some seeds in the soil. Follow the instructions mentioned on the seed package. Keep the soil moist and put it near a window for sunlight. Meanwhile, prepare your soil in the garden, so once the seedlings are ready, you can transplant them in the garden soil.
Step 6 – Making Borders
Placement of the flowering plant according to their distinct colors, smell, and height, is important:
- To make borders place them according to their size. Begin with the tallest plants; the next line will be of medium-sized plants and grow the smallest in the front. This way, you can display the harmony and balance in the art of gardening.
- Don’t add flowering plants in the dead corners where you cannot reach. Flowering plants are fragile; they need proper care. So be careful and arrange them in a way that they are accessible to you easily.
Step 7 – Water and Care
In the case of seedling, they should never be allowed to dry out. Transplants also need regular watering to adjust and to come out of the transplanting shock. Once the roots have established, watering once a week is enough. Another way to check if your garden needs watering is by examining the soil 3 to 4 inches (7.6-10 cm) below the surface if it feels dry, water the soil.
Conclusion
Everyone desires a perfect flower garden. Looking out your front door to see a beautiful garden filled with colors and flowers gives you immense satisfaction. To build the flower garden of your dreams, you don’t need to be a landscape designer.
By following the above mentioned easy steps, you can create a flower garden for yourself. Whether you start from seeds, transplants, or seedlings, it all comes down to proper planning and good soil quality.
