We’ve all seen those beautiful blooms in spring with colors spanning every hue of the rainbow. You might have even seen this spectacular scene in your neighbor’s yard, or even standing out in a lonesome patch of field.
Maybe you’re a plant lover and you want to beautify your space with color.
Regardless, flower gardens add beauty and color to the unused margins of your yard, and to any space in which they’re able to grow. But, how do you get started on your own flower garden?
The good news is, it’s not that difficult. Though it can be overwhelming, especially if you’re new to planting flowers, once you have the basic process down, you’ll be able to select the right florals to spruce up your landscape and add a little color (and value) to your property.
The following are a few tips for beginning your first floral garden.
Selecting Blooms
Many people go out and buy soil before they buy seeds or flowers. This is actually a backward process.
First, you’ll want to select the types of florals you prefer in your garden. Different blooms require different soil compositions, So, with this in mind, if you want several different blooms, you should choose a soil mix to suit the growing needs of your florals accordingly.
Next, you’ll want to decide if you want annual blooms or perennial. Annuals only bloom once a year, while perennials come back year after year. With annuals, you typically have the most vibrant and unique blooms, but you have to plant them year after year.
While some annuals are self-sowing, meaning that they generally proliferate on their own with the help of birds and wind, most will need to be re-planted again. For those who want to let the garden grow and work its own magic, perennials are the optimal choice.
Above all, be careful when selecting colors. If you’re going with a color scheme, choose blooms that complement one another such as various shades of blues, reds, or yellows. Grouping these together will create an assortment of colors, but feel free to get creative.
Placement
When you take the art of landscaping into consideration, you have to view your yard with a little structure in mind. If you’re just planting a small, front-facing flower garden in your yard, this will be a simple process.
When choosing where to plant, you must also follow the path of the sun over a period of a few days to find the most suitable placement for your florals.
Some of these blooms require less sunlight than others. While you want to choose a space that receives direct sunlight for at least a 6-hour duration, some blooms like a bit of shade as well. Ensure that you consult a grow chart for your florals prior to situating them in a garden.
If you’re planting multiple blooms, consider sectioning off parts of your yard with planters. Good areas for planters are around the base of trees, or in a box pattern near the perimeter of your home or property.
Maintenance
Now that the fun part is done, you should have a nice array of colors in your floral garden. Though this is enjoyable, the work isn’t exactly over.
You’ll still need to keep encroaching weeds from infiltrating your garden. While some like to use herbicides to quickly remove weeds, this can be harmful to both the people around your home and the insects such as bees which help pollinate your garden. It’s also good to note that the popular weed killer, Roundup, has been linked to causing cancer in some people.
It’s best to avoid chemical herbicides altogether. As a much safer alternative, simply pulling weeds is an effective method. This also gets you out into your garden to spend a little time caring for it.
If you’re annoyed at pulling weeds, or if you have an overgrowth of invasive weeds, use a combination of natural weed killers like saltwater or vinegar spray solutions or essential oils to reduce weed growth.
The type of floral arrangement you choose is completely up to your style, taste, and imagination. While some choose to just have a splash of color here and there for aesthetic purposes, you can also aim for the big picture and have your yard teeming with rich color.
No matter what you choose, remember that planting a floral garden is an ongoing process involving a lot of care, maintenance, and a whole lot of love.
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