gardening tips

You'll also be able to make sure you're not creating problems in your garden, that may make things difficult later in the growing season. If you're planting wildflowers which grow as tall as two feet for instance, you won't want to plant those right in front of a tulip garden which has flowers that will only grow to about ten inches in height.

One of the first steps needed in garden planning is to choose which flowers, bushes, shrubs, or plants you'd like to have in your garden. Choices are made for a variety of reasons too. Some people choose their flowers and plants based on color, while others may choose what to put in their garden based on how easy the plant or flower is to grow. Still others will plan gardens based on various needs their yard areas have.

If you have an area of your yard which isn't easily accessible for watering for instance, you might want to consider creating a small cactus garden, or planting flowers which require very little supplemental watering throughout the year. Likewise if there is an area of your yard which seems to be the first to flood when rains come, you'll want to plan a garden area for that space which includes plants and flowers who thrive with lots of water. Once you've chosen the kinds of plants and flowers you want to have in your garden, the next step is to make sure you know what the sunlight, soil, and water requirements are for those
plants. Plants which have similar needs for sun, soil and water should be planted in similar locations. If you try to plant a shade loving plant right next to a sun loving plant, one or the other of those plants is likely to die soon. And sometimes both with die, if the location you choose for them isn't quite appropriate for either one.

Now that you have your plants and their garden locations chosen, the next planning step involves
how to arrange multiple plants into one garden area. And this part is fairly simple. If all of the plants you've chosen for one area of the garden will be about the same height once they're fully grown, then you can choose any layout design you'd like for them. You can plant like colored plants together for instance, or stagger the colors for a
variegated look. Usually there are some plants which will grow taller than others in your garden though, and when this is the case you'll need to make sure you plant the tallest growing plants towards the back, and the smaller ones in the front. This way the tallest plants and flowers won't hide the smaller ones once they're fully grown.

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Annuals for easy growing and bright colors

They call them annuals because they grow for a single growing season. They usually will not come back the following year, but there are exceptions to this rule. Some seeds may drop and come back. Annual flowers are relatively inexpensive so you can afford to by a lot of them for effect. Often you will by annuals in starter pots. This way you can take them home and place them in various places to see how they will look together and with other plants and backgrounds. This method saves time and effort as you do not have to put them into the ground to see the effect. You can leave them in the containers (flower pots) so you can move them around the area from time to time for diversion. Some spring planted annuals will last all summer long providing constant color and joy for the gardener. They do not require much work. Have you seen the pansies flowering? The Vinca plant looks like Pansies and they come in many colors as well. If you want solid petals and blooms the Vinca is perfect. The Vinca is a strong plant and does well in the hot summer sun.
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Vinca's often grow to about ten or twelve inches high, and when you pluck the expended buds off of them regularly, they bloom in some areas for months on end. In Zone 7B for instance, it's not uncommon to see
Vinca's in bloom from March through September or October. 
Another easy growing annual that's a favorite of most gardeners is the
Pansy. This plant also has glossy green leaves and many different flower colors to choose from. The flowers themselves almost look like little faces with the way they're colored too.

Morning Glories are another annual plant in most areas, and these also produce profusive flower blooms for months on end. As long as the roots of the Morning Glory vines are kept moist and out of direct, hot sunlight, these plants will climb all over a trellis, fence, and even bushes too.




Morning Glory vines create a tight spiral pattern when they're climbing, so you need to give them small things to grab onto. A trellis with wide wooden slats is too large for the tight spirals to get around easily, but a
chain-link fence is ideal. You can even use string or thin twine for the vines to wrap around and climb.

 

Have you ever lived in a studio apartment? If so, then you know how cramped ordinary living can be. You may be surprised, though, at how many varieties of plants can be grown in very small spaces.



Strawberry plants, for example, can be grown very efficiently in containers. You can grow one plant or
many in the same container. Hang a few containers from above the windows so they will get needed sunlight. Put them in flower pots on the patio or deck. Some containers have holes in the side so the plant can send out trailers downward from the pot instead of growing up from the pot. There are many
ivy plants you can use this way. Try building a window box. I built two of them seven years ago in short order. They are still sitting out in our
backyard, weathered but suitable for many plants. I had fun painting pictures on the sides. Most window boxes are attached to the outside of the windows. Window gardens can be different sizes and shapes depending on your taste and the number of plants you want to put in them.

Both annuals and perennials can be planted
in window boxes.