How to Start a Flower Garden

Choosing the right site is very important when starting a flower garden. This should be considered first since there are some specific types of plants that require at least 6 hours of exposure to the sun each day, while others grow best in shaded areas.

So consider how exposed to the sun and how shaded the area is. If you consider a more shaded site, chances are you'll be left with few choices, but not prohibitive.

Also try to evaluate other elements of sun exposure, including high and drying winds or heavy foot traffic keeping in mind that there are some flowering plants that turn their faces toward the sun. So, if for instance your view of the garden is from a west window, there's a possibility your beautiful flowers could face away from you in the afternoon.

Choose the site according to its location and accessibility. Is it along a walkway? Is it capable of making your entrance more of a focal point? Whatever, the case may be, make sure the site adds beauty to your home.

Now that you've determined where you'll grow your flowers, it's time to check the soil. Testing the soil is by far the least exciting part of gardening, but it's critically important.

Expert gardeners test the soil through its pH level because the pH of the soil will tell the acidic or alkaline levels of your soil. Plants won't survive in soil that doesn't have pH within an acceptable range or nutrients can't be absorbed by the plants.

Therefore, when testing your soil, be aware that most plants grow and bloom in soil with pH somewhat neutral, like 6.2 to 6.8. However, it's important to understand that this isn't always the case.

In reality, some plants are more particular when it comes to soil pH range. Thus it's best to first check the label of the flower or plant you're considering. If you're buying plants from a nursery, chances are you'll find plants with tags that contain some specifics about the pH and other details. If no pH preference is listed, a neutral pH level is always recommended.

Aside from the pH level, it's a rule of thumb when starting a flower garden to check the texture of the soil. If you're new to this concept, then note that soil texture actually refers to how sandy, heavy clay, rocky or sandy loam the soil is. No matter what the texture of your soil is, it can be improved with the addition of compost or something organic that will serve as a soil conditioner.

Compost is important for a number of reasons. It doesn't just improve the soil structure, it also aids in the necessary microbial activity in the soil and can even hold the soil nutrients in their organic state, allowing the soil to be more healthy and available throughout the growing season.

Here are some additional tips to consider when testing the soil texture and adding compost.

* Clay Soil: Many gardeners who have heavy clay soil tend to add some coarse builder's type sand or something fine. This can be helpful for improving the texture of your soil, but for ultimate result, it's best to add them only in addition to the compost you've added. Compost is very important since, without it, your soil composed of sand and clay will tend to yield bricks when dried, which isn't good for growing plants.

* Shallow Soil: When it comes to shallow type of soil, it's often suggested that if you have a bed rock with just a shallow layer of soil on top of it, building raised beds is a worth the effort. This provides your plant a much deeper soil for its roots.

* Rocky Soil: Many people say that rocky soil isn't good for growing flowers or plants. Actually, it's an interesting fact that rocky soil isn't all that bad, but it can be difficult to work as your shovel tends to bounce off the stones every time you use it for gardening. If this is the case, try to first remove anything that appears to be the size of a potato or larger. You can also use a tiller to better accumulate the soil on its fine state, without those hard rocks around.

As you may notice, checking and understanding the type of soil you have isn't an easy task. It can be complicated, especially for beginners. However, testing and properly preparing your soil is one of the most critical tasks to complete when starting a flower garden.

Flower bed preparation is another important task when starting a successful flower garden because your flower bed is exactly where your flowers will grow.

For new flowers beds, it's advised to prepare the beds the autumn before the first planting of annuals. Annuals are those plants that complete their life cycle in one growing season. The seeds of these plants usually grow in spring, flower, bloom, and produce seed and then die.

Nevertheless, before planting annuals, for instance, it's necessary to make sure the soil is properly selected and prepared. The area should be improved by using compost or other organic matter. Once the soil is prepared, try to spade the soil to a depth of about ten inches.

Do this three to four times during weekly intervals. Then add some soil amendments and only settle if you think the soil is ready for planting.

Choosing the right plants or flowers to grow is actually more difficult than you might think because there are so many flowers to choose from. In addition, each flower has its own characteristics and potential that needs to be considered carefully to make sure garden meets the survival requirements of your flowers. Thus, with so many options, it's best to limit yourself only to a handful of flower choices.

It's also where the importance of choosing the right color of flowers comes in. To begin, choose flowers with colors you like. Perhaps the best way to do your selection is to walk through the neighborhood and see what your neighborhoods are successfully growing. You'll discover that this is more helpful than basing your decision on a photograph from a magazine.

Another good idea is to walk around a couple of gardens near by and see if you can read the labels of each plant growning there. Try to combine some plants that attract you most until you've determined the best choices for your flower garden. Consider three to five flowers you feel will look great in your garden.

However, when selecting, it's important for the flowers you're considering to have the same growing requirements. Make sure they'll all thrive in the flower bed you've prepared. When figuring out the growing requirements, you'll need to consider sun exposure, including the water and the soil pH they require. It's best to ensure that none of the flowers you've selected will require more care than what you can provide.

Don't get too overloaded with too many beautiful flowers. It's best to keep the variety of plants limited. Most expert gardeners recommend having a composition of flowers with less variety than to have one of a certain variety and one of the other.

Here's a few ideas regarding some of the easiest flowers to grow. These flowers are all classified as annuals and they tend to grow in flower beds beautifully.

* Sunflowers: We're all familiar with sunflowers. Well, sunflowers bloom in many shapes, sizes and colors. They can easily be grown from seeds, and what makes them perfect is they can be grown even by young children. By far, the most popular variety of sunflower is the giant size which stands ten feet tall. There are also others that stand great and fit well to the size of your garden.

* Marigolds: According to some claims, marigolds are basically the work horses of the garden. Just like sunflowers, they're easy to grow right from seed and tend to produce a number of blooms, especially from spring to frost. However, choosing the right marigold can be a bit puzzling with lots of varieties available.

Marigold now comes in four common types, including African, French, Triploid and Signet. Each of these varieties has their own characteristics, thus it's important to select carefully which variety will fit to your soil type, and which one will make your garden more attractive and lively marigolds. Choosing the best marigold for your flower garden is a matter of personal taste.

* Geraniums: This is another easy to grow annual that will yield more flowers in your garden. Of all the choices available, geraniums are by far the most popular. Millions of flower gardens throughout the world cultivate this plant knowing they're very easy to grow and are great for amateur and veteran gardeners alike. It's interesting to know that geraniums can change from annuals to perennials. In warmer countries, they're treated as perennials because they live for more than one growing season. And, just like the other flowers, geraniums bloom from spring to frost.

Now that you've prepared your soil, flower bed and chosen the flowers you want to plant, it's now time to learn how to properly plant your flowers.

Here are a few planting tips to consider. If you follow these steps, you'll guarantee your flowers will bloom the way they should.

1. With the plants in their pots, don't forget to water them the day before you intend to plant them.

2. Don't attempt to remove the plants from their pots. Rather, leave them sitting in the sun for the roots to dry out.

3. If the roots are packed so dense or if they grow in a circle, try to tease them apart. This is important in order to allow the roots to stretch out and grow into the surrounding soil.

4. When burying the plant, bury them according to how they were buried in the pot. Don't bury them too deep or else the stem will rot. On the other hand, don't bury them too high to prevent the roots from drying out.

5. When planting, don't press the plant down hard. Instead of pushing them deeper as you cover them with the soil, water them. The water itself will help the plant settle into the ground.

6. As soon as your flower garden is newly planted, don't forget to water it. Also, make sure it gets and absorbs at least one inch of water per week. During hot, dry summers, treat them with increased amounts of water.

Some plants do require regular maintenance. This is true for both annuals and perennials, so don't be fooled when someone tells you that perennial plants require less maintenance than annuals.

Just like the rest of the necessary steps involved in flower gardening, maintaining your garden isn't an easy task. You need to exert much time, effort, passion and interest when taking care of your flowers. This is the only way you'll be able to say, in the end, that you've planted a great garden.

The first step in making sure all your efforts were worthwhile is to water your plants on a regular schedule. If it regularly rains in your location, that's great, if not, don't let your plants get dried out and stressed. If you let them reach that state, you're removing their chances for recovering fully in that growing season.

Watch out for weeds. It's quite possible that weeds will grow and try to frustrate the growth of your flowers. So do some weeding regularly.

Aside from watering and weeding, also consider "deadheading". This refers to the removal of the spent blossoms from your flowers. According to some experts, deadheading is necessary as it will keep your flowers blooming longer and looking fresher.

Finally, just like humans, plants die, of course, so don't be too sad. Just move on and replace them with a new batch of flowers.

Flower gardening is indeed not always an easy process, but it is a very fulfilling hobby even though it involves several labor intensive steps. Regardless of how successful your flower garden turns out to be, just be content and be happy with it.
Regardless of what you've accomplished, the challenge of starting a flower garden is worth the effort. If your flower garden blooms beautifully, then good for you. Perhaps your failures and successes will inspire you to make plans for further expansion. Won't that be fun?