Tips On Flower Gardening

Before we start the flower talk, we'd like you to show you our latest 'masterpiece'. A video.

"Mom, we made a video!"

We 'produced' our newborn on a lame Sunday afternoon when Mr. Thunder and Ms. Lightning kept us glued to the kitchen table. It took us a three hours and two bottles of red wine :)
Needles to say, we had fun making it.

Now we keep our fingers crossed you like it as well...

If you do, please vote our tribute to spring straight into video heaven and let us know in the box way down on this page. If you don't, please shoot us an email...
We won't promises to never ever make a video again though. It was fun!

Flower gardening isn't hard. Mother Natures has set some basic rules and once you master them, it's a piece of cake.

We have a website full of Tips on Flower Gardening. On the homepage we've put five basic rules for flower gardening. No need to rush over there. Here they are:

1Start Small
No brainer, trust us. We've seen lots of people starting off big and ending up nowhere. Start of with one flower bed. Make it bloom. Learn what it takes to keep it pretty. Then start your second.

2Keep your money in your wallet
You don't need money to grow flowers. Well, some dimes, but that's about it. Don't get overexcited and buy some fancy tool because you saw a pro or your neighbour use it. Neglect this advice and you'll end up with a shed filled with rusty iron :(

3Start at the bottom
Always wanted to say that - sorry. What we mean is this: prepare your soil. If it's too hard to put a spade in the ground it's definitely too hard for your flowers roots to work its way down. Loosen up the soil. No, not with a machine. Just get on your knees and get your hands dirty. A spade is a great help though :)

4Keep it real
Some weeks ago we got a call from a gardener asking why the Nymphea lutea he bought online wasn't doing so well. That one was easy! A Numphea is a water lily. He had the flower in a container.
Learn if you know nothing. Experiment. Stick to what you know. Then expand. Look at what grows in your neighbourhood. Ask the guys at the garden centre. Or ask us :) (use the guestbook below)

5Light and Water
Flowers need water and sunlight. You knew that, didn't you! Well, here comes the complicated part. What isn't enough for flower A will kill flower B. And the other way around. Learn by doing. And be smart. If you take this serious, keep a journal so you won't kill your daffodils again next year :)

How sad!
If you want to grow flowers, you'd better be prepared to do a lot of weeding. And no, you are not the one who calls the shots here. Mother Nature does. She'll decide for you when it's time to get on your knees.

Don't complain, weed!

Hell, we have been weeding so much, we don't even need gloves anymore...

What separates the weekend gardener from the Gardoholic?
A Gardoholic loves to weed!

We both love Container Flower Gardening. You can grow just about anything in a container. Well, except for some trees, but that's about the only possible exception I can think of.

Sidenote: be creative. Anything with a bottom is a container. Add some weird stuff to your garden for a unique personality. Take a trashcan. Filled with flowers it's a great eyecatcher!

Container flower gardening is great because it allows you to re-arrange your garden as often as you like. Not only because you want your best looking flowers in the front, but also because containers makes it possible to easily manage the amount of sun your flowers get. Just pick up the container and put it in the shade.

PS We are so old, we let some one else pick up the container. Especially because Joanne loves huge (I mean HUGE!) containers.

The answer to that question could fill a book. A huge book. It depends on where you live, the condition of the soil, the size of the flower bed, the type of flowers you want to grow. And some more.

But hey, since we are here anyway, here is the quick run down on how to plant Flowers.

Find a spot in your garden (think: sun or shade!) and before you make your final decision, make sure the soil is well nourished (another long story!) and loose.

Done? Okay, add fertilizer or compost (or Esmee's favourite: old fashioned manure - shit happens) depending of the condition of the soil. Turn it over, see a physiotherapist if needed and rake it smooth when you can walk again...

Turning and raking, gives you plenty of opportunity to decide on your color scheme and on which flowers you want to grow.

That was the easy part. Let's dig a bit deeper.

If you are new to this (or smart) and follow the advice we gave earlier (start small!) you probably decide to go for one kind of flower and maybe even one color. That's a smart choice. I know it sounds boring and I can hear you say...

Well, let me tell you this: a healthy looking flower bed with a thick bed of pink, or purple or yellow flowers, always looks better than a messy garden where some flowers have died, some are blooming, some are tall, some are small, and some don't seem to know why they where planted in the first place...

Make a list
Sit down and make a list of all the flowers you want to plant. If that's done, it's time to do some research. Find out as much as you can about every flower you intend to put in your garden. For starters, here is a list of 'must-knows'.

How tall will they grow?
You want to know, because you'll want the taller flowers in the center of a flower bed. If the flower bed is against a fence or wall, you'll want the taller flowers in the back.

When will they blossom?
I've seen too many gardeners disappointed because their precious, well taken care off, well fertilized, well turned and well raked flower bed ended up in a heap of green leaves after two or three weeks of color. The reason? They picked flowers that all blossomed at the same time. Don't make that mistake.

Shade or sun lovers?
Some flowers love long sunny days, others prefer the shade. Don't put sun lovers in a flower bed that gets an hour sunlight a day. They won't look happy at all.

How much water do they need?
Don't plant flowers that can only handle a little water every two or three days, next to flowers that need loads of water on a daily base. You'll be able to save just one :(

Make a journal!
Write down what you've learned for next spring. Make pictures, add dates, write down what you learn and keep notes of what flowers do great and what do miserable. It's inevitable and okay to make mistakes (we made a lot!) but it's not considered 'Gardoholic' to make the same mistake twice.

Show 'm you love 'm!
Weed your gardens and water your plants. Check on them every day. Weed. Don't just weed on Saturday mornings, weed every single day. Even if it's just two minutes. Hell, even one minute a day will keep you on top. Pick some weeds every time you walk by your gardens, every time you took a look at your bewitching divine flowers. The rewards will be colorful phenomenal!