Lately, the weather has been kind of off-putting, unfortunately. It has put our gardening behind for a few weeks I’m sure. Last year this time, we were done planting our vegetable and flower garden.
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The weather has been up and down. A couple of weeks ago the temperature hit the high 20’s. I have to say it came at the worst time. We just got a load of drywall dumped in our driveway and my husband and son sweated through having to carry it down into our basement. What a day that was for them. Basement Reno: another time, another post … lol!
After that “heatwave”, the weather started going downhill. The weather went back to cold, raining, windy. The weather was all over the place. I know we need rain for our gardens, but we also need the sacred sun too.
As for everything else being organized in my life, so too the garden must be as well. And as with everything else (if you have read my other posts), yes you are correct . . . you need a PLAN. LOL! Did you know I was going to say that? 😊
By said “PLAN”, I mean knowing where you want to plant your flowers and vegetables. If you want to draw one out, all the better. Just a little sketch will suffice. Also, you need to pay attention to the instructions of the plants. It will instruct you how far apart to plant them and whether it needs a lot of sun or it needs to be in the shade. There is a lot to take into consideration.
Every year we plant flowers in a cool design we make in our front yard, but it is under a tree. And every year those flowers either don’t grow or just wilt away too soon. It was a lesson learned. Again, pay attention to the instructions. Our tree just got way too big and created a lot of shade.
If that is the case, you will need to trim the tree. It won’t hurt the tree. Every tree needs to be pruned. It will have a nicer shape and will grow a lot more nicer and healthier.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE TOOLS YOU WILL NEED:
- gloves
- rake
- garden trowel
- cultivator
- weed remover
- hedge shears
- electric hedge trimmer
- hand pruner
HOW TO TACKLE THE FLOWER BEDS AND SHRUBS
- If you have shrubs or pine trees you will need to trim them with the electric hedge trimmer or hedge shears will be just fine. I have used both. You may want to use a hand pruner to get to a few places where there are dead branches.
- Clean up all the pine needles, left-over leaves, weeds and old mulch if any with your rake.
- New soil – if you already have a flower bed, you will probably see your soil has gone down from year to year and you have leftover soil from your lawn makeover.
- With your plans and drawings measure out where you will place your flowers and put each little seedling at the place you want to plant them. Don’t plant them yet until you have placed all your seedlings at the right spot you want them in your design.
- Make sure to read the tag of instructions of the plant to make sure how far apart they should be planted. They seem small now but in a few weeks, they will grow length-wise as well as width-wise.
- Planting – with your trowel, dig a hole big enough to hold the seedling. Add some miracle grow and mix with your soil, for added plant food. Gently squeeze the little container the plant comes in and quickly plant into the spot. Gently press it down and make sure the plant is secure in the soil.
- Watering – make sure it is watered 2-3 days regularly after planting.
- Mulch – after you have planted your flowers, you can distribute the mulch carefully around all your shrubs and flowers. Mulch comes in different colors. It is really a nice finish for your flower bed. Your flowers and shrubs will pop full of color against the mulch background. It is also good to have to retain moisture and prevent weeds.
There was an area to the sides of the house, we didn’t know what to do with. It was a grass area but it looked worse than our lawn. There were constantly weeds protruding every spring and throughout the summer, sporadically. No matter how many times I pulled them, they would come back. There was constant water flow from our eavestrough when we had a good downpour of rain.
We decided to cover it with river rock and put up trees. But we thought, “how would that look” with the rocks. We love the natural organic look. With a lot of thinking on my husbands side (he’s the designer/architect for the outside of the home) he designed some beautiful cedar boxes that would hold the trees.
We dug up the grass and lay down some fabric before we poured the river rock. The fabric is used to prevent weeds from climbing through the rocks. It would defeat the purpose. Then my husband built the 3 cedar boxes, poured some soil and gently planted our mulberry trees. Then we poured some black mulch inside each box.
It makes for a nice separation from our neighbours as well. They went in with us and created their own design that complimented our design.
We created a similar design on the other side of the house with the river rock and some cedar trees.
And there you have it. You will have the best-looking flower bed and tree shrubs on the block. Now all you have to do is maintain it. You should water a little more in the beginning and then after that, do it regularly.
So, now that I have shared our lawn designs, feel free to share your successes. I would love to hear how you did with your gardens and see the end results.
