Garden Nursery Landscaping Blog

Before you begin growing a garden, you’ll need to learn more about the growing zone you live in. A good place to start is the National Gardening Association’s website (www.garden.org/zipzone), which will let you know which USDA hardiness zone you live in, as well as what plants are best suited for your particular climate.

In the bottom left-hand corner, you’ll see an area for “Local Guides,” where you can choose your state and your city to learn more about edible food and flowers you can grow, about caring for your garden and cooking from your garden. These gardening tips can help you begin thinking about what types of flowers you’d like to grow.

If you’re up for more of a challenge when growing a garden, or if you just don’t want to deal with replanting every season, then you can try perennial flower gardening. A perennial flower typically lives for three to five seasons before needing to be replaced. Most perennials bloom for just one to three weeks once a year, so timing is everything when growing plants like these.

Popular perennials include lilies, asters, chrysanthemums, daisies, columbine, coral bells, foxglove, gladioluses, hibiscuses, hostas, hyacinths, larkspurs, poppies, primroses, sunflowers, verbenas and violets.

Longer blooming perennials can last two to four months, which include yarrow, bellflower,red valerian, gaillardia (blanket flowers), fringed bleeding hearts, blazing stars, black-eyed Susan, spiderworts, stonecrops and pin cushion flowers.

A gardening expert will tell you that soil preparation is the most important part of growing a garden successfully. Without the proper nutrients, aeration and soil composition, your flowers will surely flop.

Each flower has different soil requirements, whether it is acidic or alkaline, so it’s best to test your soil before you begin so you know what you’re dealing with. For instance, marigolds, verbenas and calliopsis will tolerate acidic soils, whereas impatiens, zinnias, nasturtiums and candytufts prefer a more neutral, alkaline soil.

To ensure that your soil drains well, you will need to assess whether your soil is composed of clay, sand or loam. You’ll need to add a mixture of compost and manure to your soil, working it down about 4 inches to create a healthy ecosystem for your plants and their beneficial microorganism pals.

To read more Finding Online Information While Growing A Garden

Posted on December 28th, 2009 under Online Tips, Gardening Tips, Backyard Ideas, General, Garden • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback