Do you remember your First Flower Gardening Experience?

I do, and it was a total disaster! I have always loved flowers and many years ago I used to wonder how mother always had a beautiful garden. Of course, when you are young and naïve the least thing in my mind was to ask questions or even watch mom taking care of her gardens. Back then it seemed as if mother’s plants would just come out of no where and bloom beautifully. Little did I know that mom’s flower gardens required some work, patience and some tender loving care almost on a daily basis.

When I got married and had my first home, I decided that it was time to start my own gardens. Well, I went to the nursery and bought some flowers and planted them all over the front yard mixed in with the grass. Big mistake! You should have seen my husband’s face when he went to mow the lawn. He was not a happy camper to say the least and explained to me that it was almost impossible for him to mow the lawn with plants all over the place. Mind you that I didn’t even check the soil or anything, I just planted them. Laughing out loud now but it wasn’t funny back then!!

It didn’t take long for me to realize that I had two options:

1. Remove all the plants from the lawn and create a garden area right in front of the house and away from the grass.

2. If I didn’t want to do this, for sure my husband would mow over the plants destroying everything I planted.

You guessed it I removed all the plants from the lawn and put them in large buckets of water until I could figure out what needed to be done. Next was a phone call to mother for advice on how to set up a flower garden area and she basically told me what to do which meant that I needed to:

1. Determine how big the area would be for the garden

2. Clear out the area thoroughly by removing weeds and grass

3. Till the soil and fertilize the soil with proper nutrients

4. Find out how much sun or shade the garden area gets during the day

5. Figure out the types of plants to buy that would compliment the house

6. Buy the plants and plant them

Needless to say, this was a lot more than what I envisioned on creating a flower garden but I was determined to get it done. So with some help from my husband we began clearing out the area in front of the house and doing all the necessary tasks that were required. Since I already had the plants that I removed from the lawn, I planted those and bought some more to fill in some bare spots.

All in all, the garden turned out to be just fine and looking good. My advice to you is that if you are new to gardening, don’t make the same mistakes I made and follow the ideas listed above. Also remember that when in doubt, a good gardening manual is your best bet on creating a healthy flower garden.

Here are some other flower gardening sites that I found for you to browse. Thanks for visiting Best Flower Gardening!

How to Plant Seeds and add Color To The Garden with Flowers ...
BBC - Chelsea Flower Show 2011 - Homebase Garden - Tom Hoblyn
Pincushion-flower encyclopedia topics | Reference.com
Twitter / Flower Gardens: Flower Gardening : How to ...
Page 2: Grow up! Maximize Space With Vertical Gardening - ABC ...
Flower Gardening: News & Videos about Flower Gardening - CNN ...


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