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need help!
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Posted: Mar/10/2008 11:59 AM PST
OK so i'm very new to gardening, as in i have no idea what to do! AHH. But i'm not freaking out, i just really need help making a plan. i think if i can get a plan figured out i'll be okay. because from there i can research the plants them selves and then figure out how to care for them and all that jazz. i have several laid out areas already and that where i want to start. and i have specifically an area that will def. be a shade garden. it gets so little sun that there's no grass growing there! SOOOO my big question is how to you set about making a plan? i really want to get it all figured out before the snow melts. so when its all gone and the ground is soft again i can just go to town!! any and all help would be appreciated. even if its just to suggest good books to read! thank you!! Tiffany |
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Posted: Mar/10/2008 12:50 PM PST
How many gardens do you want to make? One for shade for sure..and also one for sun? What is your favorite shape? Favorite colors? There are a lot of plants that like shade 1. Cyclamen 2. Yellow was-bells 3. Lilafee Epimedium 4. Astilbe 5. Hosta and many more There are some that like full/part shade 1. Lily of the Valley 2. Bleeding Heart 3. Toad Lilys 4. Peony and many more There are some that like full sun 1. Rainbow Yarrow 2. Hibiscus 3. Blanket Flower 4. Black-Eyed Susan 5. Bee Balm and many more Just to give you some ideas until a more qualified gardener comes along, because I have a hard enough time with mine...LOL  Maybe send a PM to Gardengirlforever she is good at this stuff
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Posted: Mar/10/2008 2:16 PM PST
Most of my beds are made in front of a fence or structure. Those beds will want to have taller plants in the back, then stagger the height of other plants downward to the border. I you have a free standing bed in your yard, the taller plants would go in the middle and then use different height plants down toward the border. A small tree sometimes is put in the center of a bed. Or even at one end. Beds are always an extension of ourselves. That is the beauty in gardening. You take suggestions and then as the years go by those beds come to define who you are. Since you have a little one to tag along you might want one bed that she can really help with. Growing things that will bloom fast. Letting her dig the hole for that marigold or zinnia or snapdragon. But also put in a perennial or two so she can see that plants do come back. You can always put a tomato plant in a flower bed and then you and that wee one can have something good to eat while you water and tend your gardens.  Have lots of fun. Linda B |
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Posted: Mar/10/2008 9:23 PM PST
i bought a landscaping software for about $30. but i ended up using it as mainly as a plant encyclopedia. i can set parameters to create a plant list. |
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Posted: Mar/11/2008 5:30 PM PST
obvious thing to do is put shorter plants in front and taller in the back.... one thing, in my experience that makes a garden better is to clump the same type plants together....so like if you had some red tulips (that come up early to mid spring)you would do a clump of ten together about 3 inches apart....then go down like 5-10 feet and do another clump.... this looks much better than planting in rows (In my opinion) also, it allows you to add more during the season and not mess up. if you did rows of everything, you would really mess up the look of your garden with a spur of the moment plant addition. i also try to organize by color....but that never works because i always forget what i put what where..... that was a confusing sentence...... maybe you should keep a journal of what you plant and where it is (i do do that with the seeds i put down) |
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Posted: Mar/12/2008 6:23 PM PST
wow!! ok the shade one is COMPLETELY starting from scratch, because there's never been anything growing there. and honestly it's a really ugly part of my yard. i'm thinking that one will be like a 1/2 circle because it's bordered on 3 sides back is the house and one side is the privacy fence other side is the porch. i also have a very sunny area. right up against my porch. well i guess technically it's partial sun, but it does stay sunny for most of the day. it's in a rectangle shape. it's been dug and bordered already. i planted some gladiola bulbs last year, and some came up, others didn't. i also didn't cover them, so i REALLY hope they come up this year, they were pretty. and i was soo proud of them-it was the first thing i ever planted, that didn't die. lol. i think i also planted some wind flowers? i'm not sure but i planted them in the same plot and they never surfaced. i could have possibly planted those bulbs upside down though. oops. it was a VERY small bulb. in the back yard i also want to put in a tree border. i have this fantastic tree in my back yard, very pretty. not flowering but still pretty. idk something about the bark--very bold and smooth and the leaves turn a gorgeous red in the fall. ANYWAY. i want to build a flower border around it. nothing too big. i was thinking like 3-4 ft out. the leaves start fairly high on this tree so the base is left only partially shady and the shadow moves throughout the day. the last back yard project i want to get under way is along the side of the garage. there's a pathway there and i want to plot between the pathway and the garage. the plot is about 3-4 ft wide, and maybe 5-6 ft long. i have a pretty white gate at the end of the pathway. i know i know i need to take some pics. working on it. most of my plots are already shaped. but they're all blank. there's NOTHING in them, but mulch. kinda boring. it has it's place. but i want plants!! fav colors: pink for sure. blue, yellow, really i love all colors. i love pink and white together as well as pink and brown. well i really love brown with a lot of colors. i like bright vibrant colors. deep oranges, and two tone pinks. my favorite flower is the tiffany rose. very beautiful, i love it for more than it's name (we share that in common.) purples are great. i think i'm gonna get some pictures of my favorite garden. and post that up. it's gonna take a little while though, because it's my grandma's garden and she's kinda far away at the moment. but i'll get some up. thank you!! Tiffany Quote:
Originally posted by justme How many gardens do you want to make? One for shade for sure..and also one for sun? What is your favorite shape? Favorite colors?There are a lot of plants that like shade 1. Cyclamen 2. Yellow was-bells 3. Lilafee Epimedium 4. Astilbe 5. Hosta and many more There are some that like full/part shade 1. Lily of the Valley 2. Bleeding Heart 3. Toad Lilys 4. Peony and many more There are some that like full sun 1. Rainbow Yarrow 2. Hibiscus 3. Blanket Flower 4. Black-Eyed Susan 5. Bee Balm and many more Just to give you some ideas until a more qualified gardener comes along, because I have a hard enough time with mine...LOL Maybe send a PM to Gardengirlforever she is good at this stuff |
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Posted: Mar/19/2008 7:45 PM PST
HI there, congrats on your gardening start. I never could grow anything before but i just started a garden about 5 months ago and I can just tell you that I got grass and weed killer. killed the grass where I wanted my garden to go and that was all up and down the fence line and then it started from there. I bought a few flower plants at the garden store when they were 70% off and I just took the ones I thought looked pretty and that were cheap jus tin case i killed them. Anyway, my point is just create the design by trial and error and buy the plants from lowes or home depot so if you kill it they allow you to take them back and get something else. it is so exciting to watch what you grow. Now that I have grown plans, bulbs, and trees, I am now moving on to veggie garden. One thing I learned it just buy what you like make sure to take the plastic stick that comes in the plant tells if it needs sun or shade and that is what you do. when it come to learning more about that plants or shrub or whatever you buy, you google the name of it and you then learn how to care for it all year. i have a notebook i write all the new plants i buy in the book with the care it needs all year. so if it needs to be taken out or covered during the winter i go through it when that time came and did that so now those plants are growing right now amazingly with lots and lots of new buds and i did not think i killed them just because they were bare limbs after winter. i hope all of this makes sense. You will get so much joy in planting your garden. take care Tita
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Posted: Mar/19/2008 7:48 PM PST
oh and another thing. the plants they are selling at your garden stores, lowes, and home depot are teh plants that usually are what you can plant in your climate so you can just go by color and if they need shade or sun and that should take the guess work out. good luck. tita again.
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Posted: Mar/20/2008 2:12 PM PST
Quote: Originally posted by tita oh and another thing. the plants they are selling at your garden stores, lowes, and home depot are teh plants that usually are what you can plant in your climate so you can just go by color and if they need shade or sun and that should take the guess work out.good luck. tita again. THANK YOU!!! i wasn't sure if i should go to like home depot or lowes, because i was afraid the quality would be poor. but i guess your right at least if they die i can replace them. I didn't think about the climate thing either. it will probably be easier to buy them there, like you said go by color. i guess i have my list of plants that i like and who knows, maybe i'll find some there. here are some pics of my back yard. the 1st one is my little garden plot-sunny. the 2nd shows the corner where i want to put a shade garden. it's not shady right now though. it that a problem? it's only because the leaves haven't come in on the trees. when they do there's really next to no sun there all day. the last is just a general view of my back yard. Attachments:    |
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Posted: Mar/30/2008 4:11 PM PST
I am no Veggi-lante and I certainly do shop at Home Depot and Lowes. But DO be sure to visit some local nurseries as you will find more varieties, better plants and far more experience (by and large) for growing in your area. Most of them also provide some kind of screw-up policy - er, I mean return policy. I am not a big-box store hater, by any means. But as a person with little time to waste, I do know that every different nursery that I visited taught me something new by the time I had left. Just a $.02 opinion, BrownThumb |
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