Have you ever found your flowers wilting or dying? Well, spring is finally here, and nothing says “welcome to spring” like a beautiful, luscious flower bed.
Want to keep your flowers blooming all season long? Here are some tips.
Fresh start
Instead of using a flower bed that’s been inundated by weeds, give your flower bed a fresh start. Assess the new space for the amount of sunlight, water collection, and weeds and rocks in the way. Address any issues before you start planting flowers, not after.
Beginning with seeds
Instead of re-potting already grown flowers, try planting seeds: it’s much more cost-efficient. To save even more money, you can try selecting rarer species.
Seeds generally do best starting in a tray or clay pot and then being transferred into the ground. But make sure to read the directions in case your specific flower is best being planted directly into the ground at the start.
Nursery plants
Nursery plants can be wonderful, but they have to be treated carefully and the window to plant them after purchase is quite small. This means you should keep them close together in the car for protection and take them straight home. Once you’re there, water them and keep doing so until it’s time to transplant to protect their delicate roots.
Borders
You want your garden’s edges to look clean and sharp. Skip the plastic and select something more natural and with more longevity. You can do this by using a spade to create a shallow trench and regularly maintain it. If you’re concerned about maintenance, you can use brick, concrete, or stone in leveling sand.
Plan ahead
Set a goal for your flowers. If you know you’d like to turn over your flower bed in a couple of months, plant annuals. If you’re looking for flowers with more longevity, plant perennials. You can supplement your garden’s aesthetic with grasses or evergreens, which is always in season.
It’s also important to think about how tall your plants and flowers will be. Put smaller flowers- generally annuals- in the front of the bed so taller plants won’t obstruct your view of them.
Room to grow
Different plants need different amounts of space to grow. Make sure you check each package to know how much space to allot. This also means that if you’re replanting, dig a hole that’s twice as large as the original pot. To even better enhance growth, create a tiny trench on the inside of the hole: this will encourage the roots to grow down and out. Be aware that you don’t have to do this for annuals.
Proper planting
It’s extremely important that when transplanting, you ensure the crown- where the soil meets the plant- is level with the soil. Then push the soil down with a trowel to make sure there are no empty spaces between the roots.
Mulching
Though mulch is super useful, don’t over-much: you only need about an inch. And that is if you’re starting a flower bed from scratch. If you’re using a preexisting bed, don’t worry about mulch at all.
When mulching, use newspaper instead of landscaping fabric. And never put the mulch in a big pile against the plants.
Source: Zillow