Flowers, Plants & Gardening

Gardening can be a very relaxing and enjoyable hobby. It is a creative activity, which can add color and appeal to your home and yard. Gardening is more than just throwing some plants into the ground, though. For the most enjoyment, and the biggest impact, you'll need to do some planning, and make some decisions about your garden.

Probably the most important consideration for your garden, is the type of garden. Do you want a herb garden or a vegetable garden? Do you want a flower garden? Do you want flowers that only bloom during the spring, or a variety of flowers to bloom from spring through fall? Or if you want, you can have different gardens in your yard. Maybe a plot near the house for growing herbs, and then maybe some flowers in the corner of the yard to add a touch of color.

Once you know what type of garden you want, you can choose the location. If you want herbs or vegetables, the best place for them is near the house, so that you can access them easily when cooking. If you want flowers or shrubs, you can place them just about anywhere you'd like in the yard. One thing to keep in mind as far as location is the amount of sun that your yard gets. Either take some paper, and draw a rough map of the yard, or simply list the various sections of your yard. Then, beginning in the morning, check the yard every hour and note whether the various sections of the yard are in sun or shade. If an area gets 6 or more hours of direct sunlight, it is a full sun location. 3-6 hours of sun is partial sun/partial shade, and less than 3 hours is full shade. Once you know the amount of sunlight each part of your yard gets, you can choose the appropriate plants.

You will also need to decide on the layout for your planting beds, and what you want to plant. Depending on your tastes, you can lay out your planting beds in strict geometrical shapes, or you can plan them in more free-flowing shapes, like an amoeba. The design is up to you, and what you prefer. You'll also need to decide on how to plant the flowerbeds. You can plant a single type of plant, in neat rows, or you can have several groupings of different plants. If you are going to be planting different plants in one bed, make sure that they are all compatible. You'll want to choose plants that have similar needs as far as soil, water, and sunlight.

Be sure to address visual appeal when you plant. Use plants of varying colors and textures. Just be sure that the colors and textures don't clash. You can add a vertical dimension to your flower bed by planting taller plants in the middle or in the back of the flower bed, reducing the height of the plants as you go towards the edge of the flowerbed. For the most visual appeal, you should place plants in odd numbered groups, three, five, or seven plants in a group, which will help the planting to look more natural.

When you're planning your garden, you may also want to plan where you want to place accent pieces in your garden. If you have taller plants, you may want to place a couple of garden stakes or a gazing ball among them to add some appeal. Tall accent pieces can also provide a visual anchor among shorter plants.

A poorly planned garden can just look like a jumble of random plants. A well planned garden will have a much greater visual appeal. So, take the time to plan out your garden. Keep in mind that you can always change your mind as you go along. Use your imagination, and make your garden unique.

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