Image

 

The garden is a place which confuses a lot of people when they first become homeowners. Unless you were lucky enough to be gifted a Royal Horticultural Society book of plants from your mom, you might be a little stuck on where to start in this part of your home.

 

Now that the spring is here, it is the perfect time to venture out into your outdoor space and start to take stock of what exactly you have. At first it may be a little daunting, but in time you will begin to understand more about the plants you have and the way they fit into your space. If you are a total novice in the garden, here are some of the things you will need to do.

 

Regions

 

Your garden is a clever eco system which contains a lot of different regions within its borders. You will notice that certain plants thrive in some parts of the garden and not in others- this is because of conditions. Sunflowers for example love to be in direct sunlight. If you want to plant them in the sun they will thrive and grow incredibly tall. However if you planted a sunflower in the shade underneath a tree, they will not grow well. In order to understand the space you are working with you will need to learn where the different regions of your garden are. This will help you when you come to planning your sofa sets for patios outside the door or deciding where to place your fruit trees. It will take trial and error sometimes to understand your garden, but just make sure you learn from your mistakes.

Test Your Soil
You may already know this, but your soil is not the same throughout the expanse of your garden. The ph level of your soil can change from very acidic to alkaline throughout the space and this will affect the plants you are able to grow. To find out which plants will grow in which part of the garden you will want to get a soil testing kit and see what the ph is for each flowerbed. This will help you to decide on which types of plant you can have in your space.

 

You will also want to check the texture of your soil for optimum growth throughout the year. Ideally soil should be easy to pull up and it should crumble in your hands. If it is either too dense and dry or too wet, your plants will suffer and struggle to grow.

 

Start simple

 

Once you know what you are working with, you will want to start choosing your plants and flowers for the garden. When you choose plants you will need to take into account how easy they are to grow. By having a plant like forget me not or mint in the garden, you can see much success as both of these plants are very easy to keep. Don’t challenge yourself too early on with a tough plant because you will be disappointed if it dies. Once you have learnt the art of looking after simple plants you can start to explore your options a little bit more.

 

Plan it out

 

Although it might be tempting to cram as many plants as you can into your outdoor space, this won’t work very well and will leave it looking untidy and wild. To effectively use your garden space you will want to create a plan on what to do with it all. For example you could start off by listing some of the plants you would love to have in each section of your garden. Once you have done this you can start to plan out exactly where they will go. The conditions in your garden will differ and this is why you cannot just throw any plant you want into the absolve space. You could set out a special zone for a herb garden to optimise your space and give you something you can use in your kitchen too.

 

Jot things down

 

The only way you will ever learn how to create the perfect garden is to keep a note of everything which grows and everything which doesn’t. Everyone’s garden works differently, so even if your neighbour can grow a particular type of plant, it doesn’t mean that you can. Every time you have a plant which does or one which is successful, hit it down so that you can remember for the next year. This will allow you to get to know your sa car and make the most of every inch of it.

 

Make a calendar

 

One very important thing that you will need to do in your garden is to create a calendar so that you know what time of year each if your plants will start to grow. It can also be a great way to note down when you need to carry out certain tasks in the garden. For example if you were to look at pruning your plants after a long winter, you would want to wait until early March or April when the frosts are over and there is no risk do your plant being exposed the cold for too long. Similarly there are certain fruits and vegetables which grow at different time of the year so you will also want to make sure that these are planted at the right time.

 

Water them

 

Watering your plants is a crucial part of looking after your garden. It is the single most important thing you can do to maintain a healthy outdoor space so you must make sure you do it enough. In the winter it is not usually much of an issue because they are dormant and the weather is cold. In the summer however you may need to water your plants every single day; so make sure that you keep an eye out on sunny days and give them the water they need to stop them wilting.

 

Maintain it

 

Once you have started doing jobs in the garden you will likely catch that gardening bug, and t is important that once you’ve started you don’t stop. The trick to maintaining a healthy garden over the years is to constantly check on it and monitor the space. You will want to mow the lawn regularly, pull out weeds, deadhead your plants and prune them when they need it. This is how you will keep a lively and healthy garden. Make sure to also look out for pests which may cause an issue with your plants. If you do spot an infestation or eggs, you will want to deal with them accordingly in order to keep your garden safe.

 

Show patience

 

When you first move into a home and are presented with your very own garden, you may be tempted to tip everything open right away and start looking into what you can do with your plants. However, the best thing you can do in the first year is having a garden is to maintain what is there, and wait. You have no idea what plants are going to pop up throughout the year, and if you remove them before they have chance to grow you may end up regretting the decision. Give the garden chance to grow naturally and see what you’ve got. This will allow you to get an idea of what your garden really is and what you should do with it all the following year.