10 Tips for a Great Flower Garden

It's finally time to start planting flowers!

Flowers are seriously my favorite thing in the world and I have several small flower gardens to prove it! I am always on the lookout for new plants and some would say I might be obsessed! As a self-taught gardener, I try to read up on everything having to do with flowers and flower gardens. I've come a long way from my early days of "just plant it and forget about it." I'm no Martha Stewart yet, but I've learned a few things along the way that have greatly helped me on my quest!

 Today I am sharing my top ten tips for a great flower garden! By the way, did you know that Martha Stewart, the goddess of gardening herself, is a self taught gardener? Proof that the master of anything was once the beginner, so even if you don't know squat about flowers, there is hope! Honestly, a lot of gardening is trial and error so don't be afraid to play around and see what works for you in your yard!

1. Start small, save money!

There is a garden shop in town that sells the most gorgeous, ginormous Hydrangeas and flowers you have ever seen. The price tag on them is also ginormous! Although they look amazing right out of the gate, there is no need to buy them! Buy a smaller version for way cheaper. It will grow up to be that large soon enough and will save you lots of money in the long run! Plus, you will get the satisfaction of seeing it grow leaps and bounds.

Flowers are not cheap and they add up very quickly, especially if you're making big changes. Save money everywhere you can!

This is same garden as the above picture, less than one year later! As you can see, the little Black-Eyed Susans and Purple Coneflowers in the front have multiplied big time! I can't wait for them to bloom this year!

Also on the start small, save money idea:

Don't plant so much that you can't take care of it. Start small and work your way up, that way you won't get so overwhelmed trying to get everything planted and taken care of. We would all love to have acres of manicured gardens but that's not possible or practical for most people.

Planting a little at a time is also a great money saver. I buy a few new plants every year. I wish I had an unlimited amount of money for my flower budget, but alas I don't. So I buy them when I can afford them. This also gives me ample time to decide where to plant the flowers and also what ones I might want to add next. 

Peonies are a great perennial for almost any garden! They are very hardy and super gorgeous!

2. Use Perennials as much as possible!

Perennials come back every year, although they usually don't bloom all season long.

Annuals are only around for one season, but they will usually flower much longer than perennials. 

You get more bang for your buck by planting Perennials because they will come back year after year (hopefully!) That also saves you a lot of time, money, and energy replanting things every year. 

Start with a few Perennials as foundations for your garden and add in annuals as needed to have a garden that is always in bloom.

Impatiens are the perfect way to add color to a shady area!

3. Sun or Shade?

Is your garden located in a sunny spot in your yard? Or is it in a shady spot along the side of your house? This is very important in gardening. Most flowers need sun to survive, but there are a lot that can't handle tons of direct sun. If your yard is very shady, look for plants that say shade on the tag. Hostas, Impatiens, and Hydrangeas are perfect for shady spots. If you plant a flower that needs full sun in a shady spot, it might not flower and it definitely will not thrive. 

The same goes if you plant a shade loving flower in an area that gets full sun. It will probably just burn up and die. Pay attention to the tags and plant accordingly.

4. Pay attention to gardening zones

Have you ever planted something that said it was a Perennial, but it never came back? Certain plants can only make it through the winter in certain zones. This is why there are no indigenous palm trees and tropical plants up North. They can't survive the freezing cold temps in the winter. 

Here in Fort Wayne, Indiana we are on the edge of zone 6 and 5. When you are purchasing plants, most should say what zone they are hardy through on the tag. If not, google it. Yes, right there in the store. I do it all the time!

If you do not know what zone you are in, google that as well! The USDA Hardiness Zone Map will tell you as will just asking "what hardiness zone is (your city) in?"

If you're okay with some of your plants only lasting one season, that's totally fine. Go ahead and plant that Hibiscus in Michigan! Just be aware that it will not come back next year.

5. Give plants room to breathe!

Plants need room to breathe! If you cram a ton of plants closely together you may notice a grey powdery substance forming on the leaves. This is powdery mildew and it is not good for your plants. It is a disease and caused partially by the plants not having enough room to breathe. Remember, your plants will grow! Don't pack them too close together.

6. Bloom Times

Not all flowers bloom at the same time. This mainly goes for perennials. At nurseries and garden centers, all the flowers are so pretty and blooming at the same time, but in real life that's not always the case. I've gotten several flowers that look awesome together only to find out the next year that they don't really bloom at the same time. Pay attention to bloom times as most will say when it blooms on the tag.

Planting a variety of plants with different bloom times will help extend the life of your garden as well. Go for a mix of some early, middle, and late bloomers and you'll have blooms in your landscape all Spring through Fall!

7. Weeding and Deadheading

Ugh. Weeds. The bane of every gardeners existence. Weeding is key to a great garden. It's as simple as this: if you see a weed, pull it out. Try to get it's root system otherwise it will come back. I like to pull weeds right after a good rain or soaking, it's easier to pull them out of the damp ground, roots and all.

There are many things people do to prevent weeds. Some people lay down newspapers or that black gardening tarp stuff, but in my experience, that can hinder your Perennials from coming back, so I don't use it anymore. 

I do use a weed killer on my flower garden that I sprinkle on the dirt, but I definitely do not use it in my vegetable or herb gardens since it says right on the box that it causes cancer! I really don't like to use it at all, but it's a necessary evil sometimes. Just be sure to read the directions thoroughly. 

While weeding, deadhead any flowers that have died. All this means is popping off the dead flower right under the bud. This will allow all the plant's energy to focus on new growth and it will look better too. You can use your fingers or gardening shears. 

8. Wear Gloves!

I am absolutely terrified of spiders. I don't like any kind of bugs at all either. Unfortunately, in gardening you will run across these creatures. Invest in some gardening gloves! I honestly feel invincible in my gloves. If it were not for my gardening gloves, I would not be able to garden. Seriously. I recommend getting a pair with the rubbery type stuff on the palms and fingers. If they get wet, no big deal. Also, if you're into clean nails or manicured fingertips, a pair of gloves will do wonders.

9. Water your plants!

This may seem like a no brainer, but above all, just water your plants! Summer rain will only do so much and most plants need more water than an occasional rain storm will provide. Try to water in the morning to avoid mildew and rot on your plants, but if that's not really possible, just do it as soon as you get home from work! I water my plants almost every day in the Summer, especially those in full sun. Most days, I don't see it as a chore. It's a chance to get out in nature and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

10. Have fun!!!

Just remember, a flower garden is supposed to make you happy! It's all really just trial and error to see what plants grow best in your yard, so don't get too discouraged if they don't make it. And don't get discouraged if your gardens don't resemble Martha's. Just keep at it, keep learning, and keep planting, and one day they just might!



Follow me on Instagram @ sweethome.indiana for more!


Happy planting!

The Vegetable Garden

My vegetable garden has finally started to take off! We had a very slow start and had to replant a bit, but we've ended up with quite a few things growing! Even things we didn't expect!

Shortly after planting the vegetable garden and cactus seeds we had a major rainout and unfortunately, a lot of my seeds washed away!

My DIY Cactus Garden that was growing in my Jiffy Greenhouse was a complete bust! I left it on my back porch to soak up the sun and all it ended up soaking up was a ton of water. Even with the lid on! I have a feeling that when I dumped the water out, the seeds went with it. Oops.

My vegetable garden also got washed away! Only two pumpkin plants and two (what we thought were) honeydew ended up surviving, along with three sunflowers. None of the cantaloupes came up at all.

 On a positive note, we have tons of full-size cucumbers growing! And no, we didn't plant any cucumbers this year! Or last year even! I honestly think that the honeydew seeds were actually cucumber seeds that were mispackaged.

We did end up getting four already-sprouted Iroquois Cantaloupes from Main's Garden in New Haven during their annual half off sale to replace the seeds. They're doing well so far and flowering, but still no fruit yet. Iroquois is supposedly one of the easiest kinds to grow, so that's good for us!

I'm not mad about all the failures in my garden this year. I'm sure that even Martha Stewart has had her share of gardening mishaps! It's all part of the learning process! For as many failures as we had this year, we've had just as many successes! And I am very excited that my pumpkins are doing so well! I can't wait for Fall!

I had my suspicions when I saw this that it wasn't a honeydew! I've grown enough pickles to know what a cucumber blossom looks like!

The cucumbers are probably doing the best out of everything we planted!

Here's one that's almost ready!

This is one of the Iroquois Cantaloupes that we planted.

Here's a tiny pumpkin just sprouting out of it's orange blossom! I've got several more at this stage right now.

This is the biggest pumpkin so far. They are all the mini pumpkins so it won't get too much bigger than this. I am curious if it's going to be white or orange. It's still too hard to tell at this stage.

This was the poor cactus garden after it's rainout. I may try it again if I can find some more cactus seeds!

Here's one of my beautiful sunflowers!

Planting the garden!

For once, I finally got my garden in on time!

Last weekend we rented a tiller and got to work. In Northern Indiana, you're supposed to wait until Mother's Day to plant any type of vegetable garden or flowers. Mother's Day is supposedly the last time it will frost here, although, back in the 1960's it did frost at the very end of May. Let's hope that never happens again! 

Normally, I don't seem to be able to get my garden in until June or even July, so I am super psyched that I can look forward to a long and hopefully, productive growing season.

Last year, my vegetable garden did not do well at all. For starters, I tried to save money and hand tilled it. Big mistake! It took forever and was so difficult. My soil is full of clay so it was almost impossible to do it by hand and do a good job. I even got a Ganglion cyst on my hand from it! 

As a result, the garden ended up being about half the size as normal, which meant my veggies were super crowded. It also got really weedy and I was unable to weed it properly since it was so crowded. My pickles barely grew and even my sunflowers didn't really do that well. We almost decided not to even put in a garden this year, but...I just had to!

I've actually had my "vegetable" garden planned out since January! The second those seed packets start showing up in the stores my mind starts churning! As of right now, I am only doing a few things. Most everything I'm doing is very viney, so it will have a lot of room to spread out!  

I love pumpkins and I found some cute mini harvest pumpkin seeds so I had to plant those. I seem to have better luck with the mini pumpkins as opposed to the jack-o-lantern size. My husband wanted to give honey dew and cantaloupe a try too, and of course, I had to plant some sunflowers! 

You never know though, I still may add to it if I find just the right thing!

This was the garden before we started. You can't even tell where it was last year! It gets taken over by grass and weeds so quickly!

This tiller made quick work for my husband! I had planned on being the one that did the tilling, but it was so heavy and impossible for me to handle. So, ladies, you may need to get some help tilling your garden if you're a wimp like me!

After tilling the garden with the tiller, I went over it with a garden rake to get anything that was missed. Anything that looked like it had a root structure got ripped out! I'm not going to use any chemical weed preventer this year due to the fact that I noticed the one I had used previously states that it causes cancer. Uh, no thank you! I'm going to be researching some alternatives! I know it looks super shady right now, but this garden actually gets full sun in the afternoon.

This stuff is the bane of my existence. I have no idea what it is, but if anyone out there does or knows how to eradicate it, let me know! It's all over my yard and it's always trying to take over my gardens.

All ready for planting! I'm going to wait until I see sprouts to put up my fence.

I'm really hoping these work out this year ~ especially my pumpkins! It's so gratifying to grow your own garden! Give it a try!

The first sighting!

Doesn't this just warm your heart on a cold winter's day?