How to Plan a Garden
Planning a garden is not a rocket science and everyone can create a beautiful garden that will be admired by their friends and neighbors. Several factors play an important role in the overall success but a carefully planed garden makes many things a lot easier including maintenance. After all, even the most devoted gardeners do not have unlimited time for garden care and maintenance.
If you are starting a garden from scratch, you should first decide what kind of garden you want to create. Do you want to create a beautiful flower garden, grow delicious fruits and vegetables or a little bit of everything? When you have decided what kind of garden you would like to have, you should choose the location of your future “outdoor oasis”. However, this is where you may face the first major challenge in planning a garden. Most plants, especially vegetables and fruits require a lot of direct sunlight and for that reason you should make sure that the chosen garden location has at least 5 hours of direct sunlight per day. Otherwise you should seriously reconsider the choice of location or type of garden.
Climate is another factor that plays a major role in garden planning. Different plants require different weather conditions and you will have little success with an outdoor tropical garden if you live in an area with continental climate. In addition to making sure that the plants you want to plant in your garden grow well in your climate, you should take into account your microclimate as well. You will achieve the best results with plants that grow well in your particular area. Inform yourself about plants that grow best in your neighborhood and ask an experienced gardener or a florist for advice if you are not sure whether plants you would like to grow are appropriate for your area or not.
When determining whether the plants you intend to plant in your future garden grow well in your area, you should make sure that the soil will provide your plants optimal conditions for growth. The majority of plants prefer a fertile, well-drained soil and neutral or slightly alkaline soil which means that you will probably need to do some soil testing in order to determine whether you need to make some soil improvements. But do not worry, it is not as difficult as it may seem at a first glance. Soil that is too acidic, too sandy or too clayey can be easily improved by adding some organic material such as compost and mulch.
If you have followed the above mentioned tips, you are already a major step closer to a lush garden that will charm you with blooming flowers or reward you with delicious fruits and vegetables, or both. Once you know which types of plants grow well in your area, what kind of soil they require for optimal growth and how much direct sunlight the chosen garden area receives per day, you can move to another important factor in garden planning – sketching your future garden. Take a list of paper and draw your future garden as well as any existing or surrounding structures and do not start digging until you have decided how your dream garden should look like. You can always add some changes and improvements but in general, starting a garden without a well thought through sketch is like building a house without a good plan.
The next step in garden planning is making sure that you have all the necessary tools including a shovel, spade, hoe, rake, wheelbarrow and leather gloves as well as an access to water. This is the least fun part of garden planning because it requires a lot of physical labor which is why you are highly recommended to choose quality gardening tools only or let someone else to do the job. When this part of garden planning is over, you can move to the most fun part – planting. However, proper planting - planting at proper time and place plays a major role in the overall success of your future garden as well, especially if planting trees, shrubs or perennials. Make sure that you follow the guidelines for each plant separately as different plants require different conditions for optimal growth. All the necessary information about proper planting as well as about plant care are usually found on the labels or provided by the florist. You can also help yourself with various gardening magazines and websites which offer very useful tips on plant care.