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Flower Gardening Spring Article
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Flower Gardening
from:
Author J Sharkey
Gardening is one of the oldest hobbies around and it deserves its place as one of the most loved hobbies around. It mixes relaxation and exercise, allows you to meditate on the beauty of nature and to take part in creating that beauty. And what is more beautiful than a garden full of fragrant, colorful flowers? Indeed, flower gardening is gardening elevated to the infinite power. Not only does flower gardening allow you to reach a peaceful, balanced state of mind, but the stunning displays of flowers can add beauty and value to your property. The varied fragrances of the flowers you plant, ranging from delicate to hardy, will waft through your house and transform your living space.
In order to begin your flower gardening experience, you’ll need to carefully consider the place where you’ll want to plant your flowers; you could choose your yard (either front or back), or some kind of container (to keep outdoors or indoors). If it’s your first time flowering gardening, choose something simple like petunias, marigolds, or violets; before you actually choose your plants, though, you’ll need to analyze the conditions that you can provide your plants with and do some research on the types of plants that will grow well under your conditions. All plants need a healthy medium in which to grow and it’s your responsibility to make sure they get that healthy medium if you decide to get into flower gardening.
So what kind of research do you need to do? Well, for one thing, you need to figure out how much space you can give your plants. Some plants don’t mind being bunched together, while other plants enjoy their personal space. You need to always keep in mind that plants are living creatures and they will compete with each other for nutrients and resources. You shouldn’t plant your flowers at the base of a tree or large bush, as the tree or bush will steal nutrients from your precious plants. You should also plant flowers 3 to 5 feet away from any fence.
You should also figure out how much light falls onto the area where you want to do your flower gardening. Some plants enjoy lots of direct sunlight, while others need lots of shade, while still others fall somewhere in between. A good average amount of sunlight is about 6 hours a day, but you will be able to find plants for all light situations, even if you have a very shady area or an area that receives 12 hours of direct sunlight.
Another consideration is temperature. Because plants are living creatures, each has adapted to its own ecosystem and habitat and you must respect those adaptations when creating your garden. Plants that have been adapted to harsh winters do not do well in warm climates, while tropical plants must be kept protected indoors during cold northern winters.
If you’re planting in your yard, you absolutely must research your soil conditions. Though you can buy fertilizer and other soil “amendments” (things that will add to the quality of plant medium), the quality of your soil is of fundamental importance to the proper nutrient requirements and growth of your flowers; it would be a good idea to run a soil test to ascertain the quality of your soil. Depending on the results of the soil test, you can add amendments to improve on the quality of your soil (you can add peat moss to add water retaining capacity and drainage, as an example), but just remember that there will be a limit to how much you can modify your soil, and therefore there will be a limit to what types of flowers you will be able to plant.
Once you’ve analyzed all these conditions, then you can start planning your flower gardening endeavor by doing a little more research (who knew flower gardening was such hard work) as to what flowers do well under the conditions that you can offer them. It would be very wrong to do the opposite and try to manipulate the conditions of your intended flower garden to force it to fit the requirements of some gorgeous flower that caught your eye and that you desperately want to have growing in your garden. You will have disastrous results. Many gardeners, beginner and veteran alike, find it useful to plan out their gardening idea on paper and start a gardening notebook to keep track of the flowers they planted and how well they grew in the particular conditions of a particular spot.
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