Tip Jar: 7 Tips for Designing and Planting a Successful Garden Bed
In case you missed my first post yesterday, click through and check it out to learn a little more about me and the purpose of my blog. To those of you who shared all the kind words and likes, thank you for your support and welcome back!
Today, we jump right in to a recent project my husband and I have been working on at our house! If you consider yourself a diy gardener, here is a post for you – by no means am I a gardening expert, but I would like to think I know a little more than the average person.
A little background to share with you on what sparked this project. This is our first spring/summer in the new house and I think the previous owners used to leave the pine needles that fell in the front tree bed to serve as ‘mulch’. I swept those suckers out of there in the fall and probably cursed myself in the process. When spring and summer arrived, so did the weeds and grass and that’s where I invested countless breaths and back pain (at 7 months preggo) into weeding the bed. I weeded three times and sprayed Round Up twice and nothing did the trick! What a waste of time and something I never want to do again – even when I am not pregnant!
Ugh…GAG ME!
I could not stand looking at the impression this gigantic tree bed was sending, so we decided drastic times, calls for drastic measures. Something needed to be done and thanks to a half off sale happening at our local garden center – the madness began! A special shout out to my husband and amazing in-laws and parents in their assistance in planting and even pulling flowers from their own yard to share!
We’re talking 53 plants worth to fill this sucker up, and still more to go (stay tuned!) So if you are in a similar situation as the pictures above – read along and let me share with you some tips on how to pick out plants, come up with a design plan and increase your curb appeal without the need of an expert/landscaper.
7 Tips for Designing and Planting a Successful Garden Bed
Track the sunlight in the specific area you will be working on.
It does help to take pictures of the area every hour so you know how much sun/shade each area gets. This will help you determine what type of plants will be needed and in which appropriate spot.
Some flowers require full sun, some require part sun and some require shade. You do not want to go stir crazy buying tons of flowers and then shock them because they are not in the right location. Make sure you do the diligence and research what plants prefer!
Perennials are a must and should be your focus when filling a large space.
For an area this big, especially from a monetary standpoint, perennial (plants that return year after year) plants are the way to go. They are generally maintenance free, deer resistant, evergreen and will remain and grow year after year in your garden/bed. It is very important to know your zone – use this site to find your Zone https://garden.org/nga/zipzone/ and this will also help you determine which plants will survive. Where I live, we deal with some pretty harsh winters so we do have a somewhat limited selection in what to choose. It can be tempting to purchase a bunch of annuals because they are generally showstoppers, but to not have to touch that bed is a main goal of ours! If there is an annual you cannot live without, leave some spaces open around the bed for you to plant come the proper time.
Mix and match: textures, heights and leaf colors
We planted a variety of tall grasses in between our hydrangea and also lined different varieties of hosta on the edges with some taller/skinner flowering plants surrounding. Ferns also provide an added texture to the bed and grow nicely around tree bases like hosta. We planted some Japanese barberry shrubs, coral bells and Japanese blood grasses to bring some burgundy elements to the bed.
Check heights, sun and spacing requirements – then sketch/design/map out your area accordingly.
After probably way too much research and countless calls to my Mom, we came up with a list of plants we were interested in planting. My husband and I drew several sketches of the bed to see if it looked okay from a visual and spacing perspective. It is so important to know your space and tier the plants by height. This means short plants to the front and tall ones to the back so all are seen! Also, making sure the plants are getting the proper amount of sunlight is so important – make sure you plant in the proper spot! Once we had things mapped out and purchased, we placed them in their intended spots and were even able to adjust if we didn’t like the look of something.
Note our tiny landscaping helper 🙂
Stagger plants by bloom time if possible.
Most of my plants are early summer to late fall bloomers. I have some early bloomers in the bed, daffodils and hyacinths, but for the most part the bed will be in full bloom from late spring to late fall. Which leads me to my next tip…
Choose a variety of evergreen plants for year round color.
Evergreens keep green leaves all year round, which is super nice to have in your garden bed. You don’t have to worry about things looking lifeless and again, these will keep your bed looking captivating ALL.YEAR.ROUND! Most of the perennial flowering plants I bought remain evergreen. Shrubs such as the barberry, boxwood and any type of arborvitae, spruce or pines are really nice and hardy additions to your bed.
Last but not least: WATER, WATER, WATER and MULCH, MULCH, MULCH
Don’t let all your hard work and money go to waste. First off, make sure you follow any planting instructions (if there are any specifics – i.e. trees and shrubs can have certain requirements in terms of hole size and watering). We added a planting mix soil to each hole to make sure the plants were given a nice fresh start! Be sure to water every day – preferably in the morning and/or evening! Finishing with a layer of mulch will help weeds from coming back through and also help keep water in the soil, which is important when the plant is just starting out in its new home!
Check out our after pictures below:
Ahh…the calmness that fills my soul when I look at these pictures!
Note: still some spaces to be filled, but I could not justify purchasing another plant after the tiny nursery we had out there! I purposely left gaps for specific plants I want to fill in with at a later date.
I am no longer embarrassed by our curb appeal and am excited to watch this bed fill out and become more maintenance free in the years to come!
