New Flower beds

feelio

Hi guys, i'm new to the garden scene & i would like to plant couple of new flower beds as i have quiet a big garden 1/2 acre approx. I have planted 13 trees at the front of my house, next i would like to do flower beds next.What's the best way of doing this & what flowers would you recommend to plant? Would it be better to start this from next spring?

Feelio

artieanna

You can organise your beds how you want them dig over soil add rotted manure if you can get it to enrich the soil and start with bulbs planting them around the edges and mark anywhere else you put them (so you wont dig them up when you're putting in plants later). Bulbs are a great way to start planting beds you can work out everything else around them. You'll also see the fruits of your work in spring....

A little sand under your bulbs will also help prevent them from rotting in wet weather.

For plants you need to find out what sort of soil you have acid, sandy, loam wet, good drainage etc.. Different types of plants require different conditions you can get simple soil tests in a garden centre.

pwurple

Hi feelio,

Best time of year to plant is autumn winter. This is so that everything can get nice and settled in your garden conditions over winter, and they will be ready to shoot into growth in early spring. Planting in spring and summer is ok, but you need to water by hand to make sure they are established.

1/2 acre is great space to work with, you probably have a good bit of sun on it too. I find those soik testing kits in garden centers are inaccurate. You can tell more than enough about your soil by what thrives in your neighbours gardens, and by having a squeeze off your soil! If it sticks together in clay-like lumps when squeezed, then you have heavy clay. If not, you have more loamy sandy soil.

What i would do to get the shapes is either draw on paper the shape of beds you want, or get your hosepipe out and lay it down on the ground.

I am with artianna as well on the digging over, and bulbs!

Bulbs would really be a great way to start. Buy them in bulk sacks in the next week or two if you can and plant according to the instructions. Go for block planting rather than loads of different types. It will look more impressive. Lots of bulbs will come up year after year, and multiply, so it isnt wasted money.

Come back to the thread with what grows well for your neighbours, and a rough idea of shade / sun and soil type and there will be more ideas for plants.

Rinker

I'm going to respectfully disagree totally with the advice of the previous posters. I'd say bulbs are probably the last plants to go in and it'd be nonsense to organise everything else around them. (They only last a few months for a couple of years whereas trees shrubs can outlast the gardener.) The conventional wisdom would be to plant structural plants first and work around them.

Prepare the bed by forking over and removing perennial weeds.

Lay plants out so that you can see how they work best together. Remember to give each plant enough space grow – check the label for the plant’s final spread.

Use the evergreen and larger plants to create structure through the border, then herbaceous plants and grasses to fill in.

Use several of the same plants to create a drift – grasses are good for this. To create a drift equally space each plant along the border.

Once you're happy with the layout, work across the border planting each plant in turn (it’s easier to plant the larger plants first).

The last stage would be bulb planting. Some work best in large drifts in lawns such as daffodils and others such as bluebells are best under trees.

paddy147

Trees,shrubs and plants/flowers 1st,then you can plant the bulbs.

Mypex weed barrier is one of the best quality weed barrier is on the market and is great for keeping the weeds at bay,also lots of chip bark,instead of stones to soften up the garden and give a more natural look.

pwurple

I Understand where you are coming from rinker, you are correct if the original poster was doing the whole scheme next week. But for a gardener starting off, bulbs can give a bit of breathing space for a year while they decide what they would like. Trees and shrubs are a long term commitment, and need a bit more planning. Bulbs will give a great display next year , and give confidence to branch out more.

Something like anenome blanda under tulips would be fine for a year.

I am afraid I completly abhor mypex under bark mulch. I have never seen it done well. Frayed edged, dried out bark mulch... Looks tatty very quickly i have found. I dont like spaces between plants though, a bit too public parkland for me. Prefer my plants to be all jostling and filling in the gaps, so there is no room for weeds.

paddy147

pwurple wrote: »

I Understand where you are coming from rinker, you are correct if the original poster was doing the whole scheme next week. But for a gardener starting off, bulbs can give a bit of breathing space for a year while they decide what they would like. Trees and shrubs are a long term commitment, and need a bit more planning. Bulbs will give a great display next year , and give confidence to branch out more.

Something like anenome blanda under tulips would be fine for a year.

I am afraid I completly abhor mypex under bark mulch. I have never seen it done well. Frayed edged, dried out bark mulch... Looks tatty very quickly i have found. I dont like spaces between plants though, a bit too public parkland for me. Prefer my plants to be all jostling and filling in the gaps, so there is no room for weeds.

You should see my girlfriends work then,with regards Mypex and bark mulch.Pure class and not a single bit of tattyness either.Properly cut,installed and secured with weed barrier pegs:)

The bark mulch keeps the moisture in and keeps the soil from drying out too fast.So it means less watering and less use of water too.

planetX

Don't go spending a lot of money on anything fancy - remember our last 2 winters! The garden centres are selling a lot of 'bargains' right now that don't have a hope if we get a cold spell. Put in a few structural shrubs and leave the flowers till spring.

feelio

artieanna wrote: »

You can organise your beds how you want them dig over soil add rotted manure if you can get it to enrich the soil and start with bulbs planting them around the edges and mark anywhere else you put them (so you wont dig them up when you're putting in plants later). Bulbs are a great way to start planting beds you can work out everything else around them. You'll also see the fruits of your work in spring....

A little sand under your bulbs will also help prevent them from rotting in wet weather.

For plants you need to find out what sort of soil you have acid, sandy, loam wet, good drainage etc.. Different types of plants require different conditions you can get simple soil tests in a garden centre.

Can you use chicken pellets as manure?

artieanna

I stand by what I say about starting now with bulbs, its how I started my own garden and it worked really well for me. You will see them pop up in spring and it will encourage you to build your garden from there. As planetx said don't buy cordylines, escallonia or any frost sensitive plants until the winter passes as hard frost will finish them and it can be expensive. But do consider buying some hardy bare root trees, shrubs, hedges as buying bare root is much cheaper than buying them later in pots.

Chicken pellets are generally used for fruit and vegetables as its high in nitrogen (nitrogen makes plants leafy and green) and can lack other nutrients on its own. If you can't get manure you can use a general fertilizer like growmore or fish and bone meal.

this link discusses simply the different fertilizers

http://www.allgardeningsites.com/news/best-fertilizers-for-flowers/