My fiance and I recently moved into our first home. Our grass has finally begun to come up and we were wondering about some ideas on what to plant. We both have full time jobs and not alot of time to work in the garden. Any suggestions? (I really like my yard to be colorful). And if you do have suggestions, could you please give me a step-by-step run-down of how to plant and take care of them?
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I just brought a butterfly mat. It has about 500 seeds in it and it comes complete all you need to do is put it 3/4″ in soil(they recommend one with fertilizer already in it) saturate the mat with water, put an 8th of an inch of dirt over it cover it completely and wait for it to grow. It says the flowers will grow in about 2 weeks but no weeding for 3to4 weeks. The flowers will be all different types and very colorful (butterfly’s like these flowers so they will attract them) Some of the flower are Zinnia eklegans, Tagetes erecta, cornflowers, cosmos bipinnatus, and plains coreopis. They all are colorful and either annuals, biennial or perennials. I just planted mine today.
you are already getting a lot of tips on what to plant so i will give you some relevant details on fertilisation.which is an important part of your soil management
and would come under how to take care of them
the best fertiliser in the world is the manure that comes from earth worms,if you mulch your garden you will get worms automatically
all manure is good to add ,cow,rabbit, and horse is the mildest and you can put it on directly.
chicken is more acidy and is best to mix with saw dust or earth ,you cannot put too much manure in your garden,it will just get richer and richer,
but to prevent smell mix it well with the ground or with something else before you put it on like sand or earth or sawdust and you should put on mulch ,this will also prevent smell.
for get about chemicals it is the easiest way but also the worst and in the end the soil suffers,
utric acid or nitrogen is good ,this is animal urine,
farmers now put gutters in their stables to collect it and put it on the land especially fot the grassy type species.
this is a note on mulch in general for your interrest
cut down the weeds before they produce seeds and leave them where they fall,they will cover the ground and put even more organic matter on top,you can use saw dust,leaves green or dry,and when you plant make a little space and plant in the mulch.this is the easiest quickest and by far most benificial way(for the quality of you soul)to prepare the land for planting
to prevent weeds from coming all you have to do it turn out the lights,you can even use cardboard or black plastic(this is good for strawberries because they will rot if they touch humid ground,and the bugs can get to them).
MULCH
what you do is to cover the ground with mulch which is the same principal as compost but it includes the whole garden surface
the top part of the soil where the topsoil is being produced houses a world or microbiotic life.
Mulch is organic material green or dry that covers the ground,the thicker the better the composting process will turn it in to black topsoil
the humidity is preserved underneath and promotes the devellopment of worms(their exists no better compost than their excrements)and a variety of micro biotic life which together with the mulch produce more topsoil.
the mulch also keeps the ground temperature even and guards against the impact of the rain ,which would other wise brings salt to the surfave if on unprotected land
Mulch also prevents the soil from drying out because of the sun and, lay it open to wind erosian.
and it turn out the lights for any weeds that want to come up
do not use chemicals because the water will wash them into the ground and if enough people did that, you would be guilty of helping to contaminate subteranean water suplies that other people could be pumping up to drink
and make a compost heap to accomodate al the organic rubbish that you end up with ,both from the gartden and house.(70 %of contamination comes from organic wastes that are mixed with the plastics etc.
so it is better to turn it into something useful
,
a short note on compost,
dig a shallow hole ,bowel shaped and dump you leaves and cuttings into it plus
all organic material is good for a compost heap,eggshels,wood,paper,bones…
leaves,pineneedles sawdust,
keep the compost moist,have it in a shady place,like under a tree or built a little roof.
you can add a little lime at times,cover it with leaves or plastic to keep the moisture in.
we add red earth worms(californiana)which are surface eaters,the more worms, the quicker the decomposition and the richer the compost.
this is where i am coming from– Permaculture
i got some more stuff in my,
yahoo 360 degrees
and in the spaceshttp://spaces.msn.com/byderule
You can find great sites online for gardening. They give you step by step instructions. Some website even have tools that you can up load and plan you garden. Type in gardening in search bar you will be amazed at what you find.
A good idea is to stick ‘weed control fabric’ (available from most DIY Garden Centres) and cover with rather bark ( can get in a few colours) or pebbles over and then you heve the choice of putting the plants through the weed control fabric by pushing back the bark/pebbles and cutting a large X in the fabric then planting the plants into that or puttiong in containers. For greatr ideas, visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening.
It really depends if your yard is more shaded or bright, what your climate is, what type of soil you have…there are a lot of variables. I’d suggest looking online, or asking someone at a local gardening shop what they’d recommend, they are usually very knowledgable and helpful.
canna’s are great…require very little work once in the ground but only cover with up to 1 inch of soil..just occasion water and fertilizer and prefer full sun…coneflowers are low maintainence and drought tolerant once established..bury as deep as the plant was in the container
the canna’s will grow bigger and then you can divide the tuber and plant in other areas or leave them be for a thicker bed but it is recommended to divide them every 2 or so yrs to prevent overcrowding
coneflowers need division every 2-3 yrs and the song birds love the seed heads on these..i love to watch the yellow finch hang upside down eating the seeds off of coneflowers
bachelor buttons will reseed themselves every year and just require watering when it is dry 1 or 2 times a week
there are several types of sedum also but do research on sedum before buying any because some types are almost impossible to get rid of once they are established…one piece pulled off the plant and tossed to the side can take root elsewhere and try to take over another spot
daylilies need very little care and come in a wide variety or colors..just need watering occasionally during dry spells
iris are good but you cannot let grass grow up around them..recommended planting them in other beds with other flower to prevent diseases and harmful bugs..also you want to leave part of the rhizome uncovered to get it to bloom the next year..an iris rhizome that is completely covered can root or just wont bloom the next yr but on occasion they will bloom..you will also have plenty of blooms not covering them completely and iris are definitely drought tolerant…they can even live if thrown on top of the ground
there are many types of bulbs, bushes and plants that you can buy that bloom different times of the year for continuous color and many are low maintenance once established