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I remember when I was a kid the nicest couple lived next door. There were very close friends of my parents. I called them (and still do) Aunt Rose and Uncle David. They had the most beautiful and luscious garden. They were the most attentive to their plants and grass. As a small child, I would run down to their house and ask “Can I hep you?” The letter L was hard for me as a little one. They would be on vacation for the entire summer. Their time was spent gardening and beautifying their wonderful yard.

During the summers helping Aunt Rose and Uncle David was when I began my love for gardening. But, I do not have as much time to be attentive to each plant as they did. So, I had to create a plan to make a nice garden on much less time. There are two rules I follow to make gardening easier for me:

(1) Grouping

(2) Perennials

So, if you look at my yard you will notice there is a theme. On one side of my house are many different types of lilies. On another side there are many types of hosta and a few perennials. Towards the back of the yard is a section for vegetables. And, on one side are blueberry bushes. I have them grouped in this way so I can meet their needs easily. The side where the hostas are planted is more shaded and there is a bit of a slope to my property line. So, the hostas thrive there because it is shaded and they help to hold up the land since their roots go very deep. The other perennials I have on that side have much more shallow roots like irises. And, the irises add a bit of color to the sea of green that the hosta provide. Another example is the vegetable area of my yard. It gets great direct sun. But since it is the veggie area it requires weeding. That is the only section of my garden that requires weeding. I wish I could have beautiful sections of wild flowers throughout my yard. But, I just do not have the time to do the weeding. I chose to have the only ‘weeding section’ of my yard as the vegetable garden. So, here are the groupings for my yard:

-veggies

-bushes/trees

-lilies

-hosta (and a few other perennials)

Every yard is different this is just what works for my garden and my lifestyle. My mother, for example, likes to have quite a few annuals in her garden because she likes the variety they add. So, she will have small sections of her yard devoted to different annuals each year. And she has even less time then I do, so she cannot have an entire section of her yard for veggies. She just has a few fruit bushes in one section.

If you are new to gardening the first thing you are probably thinking is ‘what is a perennial?’ It is a plant or flower that comes back every year. They usually bloom (or flower) in the spring or summer and die back during the fall and winter and come back the next year. Since they come back every year you can kind of plan your garden once and it basically will return the next year. The reason I put ‘basically’ in italics is that your garden will usually need some sprucing up like weeding, adding more mulch and/or putting more of the weed blocking fabric down. The perennial itself will come back but you will, most likely, need to do some maintenance around it. I like to get most of my yearly maintenance done at once. I usually take a long weekend and will do the re-mulching and lay the weed blocking fabric.  I usually do not have to re-lay the fabric but every 4 to 5 years. And, some people, like my mother, do not have to re-do it but every 7 or 8 years.

Each yard and gardener is different. So, I would urge you to think about what you want your garden to do before you begin planting. Here are some questions you can ask yourself: How much time do I have to devote to gardening? Do I want to do the plan for the garden once or re-do it every year? How much sin does my yard get? Do I want vegetables? Do I have time to do weeding? Do I have a special type of land I want covered? Near a lake or pond? On a hill? Do I just want things on the perimeter or in interior sections? Those basic questions will help you get started! Happy planting!

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 20th, 2009 at 11:33 pm and is filed under Garden, Living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.