Tuesday Tip – Spring Gardens

bpgardenI love walking through Bryant Park in the mornings and this morning I got a treat – they were laying out the annuals that they would be planting now that the spring bulbs had finished blooming.

This is a picture of it and for those of you who are not sure about how to layout a garden, here’s the trick they were using this morning — place the plants in their containers where you think you might want them. Step back and take a look from various angles. Rearrange until you think you’ve got it right.

But before you dig — make sure to take one last look at the planting directions on those little plastic markers in the pots. Especially check the height for the plant. You don’t to place something that will grow tall in front of something like pansies or impatiens which generally stay close to the ground.

Another hint — to attract bees and hummingbirds, lean towards pinks, blues and purples.

Give your plants room to grow. Unless you’re gardening in containers (which require different soil mixes and fertilizing), allow 6 to 8 inches between plants. How do you know what’s 6 to 8 inches? Before you head into the garden, measure the distance from the tip of your thumb to the end of your index finger with your fingers outstretched. Use that as your measure in the garden. I know that from tip-to-tip on my hand is 8 inches. That also comes in handy for measuring other things (dirty girls, I was referring to bookshelves, furniture, picture frames, etc.!)

One last hint, while you want some symmetry, remember the odd number rule of composition — odd numbers of objects grouped together work better than even numbers of objects. So, you can balance the ends of your garden with one larger plant, but keep the objects within the gardens into groups of odd number plantings. 3 together is always an easy one and can be accomplished even if you’re planting flowers in rows. Just make sure that the second row is not directly behind the first. The offset will create natural pairings of 3 throughout the garden.

Hope you enjoyed today’s Tuesday Tip!

2 Replies to “Tuesday Tip – Spring Gardens”

  1. My husband just rototilled (is that a word?) my garden today. Can’t wait to start planting vegetables. I’m trying some new things this year like corn and watermelon.

  2. Hi– I’m finally back! I’ve missed seeing your posts so I’m going to back track and read what I’ve missed.

    You have some really good tips here. I just love flower gardens. I like the one about using pinks, blues and purples to attract hummingbirds.

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