I have found that this time of the year is typically the best time to refresh the garden beds at my house. What I’ve seen lately due to the quarantine is everyone is working on their gardens as well. Are you seeing that too? In this blog post, I’ll explain my process of redoing a garden bed and selecting plants.
My process is easily broken into two steps:
- how much sun does your garden bed get daily?
- what type of plant do you want, perennial or annual?
We’ve all done it. We’ve all gone in to a garden center and felt overwhelmed with the selection of plants. Am I picking the right plant? Will this plant survive my garden? Will I be able to take care of it? Gone through the effort of planting them only to be disappointed when our beautiful plants die in a week or two. Well, here’s some help before you head out to the garden centers.
I believe your first step to gardening is finding out how much sunlight your garden bed gets in a day. Try to check the garden bed at least three times a day (morning, noon and afternoon). Knowing how much sun the garden bed gets will safe you from planting low shade plants in a full sun garden bed and vice versa. There’s nothing more upsetting than seeing all your hard work and money wasted. This concept is known as the Right Plant, Right Location, knowing your location will help you in deciding the right plant.
Once you get home with your new plants take a couple of days to move your plants around. Meaning don’t be in a rush to plant them as soon as you get home. Unless you are 100% sure your garden bed meets your plants light requirements, in my experience living in Florida, you sometimes have to wait. For example, if your garden bed gets morning sun vs. afternoon sun that makes a big difference in Florida. I like to organize my plants where I think they can handle the sun. If after one day, the plants look all wilted, then I know I need to re-think my planting location. Conversely, If after a day or two they look great without me watering them, then I know this is a good spot.
After you are familiar with light requirements, you can move on to choose perennials or annuals or both. Perennials are plants that “come back” every year and annuals die after one season. There’s no right or wrong here for which plants to select for your garden bed. You can also mix and match within your garden bed. Remember, this is your garden bed and you get to choose whatever you like.
Lastly, have fun. Gardening is about making your garden look pretty, so plant what you like. You get to choose what to grow and what to take care of. In my garden bed, I chose Asparagus Fern and Gaillardia. Both are easy-care plants with very low maintenance. Asparagus Fern or Foxtail fern needs very little maintenance and it’s beautiful shade of bright green just pops. Gaillardia or Blanketflower is like a bushy sunflower with colorful yellow, orange and reddish petals.
I hope this blog post inspired and/or helped you decide how to replant a garden bed. As always, I’d love to hear from you so leave a comment below!
