How do you plant flowers in a garden? Fertilizer, mulch, and garden placement are important considerations for any flower bed. It depends on what flowers you're going to plant and on how old your garden...
It depends on what flowers you're going to plant and on how old your garden is. My initial advice before planting anything is to make sure that the soil is amended properly with organic material. It could be your own organic compost or soil purchased from the store. If you have a bunch of coffee grounds, you can mix that into your soil to pump up the natural soil and help the fertility. Adding organic material helps the soil retain moisture as well.
The next thing is to make sure you put the right mulch on top of the soil. We strongly recommend pine needle or any pine product mulch, because it takes a long time to break down. When it does break down, it turns into a lot of healthy organic material for your soil. The reason you put the mulch right on the top of the soil is to prevent sunlight from directly hitting the soil. Direct sunlight will warm it up making all the moisture evaporate out of the bed quicker. Mulching also keeps erosion down.
Once you've got the proper flower bed set up, the next thing to look at is placement, or micro-climate that you have. If you are putting in a flower bed in front of your house facing East, then you know that you're going to get early morning sun and maybe even a little noon sun. A garden placed at the North or South side of the building may not get as much sunlight. Considering the number of sunlight hours allows you to choose flowers. For example, if you're doing marigolds or chrysanthemums, obviously you're going to put them in a high-sunlight area. If you're doing flowers like nasturtium you'll need a partially shaded area.
Usage of the plants is also important. You may be looking for a purely aesthetic garden or for edible flowers like nasturtiums. They are delicious flowers, and you can eat the leaves as well. You may also want to set up a butterfly garden with a lot of insect activity. Do you want what is going to be the brightest and biggest or the lowest maintenance? Planning is the key to making sure you get what you want.
