The plan was originally to blog about the progress of the garden every week. That plan failed, oops! I did blog about the beginning, and then it was quiet for a long time. Now the dilemma became: where to start?! First of all: it's so much fun! A picking garden is really more fun and easier than I expected. Of course it takes time, but it is well worth it.
The weather this year has of course been perfect for a picking garden. I mainly have plants that can withstand warm weather very well, luckily! The dahlias, zinnias and cosmos feast on all the warmth they receive. And because they have been in the ground for a long time, they have formed substantial roots. So they keep up with the amount of water they get.
I immediately got a number of questions about the flowers via Instagram, so I thought it would be nice to share some tips that have helped with successful plants.
Tips to start a picking garden yourself
Prepare yourself
How much space do you have? Which flowers would you like? When would you like beautiful flowers in the garden? And especially how much time do you want to spend on it? There are many factors that come into play when selecting plants. Think about that carefully before you go all out with buying materials.
There's a lot to be found about growing plants and how to approach it. The book "Cut flower garden" by Erin Benzakein was the perfect start for me to prepare myself. And of course the internet is also a great encyclopedia.
Time
You cannot force nature and make it work faster. Do you want a beautiful flower garden in the summer? Then good planning is important. It takes a certain amount of time to germinate seeds. Subsequently, a certain time is also needed before the first flowers emerge. Good preparation prevents you from being late with, for example, buying seeds. Tip: some seeds should be sown in the fall, so that they can germinate in the spring.
Start with the basics
When you think of a flower garden, you probably think mainly of the flowers and plants that grow there. But your plants work best in good soil. You literally get what's in it. If you have poor soil, your plants are less strong. On poor soil, plants are more concerned with looking for nutrients than growing and flowering. Are your plants getting enough nutrition? Then your plants are stronger and you get bigger flowers. Obviously, you will suffer less from diseases in the plants. Note: there is also such a thing as over fertilization, so find the balance :).
I have enriched the soil with compost and some natural fertilizer granules. Then I made a lot of compost tea and gave it to the young plants. Completely natural!
Don't start too big
When preparing for the garden, I thought about how much time I wanted to spend on the garden. Since I have a busy schedule, I wanted it to be fun. I'm glad I didn't start too big right away. The temptation, of course, is to immediately pull it into an extreme. Now the garden is very easy and fun to keep.
Place the plants in the garden
It's so much easier to keep plants in the ground, that makes a huge difference in watering! Especially with the heat of the past few weeks, your plants do much better in the garden.
Choose different bloomers
When you prepare yourself for a picking garden, you want flowers all season long, right? You can prepare very well by looking at which flowers grow in which season. Foxglove, for example, is beautiful in a vase, but the plant only produces one round of flowers. Dahlias flower later, but bloom until the first frost.
Oh and I can go on with tips for a long time, but for now it seemed like a good base;).
Would you like it if I share more blogs about the picking garden?
Love,
Judith
