If this is your instinct of the moment, here are some useful tips to know where to start and how to organize your work.
First of all, it is good to understand what kind of soil our garden is made of, determine its pH and whether it is necessary to sift, clean or integrate some parts.
Prepare a good “bed”, will allow you to have more choice in the varieties of plants and varieties flowers to be planted.
SHADE OR FULL SUN
If the garden we have to design is adjacent to other houses (city situation or terraced houses or with a presence of tall trees or if exposed to the north) is likely to be subject to shade for much of the day. This element limits the choice of the plants we want to plant: we recommend plants, bushes or flowers that love the shade or that at least tolerate it well.
In the case of plants, in particular, it is better to avoid evergreens, choosing instead deciduous ones to allow the passage of some rays of sunshine during the winter.
In case our garden is in full sun, we will have fewer problems, or better, we will have different problems, first of all, the one of correct and constant irrigation.
The flowers that particularly love the full sun are, for example, petunia, geranium and verbena. If you intend to bury both flowers and plants, be careful to study their position well: the ideal is for the flowers to be protected from the shade of the plants during the hours of full sun.
PROJECT:
Arm yourself with paper and pencil and draw the map, as precise as possible, of your garden.
It is important to map everything in the garden: walls, rocks, hedges and trees, but also the fence and the water and gas wells.
It can be very easy to install a fountain or water point on the water wells, which is extremely useful not only for irrigating your garden.
Calculate the appropriate proportions of the design, use the squares as a unit of measure and try to be precise about the size.
Place plants, flowers, hedges, bushes and furniture always taking into account the shaded and sunny areas of your garden. Pay attention to the dimensions to avoid that during the growth the plants do not bother each other.
A classic situation, for example, is that of the hedge. The strongest and easiest-to-treat plant is photinia. The first instinct is normally to bury the photinia plants adjacent to the fence with the result that, when you have full growth and the time has come to prune there will be no more space to work easily on the side of photinia attached to the fence. Whatever hedge you choose, you should always be at least one metre from the fence when planting.
Once you have made the pencil sketch, which you have probably made and remade several times, draw the final drawing adding the colours.
WE PREPARE THE GROUND
Now it’s time to get your hands dirty.
Tip: Cut the lawn before you start, it will be easier to weed out and till the ground.Good soil preparation is essential to achieve the best results.
If the lawn is already in place, it could be a good idea to ventilate it and, in any case, good fertilisation will allow the soil to be provided with all the substances that are essential for its fertility.
To complete the work on the ground, start by drawing the contours of the flowerbeds that you have planned in your project: help yourself with a hoe and draw the contours.
At this point, you will have to let the soil settle properly, so leave it alone for about ten days.
PLANTS AND FLOWERS
As you settle the ground, we can start thinking about plants and flowers.
Usually starting from scratch with new plants and flowers is the most stimulating and fun thing, because it allows us to freely create the atmospheres that we have designed.
If, however, there are already plants, of course, they will not have to be eliminated, but they can be adapted to the new project for example by changing the style of pruning or enriching them with small islands of coloured pebbles or other.
Here we are with the fateful question “What plants to buy?”.
The instinct would take us to the web to navigate among plants and flowers with a thousand shapes and colours. Well, in this case, the use of the net and e-commerce can be very positive if we have clear ideas on what to buy. If not, the advice is to turn to the nurserymen and garden centres in your area, where you can see live different varieties of plants and flowers, also have valuable advice from qualified professionals (or at least this is what we always hope when we turn to the traditional trade).
COLOURS
In the design and selection of flowers and plants, a very important component is that of colour.
Green is the basis, but it is also the colour used to soften colours that are too bright.
White brings out light and colour, which is why white pebbles are often used at the base of plants and flowers with delicate colours to highlight their effect.
White flowerbeds are great for shaded areas and hidden corners, which will make them brighter.
You can create monochromatic flowerbeds, starting with the primary colours: red, blue and yellow.
Red is an exciting colour, not suitable for “meditation” areas or gardens, but excellent if you have large spaces to contain, because the bright colours attract attention, highlighting more and giving the impression that the surrounding space is more contained than it is.
The blue relaxes and welcomes, excellent for relaxation areas.
Yellow is a warm colour, but like red it tends to excite more than relaxing, even if its impact is softer. Another strong point of yellow is the wide variety of plants and flowers it can count on.
We recommend this colour to beginners, because of the wide variety of plants to choose from.
Now we come to the secondary colours: orange, purple and green.
Orange as well as yellow and red is to be considered bright and excellent for directing the gaze during walks in the garden.
Purple is cold and relaxing almost more than its “parent” blue.
You can create colour spots by combining the primary and secondary families, or you can create contrasts by combining primary colours such as yellow and blue, or red and yellow.
Warm and cold colours can be combined, but we do not recommend experimenting if you are a beginner, complementary colours often conflict with each other if combined without the transition or with the support of neutral colours.
TO THE WORK
Once the soil is ready and the plants have been purchased, we can proceed with their planting.
First of all, without removing them from the pots, make a test of disposition. Take a walk, move away and get closer, check that there is enough space between the plants and that the maintenance steps are respected.
When you are satisfied with the result, you can start burying the plants and flowers you have purchased.
For each plant or flower, make a suitable dig to contain it and at the end of this, we suggest you put a handful of soil or fertilizer specific to the plant in question.
Place the plant in your accommodation and at sunset finish the job with a good watering.
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