Planning your garden in Kentucky - 10 Tips
Here are some tips on how to have a beautiful garden this year. Some are practical tips my Mom taught me, and others I gleaned from magazines and articles online.
#1. Make a plan - order seeds and start them early in the house by a sunny window or in a greenhouse. You can also buy plants this Spring, but to save money, you may want to experiment with your own seeds.
#2. Make a Garden Map of your yard, and decide what you would like to do this year. Make your list do-able. It's fun to imagine what your garden can look like.
#3. Consider bulbs - - watching bulbs come up in the Spring is so fun. You can plant these in the Spring or Fall. Sometimes they flower the same year, most of them you have to wait for. But it is worth it.
#4. Invest in some gardening books or magazines. These will help you make your Garden Map, and provide a lot of fun reading too. Some of my favorite gardening books are the Victory Garden books. They have both new (The New Victory Garden with Bob Thomson) and old (Crockett's Victory Garden) versions of these on Amazon. There is also a Crockett's Flower Garden book that looks good (I bought it last year).
#5. Do you want an herb garden? Trader Joe's has some good deals on herbs in their flower section, and you can start most herbs with seed too. You can put your herb garden closer to your back door and be more traditional.
#6.Try to collect organic, heirloom seeds and plants. These can be used year after year. Plant seeds can be kept and planted again. You can save lots of money this way, and protect your plants' heritage and history too. I found some beautiful flowers in the store that other day and they were registered to the plant company. They said "no propagation". Using heritage seeds is a lot safer if you plan to sell them too.
#7. Consider raised beds. They can help you save time and money. To save money for now, even mounds of planting soil can do the trick. You can always add the edges later.
#8. See if you can take a class from your local Agricultural Extension office. These offices are all across the country. They can help you plan your garden and have resources like free booklets and lots more.
#9. Consider having a garden with your neighbor or friend. You can share the weeding and planning, and both have plenty of extra vegetables or flowers.
#10. Start small if you have not had a garden before. Try a couple of tomato plants or some pretty perennial (lasts for more than one year) flowers and see how it goes. Then graduate to more types of plants next year.
More ideas include trickle watering, insect control, fencing, containers, and lots more.
Do you have a tip for this year? List it as a comment. I'd love to hear about it.
Find out more:
Berea's planting date guide - this goes from the earliest to the latest dates as a practical guide for Kentucky gardeners.
A BIG list of seed and garden catalogs from my Betsyanne blog, the Moon and the Willow Tree.
The Warren County Kentucky Cooperative Extension office
Organic Gardening in Kentucky - my Squidoo Page
My Personal Page and blog
The Nontrads site and blog
My Squidoo pages
Join me on my Fan Page on Facebook
Join me on Twitter as @betsyanne or @nontrads
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| Tiger lilies in Owensboro by Velo Steve on Flickr. |
Here are some tips on how to have a beautiful garden this year. Some are practical tips my Mom taught me, and others I gleaned from magazines and articles online.
#1. Make a plan - order seeds and start them early in the house by a sunny window or in a greenhouse. You can also buy plants this Spring, but to save money, you may want to experiment with your own seeds.
#2. Make a Garden Map of your yard, and decide what you would like to do this year. Make your list do-able. It's fun to imagine what your garden can look like.
#3. Consider bulbs - - watching bulbs come up in the Spring is so fun. You can plant these in the Spring or Fall. Sometimes they flower the same year, most of them you have to wait for. But it is worth it.
#4. Invest in some gardening books or magazines. These will help you make your Garden Map, and provide a lot of fun reading too. Some of my favorite gardening books are the Victory Garden books. They have both new (The New Victory Garden with Bob Thomson) and old (Crockett's Victory Garden) versions of these on Amazon. There is also a Crockett's Flower Garden book that looks good (I bought it last year).
#5. Do you want an herb garden? Trader Joe's has some good deals on herbs in their flower section, and you can start most herbs with seed too. You can put your herb garden closer to your back door and be more traditional.
#6.Try to collect organic, heirloom seeds and plants. These can be used year after year. Plant seeds can be kept and planted again. You can save lots of money this way, and protect your plants' heritage and history too. I found some beautiful flowers in the store that other day and they were registered to the plant company. They said "no propagation". Using heritage seeds is a lot safer if you plan to sell them too.
#7. Consider raised beds. They can help you save time and money. To save money for now, even mounds of planting soil can do the trick. You can always add the edges later.
#8. See if you can take a class from your local Agricultural Extension office. These offices are all across the country. They can help you plan your garden and have resources like free booklets and lots more.
#9. Consider having a garden with your neighbor or friend. You can share the weeding and planning, and both have plenty of extra vegetables or flowers.
#10. Start small if you have not had a garden before. Try a couple of tomato plants or some pretty perennial (lasts for more than one year) flowers and see how it goes. Then graduate to more types of plants next year.
More ideas include trickle watering, insect control, fencing, containers, and lots more.
Do you have a tip for this year? List it as a comment. I'd love to hear about it.
Betsyanne
Find out more:
Berea's planting date guide - this goes from the earliest to the latest dates as a practical guide for Kentucky gardeners.
A BIG list of seed and garden catalogs from my Betsyanne blog, the Moon and the Willow Tree.
The Warren County Kentucky Cooperative Extension office
Organic Gardening in Kentucky - my Squidoo Page
My Personal Page and blog
The Nontrads site and blog
My Squidoo pages
Join me on my Fan Page on Facebook
Join me on Twitter as @betsyanne or @nontrads
