Gardening 101: How To Plant Flowers for Beginners

Planting flowers in your garden is a great way to add color and beauty to your outdoor space. It’s also a fun activity that can be enjoyed by everyone!

Before you start planting, it’s important to choose the right flowers for your garden. Annual flowers bloom for one season and provide vibrant colors all season long until the first frost. Perennial flowers bloom for a few weeks during different parts of the season and come back year after year. When buying flowers, read the plant tag or description to learn about the type of flower and how much sunlight it needs. Full sun means 6 or more hours of direct sunlight, while part sun is about half of that. If you’re choosing perennials, check the USDA Hardiness Zones to make sure they can survive the winters in your area.

Timing is crucial when planting flowers. For most flowers, it’s best to wait until after the last frost of the season to plant them. However, there are some flowers like snapdragons and violas that can tolerate cooler temperatures.

Now, let’s get started on planting flowers that will brighten up your garden for years to come.

Tips for Planting Flowers

Preparing Your Flower Beds or Pots

If you’re planting flowers in a garden bed, start by clearing the area where you want to plant. Add some compost to enrich the soil. Remove any weeds to prevent them from competing with your flowers for water and nutrients.

For planting in pots on your patio, deck, or balcony, fill the pot with potting mix, leaving an inch or two from the top. Remember, potting mix is different from garden soil.

For mixed containers, consider planting a tall plant like marigolds or daisies for height, a filler plant like calibrachoas or petunias to add fullness, and a trailing plant like sweet potato vine or fan flowers to spill over the edges.

Choosing the Right Plant Size

Check the plant tag or description to see how tall and wide the plant will grow in ideal conditions. It’s important not to overlook this information!

In garden beds, place taller plants like zinnias or salvias at the back, and shorter, sprawling plants or groundcovers like sweet alyssum or portulaca at the front. This way, you’ll create a balanced and visually appealing garden.

Choosing Healthy Plants

When shopping for plants at a nursery, look for ones that are vibrant and green, not wilted, brown, or looking unhealthy. Avoid plants in pots that are completely dry, as they may already be stressed.

Planting Your New Plant

Dig a hole that’s about twice the size of the plant’s root ball. If you have a multi-pack of flowers, gently squeeze each cell to loosen the soil. Tilt the pack sideways to slide each plant out. If needed, coaxing them out is okay.

Hold the plant by its stem, not the top, and place it in the hole at the same depth it was in the pot. Gently loosen the roots with your fingers to help them spread out into the hole, especially if they are tightly packed. Fill the hole with soil, tamp it down lightly, and give it a good watering.

Planting Seeds

If you’re planting seeds, check the seed packet for planting depth—it’s often shallower than you might think, sometimes just a quarter-inch deep. Also, pay attention to the “days to maturity” on the packet.

For instance, if a flower takes 80 days to mature and it’s already the end of June, it might be too late to plant from seed in some regions. You could end up with a plant that grows all summer but doesn’t bloom before the first frost hits.

Mulching Your Plants

Adding mulch around your new plants might seem optional, but it’s actually quite beneficial. Whether your plants are in the ground or in containers, mulch helps reduce water evaporation, meaning you may not need to water as often. It also helps prevent weeds and breaks down over time, enriching the soil.

Watering Your Plants

Most annual and perennial flowers need about two inches of water per week to stay healthy. Use your judgment; if it has rained recently, you might not need to water.

To check if a plant needs water, stick your finger into the soil; if it feels dry, it’s time to water.

When watering, aim for a deep soak until water drains out of the bottom of the pot. In the spring, when there are frequent rains, you might only need to water a few times a week.

In the summer, daily watering might be necessary. By fall, as the growing season winds down, water a couple of times a week during dry spells.

Steps to Start Planting Flowers

Gathering Your Gardening Tools

Here are the basic tools you’ll need:

• – A trowel for digging holes.
• – A small hand cultivator for loosening soil. If you have a large area to work on, a digging fork might be more suitable.
• – A watering can or a garden hose with a spray nozzle if there’s an outdoor faucet nearby.
• – Gardening gloves. You can use disposable gloves if the plants you’re handling don’t have thorns.
• – Pruners for cutting off damaged stems and trimming spent flowers.

Preparing the Soil

Before planting, make sure the soil is ready:

• – Remove any weeds or grass that could compete with your flowers.
• – Clear away any stones or rocks.
• – Dig the soil to a depth of about six inches to make it loose and easy to work with.
• – If your soil is dry and sandy, add organic matter like mulch to improve its quality. Mix it in well with the soil.

If the soil is dry, water it lightly. You want the soil to be moist but not overly wet. To check, grab a handful of soil and squeeze it; if water drips out, it’s too wet.

Setting Up Your Plants

Before you start planting, water the plants in their containers and place them where you plan to plant them in your garden. This way, you can easily rearrange them without having to dig them up later.

Here are some tips

• – Check the plant label for height and spacing requirements. If it’s not on the label, you can look it up online. Make sure the plant’s preferred growing conditions match the location you’ve chosen.
• – If your garden bed is viewed from one side, place taller plants at the back and shorter ones at the front.
• – If your garden bed is visible from all sides, place taller plants in the center and surround them with shorter plants.
• – Once you’re happy with the arrangement, leave the plants in place.

Digging and Planting

Now you’re ready to plant your flowers:

• – Dig a hole that’s as deep and slightly wider than the plant’s container. Check by placing the container in the hole to see if it’s the right depth.
• – Gently remove the plant from its container. For smaller plants, you can usually pinch the bottom to loosen and slide it out. For larger plants, squeeze the sides, turn it upside down, and tap the bottom to remove it. Remember, never pull a plant out by its stem.
• – Handle seedlings with care. If you started them indoors, make sure they’ve been hardened off by gradually exposing them to outdoor conditions over several days before planting.
• – Place the plant in the hole, fill in with the soil you dug out, and gently tamp down the soil around the plant.

Watering and Pruning Your Plants

After planting, water your flowers using a watering can or a garden hose with a gentle shower setting to avoid damaging the plants. Water at the base of the plants to prevent flattening.

Trim any broken stems and remove faded blooms. Pinch off any buds that are just starting to form. This helps the plant grow more stems and become stronger, producing more blooms over time.

Add mulch to cover the soil around your plants. This helps retain moisture in the soil and reduces weed growth. Continue watering your plants as needed throughout the season.

Enjoy Watching Your Garden Grow

Now, sit back and enjoy watching your plants grow and bloom. Depending on what you’ve planted, you may soon have a beautiful supply of flowers to cut and enjoy indoors or a vibrant display to admire in your garden that will impress anyone passing by.