Recently, I was given a piece of my grandma’s backyard to make my own garden in. I have never been the planter in my family – that position belongs to my sister – but I decided to give it a shot. After all, I’ll try anything once!
The piece of land I have is in the corner of a yard with a mulberry tree planted there. Mulberry trees are amazing because they produce this fruit that reminds me of tiny blackberries. I tend to spend the most time in this section of the yard gathering all the little berries when they’re ripe, so this was ideal.
I wasn’t sure how to begin with my garden, so I started off by simply dividing off the section to show where the grass stopped and my corner started. After that, I decided mulch was a must, so my grandma and I headed off to the store for a few bags.
Once the mulch was laid, I had to decide on what plants to choose. It entirely depends on where you live when it comes to plants. I knew I wanted flowers, but besides that, I wasn’t sure. My sister had had a lot of success with marigolds before, so we went out and got a large box of marigold seeds that I sprinkled throughout the corner. Marigolds produce large orange, yellow, and red flowers. I decided to only plant in the front of my slot because I wanted there to be enough sunlight for the plants and enough walking room around the mulberry tree.
The marigolds turned out to be a fantastic idea and they quickly sprouted up. When looking for plants, I tend to scan through the clearance sections in the outdoor parts of Lowes and Walmart because, while those plants might not look too healthy, they just need to be taken care of a bit and they turn out fine. Doing this, I found a small green-leafed plant that didn’t look all that bad, so I brought him home and put him to the left of my Marigolds. Little did I know that he produced beautiful blue flower stalks. Within a month, he had tripled in size, somehow turned into three separate plants, and now had three blue flower stalks that just recently bloomed!
I experimented with ivy because it would be a disgrace to my name not to, but the ivy didn’t take all that well. Apparently, there was only room in my garden for one Ivey. Nevertheless, I took a metal fence piece and interlaced my ivy through it to give it more support. My grandma planted some on the back fence and it took rather well though!
Hibiscus plants and roses were next, so I put those to the left and now have gorgeous flowers and more about to bloom! Recently, I added snapdragons to the mix as well and am waiting for those to bloom.
I decided I wanted my garden to have a centralized fairy theme about it, so I have included houses, fairies, gnomes, seashells, coloured rocks, and brightly coloured objects I had around the house. All in all, it added an amazing tone to the garden and brightened it up significantly!
When planting a garden, be open to experimentation! Pick a plot of land that has proper soil and take some time to treat it well before putting plants in the ground. Pick flowers that are proper for your area and the time of year – you can always add more later as the seasons change! Be sure to include your own personal touch and give your garden the attention it deserves!
