Welcome to the Flower Garden...

In the beginning...

Soil Preparation

The most important single thing in your garden will be its soil. The weather will also be a major factor and unless the conditions are right, hold off working the soil, planting or seed sowing until conditions improve.

Keeping the soil healthy keeps the plants healthy, and the best way to improve or maintain the soil is with a good dollop of well rotted farmyard manure, compost, mulched seaweed, and peat-free organic matter from renewal resources - these days gardener's are no longer encouraged to dig in peat as this resource has not proven to be sustainable.

Oranic material will improve the physical structure of soil and keep your plants and veggies happy. Most plants need three main foods; nitrogen, potash and phosphates, and although some plant food is returned to the soil in compost or dung, they tend not to hold enough of these trace elements to be very useful - so a good ‘complete’ fertilizer can be liberally thrown around before planting or sowing to ensure your little green friends get all the vital foods they need.

Generally speaking, the deeper you can dig in the better your plants will grow, about the length of a spade blade will do (also known as a single spit). Autumn or early winter are the best times to dig over your garden as leaving the ground rough over this period will make it easier to work in the spring - the frost will have helped break down any lumps.

Autumn is also the best time to muck about with compost and assorted organic matter - pretty much every kind of soil feels the benefit - clay soil (notoriously stubborn) becomes easier to work, sandy soil holds more moisture, and the millions of micro-organisms that keep the soil alive get a big boost.

It is a good idea to give your plants a liquid feed during the growing season especially plants grown in pots and containers which have limited access to nutrients.

The Undervalued Art of Compost Making

Getting hold of farmyard manure can be a bit tricky nowadays and as we are all quite rightly being encouraged to recycle more the obvious answer is to make your own compost. It makes sense for those even with small gardens to have a compost making facility, this can be a large heap in the corner of the garden - a large plastic dustbin with holes in the bottom or a specially purchased receptacle.

Pretty much any clean (i.e. disease-free) veggy matterand be used for composting. Kitchen waste, grass clippings, leaves and weeds (not those bearing seeds) will produced a rich compst in about six months. Plants with thicker, tougher stems should be chopped up to help with decomposition as otherwise it’ll take ages and evergreens, tree prunings and etc, will take a bit longer.

Ideally, the compost heap shouldn’t be any more than three to four feet deep or wide, otherwise the air can’t get to the middle and the whole thing slows down and you’ll end up with no 'cooking' in the middle of the heap, like a frozen lasagna you’ve bunged in the microwave on the wrong setting!

Build up the heap in layers about six inches deep, and if the peelings or what-have-you are a bit on the dry side, make sure you water each layer. In any case the heap should be watered in dry periods and, if you have it, manure helps to increase the composting process as do activators which can be purchased from good garden centres.

After six months, the rotted stuff in the middle should be ready for use, the dry layer on the top should be removed, and then you can use it to start another heap...

Sowing the Seeds of Good Gardening

Watching a tiny seed sprout and transform is one of the the greatest pleasures you can get out of gardening, and it’s pretty simple providing a few rules are followed. Make sure that all your pots and boxes, saucepans and casserole dishes - whatever you’re going to grow these things in - are as clean as possible; they may be harbouring nasties.

Fill your seed box using a quick-draining compost, making sure that excess water can get away quickly. Give the compost a sprinkle of water before sowing, and make sure the seeds are spread evenly and thinly.

Cover with a thin layer of compost and stick some paper or glass over the top (this will exclude the light and keep the compost nice and moist until the seeds germinate).

Planning your Garden

When planning your garden, make sure you think ahead properly, it’s not easy to change your mind once you’ve plotted out a scheme.

Trees and shrubs for instance, need to be carefully spaced according to their estimated spread and height; as if they grow too close together, some will have to be uprooted. If you’re limited for space utilize your walls and fences for climbing plants wherever possible, giving you more gardening space without making a small garden look overcrowded.

If you’re planning a veggie patch, plot it as close to the house as possible. Fill it with greens that taste great when really fresh and stuff that tends to be pretty expensive in the shops. If possible, connect it to the house by an all-weather path.