Planting Garden Flowers
In This Section
In this section, you’ll find discussions, explanations, and directions for planting flowers outdoors in your gardens or landscape, including:
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- Why preparation of the site and soil is needed for good results and beautiful blooms.
- How to prepare garden soils for planting bulbs.
- Why, when, and how to grow flowers from seed.
- When and how to transplant flower starts, young plants, and container-grown flowers into garden soil or containers.
- How to plant flower successions that bloom in sequence throughout the garden season.
- A checklist to follow of proper flower planting steps and after-planting care.
On This Page
Here, you’ll find discussions of the following subjects beneath each of the following titles:
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- Giving Flowers a Good Start
- Tips on Planting Flowers
- A Flower-Planting Checklist
Giving Flowers a Good Start
Give your flowers a good start, whether you plant seeds, bulbs, or nursery-grown transplants.
This section demonstrates how to plant flowers and flowering plants in garden beds, in a yard or landscape, and from seed, bulbs, or nursery transplants.
Your choices include starting seedlings indoors to extend your growing season, sowing seed directly into garden soil, transplanting container- or nursery flats of seedlings, or planting more mature container plants.
You’ll also find complete information for preparing garden soils for planting bulbs outdoors.
All of these planting methods produce equally good results. You’ll quickly master every technique needed to install most flowering plants and help them become established in your garden.
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You’ve already learned how to choose the best quality seed, or transplants [see: Choosing Seed or Transplants and Selecting Healthy Plants].
The next task is to prepare your garden’s soil or indoor bedding trays to receive your seed, bulbs, or plants. [see: Preparing Garden Soil for Flowers, Soil for Flowers in Containers, and Preparing Soil for Bulbs].
Finally, you’ll watch demonstrations and learn each of the three major techniques used to plant seed and transplants, from start to finished plants growing in your beds.
If you plan to plant bulbs, in containers or in the garden, you’ll find those methods in following sections [see: Planting Bulbs Outdoors and Planting Bulbs into Containers]
Tips on Planting Flowers
All of the skills you need to plant flowers outdoors in your yard, landscape beds, or containers are simple and easy to master. Still, a few words to the wise—whether a beginner or a seasoned gardener—are in order.
For most, there are only a few chances available each year to plant flowers. Avoiding mistakes means a beautiful yard and a shower of compliments from your neighbors. Doing planting right means doing each step right, each time a seed, plant, or bulb goes into the ground.
A Flower-Planting Checklist
These steps will soon become second nature:
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- Choose healthy seeds, bulbs, and transplants, free of damage or defects.
- Take the time to prepare, amend, fertilize, and work your garden’s or containers’ soil at least a week before the intended planting date.
- Remove debris, decaying mulch, clods, and rocks from the planting area.
- Soak seeds, corms, and bulbs for at least a day before planting. Water transplants the night before planting.
- Dig planting holes the right depth for the plant species. If starter fertilizer is recommended, apply it below the plant and cover it with soil so roots are not in direct contact with the fertilizer.
- Space plants properly, each at distances from neighboring plants as recommended for the species. A properly spaced planting should look sparse until it fills in.
- After transplants or seeds are sown or placed, cover or fill with prepared soil and firm it around the plant.
- Water after planting and frequently for the first several weeks. Reduce watering once plantings are established.
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That’s it. For a detailed look at each of these steps, the actual soil preparation and planting technique demonstrations that follow explain each of them in pictures and clear descriptions.
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