Trial and Error
Trial and Error
As strange as this might sound, gardening is something of a trial and error process. Why? Because the terms “full sunlight” or “partial shade” and so on can actually mean different things depending on where you live.
If for instance, you live in the desert southwest, you’re going to have much stronger, longer lasting, hotter sunlight to deal with than you would if you lived in a midwestern state. You will have differences in the lenth of your day, as well as the amount of humidity in the air too.
The soil is different too. In midwestern states you’re likely to have much richer soil naturally, where as in the western states you might find clay like, rocky, and dry soil instead.
These issues can occur in the same area too. If you move to a new home which originally had rock landscaping, you’re likely to find the soil is poorer in quality compared to one where the homeowner tended plants for years.
These factors all play a role in how well or how poorly a given plant or flower will do in your particular garden. So if you move to a new home, are just getting started with your very first garden, or you’ve moved to another part of the country - you may find yourself having to experiment with what you’re planting and where you’re planting it before you start seeing some success with your gardening efforts.
In my particular area for instance, I can buy Pansy annual flowers in almost any color I want. They are prolific around here and they’re quite popular. When I first started gardening I bought some. They were beautiful and I assumed that since they were sold around here, that meant they should grow around here. Well the tag on the plants said to plant them in full sunlight. This was great news for me because at the time I had a dirt yard.
Unfortunately “full sunlight” was not quite right. Not for this area at least. I quickly found that the pansies couldn’t handle the extreme heat and sun my dirt yard had to offer. Instead, I had to put them in areas that had a bit of shade or indirect filtered sunlight.
Thankfully I bought many different types of plants at once, so I did end up with some success in the hottest parts of my yard. Vincas thrived for instance, but Sweet William didn’t. Morning Glories didn’t work until I made sure the roots were in shade.
I found the same type of issues on the other end of the extremes: Bushes and flowers that were meant for tropical, warm areas did wonderfully during spring, summer and fall. But they often died in the winter because it got too cold for them.
Over the years I’ve learned quite a bit about my specific gardening needs by experimenting. I didn’t spend too much money on any given thing at once, so when things didn’t work out well I wasn’t crushed and destitute.
And that’s my advice to you. If you’re in a new home, new geographical location, or you’re just starting your first garden: Take things a little at a time. Experiment with different annuals first to see how they do. And try them in different locations of your yard too. What doesn’t work in one spot might still do well in another.
Once you’ve become more familiar with your particular soil and the sunlight strength and length in various parts of your yard, then you’ll be much happier with your overall gardening results.
• Flower Garden Tips To Grow Ornamental Plants For Cutting
• Fun and Educational Home Gardening
• Easy growing annuals
• GROWING TOMATOES IN CONTAINERS
• How To Grow Plants Organically
