Most people begin gardening with mimicking their neighbors.  Mrs. Jones plants impatiens, you plant impatiens, hers live, yours die.  You think to yourself, I have a black thumb but the reality never comes across your mind that maybe, you have planted the right plant in the wrong place.  You continue to copy Mrs. Jones and to no avail, everything you plant dies.  You concede to defeat and eventually give up.  This is not a time to concede with defeat but a time to follow my 3 simple little rules.
Rule #1 Plant the right plant in the right spot.  Time goes on, you plant the right plant in the right spot but again, the plant dies.  Now there is not doubt in your mind, you are a plant killer!
Rule #2 Remember one critical thing-Water!  Watering is a balance act between hydration and saturation.  Watering needs to be through enough to fully saturate the roots without drowning the plant.  This is typically accomplished with watering 3 time per week.   Now you plant the right plant in the right spot, remember to water but the plant flowers for 2 weeks and then the beautiful flower is a really pretty green.  
Rule # 3 Simply add fertilizer.  At the initial planting, your plants have had the equivalent of life support.  They have been carefully monitored, watered exactly right and fertilized everyday.  This is to make sure that when you buy the plant, its prefect.  These plants are planted in gardening and basically it’s likely going into sock.  The care they received is no longer around and these plants have to fend for themselves.  Rather than that, add 1 tablespoon of granular fertilizer for flowers. This fertilizer will take approximately 2 weeks to become active in the soil.  To help the plant recovery from the initial transplant and encourage future flowering, use 20-20-20 Peters water soluble fertilizer every 7.  Now following these simply instructions, you plant the right plant in the right spot, watering properly and simply adding fertilizer. Now, “ You are a gardener” and the title Plant Killer can be removed from the garden shed wall.
Remember the 3 simple rules;
Plant the right Plant in the Right Spot
Water
Simply add fertilizer
Once you understand the importance of the 3 simple rules to gardening, the next step is planning. 

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 Planning is the critical factor to the success of any garden.  Before planning a garden, it is important to think about the function or functions of the garden.  Is it a place to entertain, a shaded arbor for seating, a water feature for noise, a sculpture, screening of a neighbor or open areas for play? All these are questions you should answer before buying plants. To have a unified garden, where all the components function together, planning is essential. If the idea is to work on the garden in stages, planning or developing a plan is a necessity.  Planning will help make decisions about where to place garden elements. In addition, planning will help you begin to visualize how the garden will look or function together.   Start by gather your ideas, take photos of the proposed garden, cut out pictures from magazines that may inspire you and write everything down you want in your garden.   Begin by taking pictures of the area that you are going to create your new garden. Once you have these pictures, scatter them on your table so you can visualize the space.  Begin to make a list of elements that you want in the garden. 
Consider how you are going water this new garden, are you going to add lighting, drainage, and what about children’s equipment.  Once you have made your list, prioritizes the list based on need or want.  It is important to recognize that in the beginning of building a new garden, you should not compromise on quality materials.  Using poor quality materials leads to multiple problems later with the garden.  You will encounter insect, disease, drainage and other problems cutting corners during the building of the garden. 
   Drainage problems will be the death of any garden.  It is important to work on correcting the drainage problems before the any other steps are taken.  Review the existing area, note if after a hard rain visible water is standing. Investigate if gutters are clean, does the gutter downspout connect into subsurface drainage, are there visible signs of erosion and identify low areas in the lawn and or garden.  Correct the low areas in the lawn or garden by adding fill.  Make sure to use clean pump sand for lawn areas and an organic based soil for the garden.  Both of these soils will assist with drainage.  To correct more difficult drainage problems you will need to call a company that is experience in correcting drainage problems.  Consider having sub surface drainage installed to eliminate standing water and gutter downspout run off.
Plan to water y our garden.  Make sure that you are not planting more than you can maintain.  Watering is the most important care plant material requires being healthy and providing years of enjoyment.  One solution is an automatic irrigation system which once you get over the initial investment, it actually pays for itself.  Automatic irrigation systems last on average 10-15 years but can be extended with proper maintenance using an irrigation service company.  Another less expensive solution is a movable sprinklers which can be automated with a timer.  This will allow regular watering but will give everything the same equal amount of water.
Think about creating perennial planting layouts.  Make sure to consider height as well as light requirements.  I would suggest adding Rubeckia in sun areas as a taller planting with an accent of Artemisia as a border to create a mounding effect. For a shading area, Lobelia will work as the taller planting and chocolate chip ajuga for the lower planting.  You can also plant masses of hosta in conjunction with the Lobelia for foliage contrast.    It is important to consulate with an experience perennial gardener to make these additional successful.
  Now that you have put some thought into your garden, the property needs to be surveyed.  Surveying the property is simply locating all the elements that exist and measuring their exact location.  Once you have the exact locations of all the elements from the property, use the graph paper in Designing My Garden to sketch the property. Let’s say we have decided to have a patio, a water feature, and an arbor in the newly planned garden.  Where will all this be placed?  Functionally the patio will be located at the door from the house to the yard.  If I want to enjoy the water feature and hear the sound of water while on the patio, this will need to be located very close or within the patio.  Existing trees could be a factor for the features location as well. The arbor will be located at the sunny part of the yard where you can go sit and enjoy filtered sunlight while reading.  This area should be connected to the back patio. This is an example of how the garden should functions together with consideration for circulation, function, interest, color, water, fragrance, shade, openness, activity, privacy.
 

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