EZ Gardening For Beginners

The sight of a butterfly adds an irresistible beauty and charm to any garden. If you would like to add more butterflies to your garden, here are some tips to get you started. For the best results, focus on creating a healthy, diverse and colorful garden that will attract butterflies to your home on a year-round basis.

What Kind of Plants Should You Plant to Attract Butterflies?

There are many plants that are known to attract butterflies. Choose a variety of nectar producing plants that will be in bloom throughout the season. For the best results, plant your nectar producing plants in staggered intervals so that something will always be blooming in your garden, and those that you have butterflies in your garden on a year-round basis. For the best results, you will want to have flowers in bloom from mid to late summer. This is the period in which butterflies are most active. Look for flowers that have multiple florets, as these are known to produce more nectar.

Working With Annuals for Optimal Results

Annual plants are known to attract butterflies because they usually have the brightest, most showy blooms. It is no wonder that butterflies are attracted to these plants! Many annuals will bloom continuously through the season. Choose long and continuously blooming annuals so that you have a steady supply of nectar to offer your butterfly population. Visit your local nursery to get the best selection of seasonal annuals, or plant seeds after the last frost. Opt for colorful and fragrant plants that provide long blooms, but avoid double blooms.

Perennials Can Provide Your Butterflies with a Constant Nectar Supply

There are also many fine perennial plants that can provide a constant supply of nectar throughout the blooming season. Perennial plants that are known to attract butterflies include coneflowers, asters, butterfly weed and lilacs. In general, plant members of the mint family, which are known for their rich nectar stores. A good guideline is to avoid double flowers because these are often short on nectar.

Create a Butterfly Jar to Supplement your Garden

There are many easy ways to supplement your garden’s nectar supply. You can create your own homemade butterfly feeder that will attract more butterflies to your garden. Use an inverted baby food jar and drill a hole in the center of the lid. Plug the hole with cotton and fill the baby food jar with a solution of one part sugar and nine parts water. Finally, attach a brightly colored fabric petal to the lid. This will make your feeder much more appealing to butterflies. Hang the butterfly feeder in your garden so that you will attract a larger butterfly population.

Create a Watering Hole for Your Butterfly Population

Like all living things, butterflies need water to live. They are known to frequent puddles, so if you really want to draw butterflies to your garden, make sure that there is a small water source for them to stop at. Butterflies tend to frequent small puddles. Many males of various butterfly species are known to gather around small rain pools. It is easy to create your own permanent puddle that can act as a butterfly meeting spot. You can do this by burying a bucket up to the rim in your garden, fill it partly with sand or gravel and then pour liquid into the bucket. You can apply natural sweeteners, such as water, sweet drinks, overripe fruit and let them sit there for a few days. This is an incredibly attractive place for butterflies, so there is a good chance that your garden may become a favorite congregating point for your local butterfly population.

Do you wish you could come home after a long day to your own private garden? But maybe, like most of us, you simply don’t have enough time to plant and care for a proper garden. Even if you don’t think you have enough time to spruce up your garden, there are a lot of things you can do to make your garden bloom, even when you don’t have the kind of time you would like. Here are a few quick and easy fixes that can spruce up your garden.

Don’t Have Time to Water? Drip Irrigation Can Work Wonders

Drip irrigation is a type of watering system that drips water directly into the soil at a very slow rate. This allows for minimal evaporation loss to wind and sun. If you have a garden or a garden bed in which all the plants require more or less the same amount of watering, installing a drip irrigation system is a good and efficient way to make sure that your garden thrives without any need for traditional hose watering.

Assorted Planters Add Color and Texture

Do you have a garden that needs color and texture? Even the greenest garden needs a splash of seasonal color. An easy way to fix a drab garden is to add a few well-placed planters. Choose seasonal annuals for the brightest blooms. For year-round color, create a handful of planters that feature perennial flowers and plants. The number of planters will depend on your specific garden. For a small garden, one or two planters may be all that you need. For larger gardens, you may want to invest in larger or more planters.

A Few Well-Chosen Hardy Perennials Can Transform Your Entire Garden

Think year-round color is difficult to achieve? Not with a few well-chosen perennials. Pick a handful of hardy perennials that thrive in your area and plant them in visible, well-chosen locations in your garden. The hardiest perennials are known to thrive in extreme temperatures with minimal care.

Start Your Own Compost Pile

This is easier than you think, and it can add invaluable benefits to your garden with minimal effort. Creating your very own compost pile can help add to your garden’s vigor while significantly reducing the amount of yard and food waste that you produce. Compost simply refers to organic matter that has decomposed to create dark brown soil-like crumbly substance, called humus. This is organic-rich matter that can be used to enrich all of your plants. The simplest way to create your own compost is to set aside a space in your yard where your can start your pile. Ideally, you would want to use a bin, but if this is not possible, simply choose a spot that is relatively clear. Use this space to pile food waste and yard scraps, including carbon-rich material such as sawdust, branches, twigs, stems, straw, corn stalks, dry hay and dry leaves. Include plenty of green nitrogen-rich materials as well, including kitchen scraps (no meat products or bones), grass clippings, coffee grounds, used tea bags, hair, feathers, fur, manures and other nitrogen material. Moisten the pile and turn it with a pitchfork periodically. After a few months, you will have ready-made compost that will enrich your soil. All that from food and lawn scraps!

Add Colorful Hanging Planters

Boring garden got you down? Here’s an easy solution: add a few planters. Hanging planters often come pre-planted – all you have to do is find the right space to place them. If you have a deck, patio or front porch, a hanging patio can add an easy new dimension to your garden.

Annual plants are known for their seasonal color and showy blooms. Indeed, the best way to make your garden sparkle with color and texture is by planting seasonal annuals. There are some annuals that require constant attention and are designed to bloom for only a short period. However, there are also many easy annual plants that have a long growing and blooming season. Here are some top choices for easy annual plants that come back year after year.

Alyssum – Sweet Honey Scent Returns Every Year

Alyssum is an annual plant that should be planted from October through April. It is readily available as seed or nursery stock. It is low growing, reaching a maximum height of six inches. It grows well alongside roses and bulbs, and helps to hid drying foliage on these plants. Alyssum reseeds white, pink and lavender flower and grows well along the edges of your garden. The hardy annual releases a rich honey scent and reseeds every year, several times throughout the season. Alyssum likes full sun and alkaline soil, except in the summertime, where it thrives in afternoon shade to prolong its bloom. The Alyssum is known to attract many beneficial insects and is known to attract butterflies. If you want some friendly visitors in your garden each summer, consider this easy annual plant.

Bachelor’s Buttons – Long Blooming Annual

If you are looking for an easy, long blooming annual, then bachelor’s buttons may be just what you’re looking for. This annual should be planted in full sun from September through November. It is available as seed or nursery stock. It is known to attract bees and other beneficial pollinators, and is known to benefit wheat crops and rye. This annual is traditionally blue, but it is now available in a variety of shades, mostly pinks and purples. It makes a good cut flower and is known to be very long blooming. Bachelor’s buttons are also known as cornflower, because they are known to grow along rows of cornfields.

Chrysanthemum – A Beautiful, Disease-Free Annual for Your Garden

Are you looking for a hardy annual that is not prone to disease? The Chrysanthemum is a flower that is known for its classic beauty and scent. It is an annual that should be planted between October through April, and it is available as seed and nursery stock. It is a low-growing plant that reaches eight to ten inches in height, with many small flowers. Most of these plants bloom white with yellow centers. This flower is known to attract many beneficial insects, including butterflies and other pollinators. The Chrysanthemum has long been recognized as a good companion to the lettuce. It is also known to be free of pests and disease. You can plant the Chrysanthemum with bulbs and as edgings throughout your garden.

Dianthus – An Annual with a Perennial Flair

If you want an annual that often acts like a perennial, dianthus, sometimes referred to as Pinks, will last from year to year with proper care. Plant Dianthus in full sun from mid-August to February making sure that the plants gets afternoon shade. They are available as seed or nursery seed. This plant needs good drainage, and grows well as a low-growing border plant in front of taller plants in your garden. They are known to attract many beneficial insects, and their bright colors are known as crowd-pleasers in the garden. If you compost, you will want to compost all the spent blooms and clippings, because they are known to release rich minerals. Dianthus is known as an old favorite, treasured for its spicy scent and long bloom period.

Does your patio or sidewalk need a good dose of color and texture, but you don’t have the time or money for a full-scale garden? If you want to boost your patio and sidewalk appeal, here are a few easy gardening ideas to brighten up your life and home with the beauty of plants.

Containers, Containers, Containers

It used to be that gardening was restricted to flower beds, but container gardening has swiftly become one of the most popular ways to garden. Why has container gardening become one of the preferred gardening methods? Container gardening has become increasingly popular because it is easy, inexpensive and provides optimal results in a short amount of time. In short, you can create an instant garden through the use of garden containers. If you need a patio that lacks color, construct or purchase a container to fill the area. You can choose to plant bright annuals or less showy but longer-lasting perennials that will bloom on an annual basis. Choose a planter that fits in the area. When it comes to choosing flowers and plants in your containers, consider the following important factors: plant size, color display, plant size, sunlight and watering. Make sure that you have easy access to water. You will be much less likely to keep up your container garden if you have to haul water across the yard. Plant close to a water source, and choose a location that receives an adequate amount of sunlight for the types of plants that you are growing.

A Raised Garden Bed Can Spruce Up Your Sidewalk

If you have an uninspired sidewalk, consider sprucing up the area with a raised flowerbed. It is easy to build your own flowerbed, or you can purchase a ready-made bed that you can install along the sidewalk area. You can use your raised flower bed to plant showy seasonal annuals, adding a splash of color to an otherwise bland and dull area.

Choose a Splashy Color for Your Sidewalk Garden

If you are planting along your sidewalk, this is the perfect location to show off your color and garden design skill. For easy maintenance, choose a bright perennial that is suited for the location and your climate. Or experiment with a ‘two tone’ garden by planting two lines of flowers that are designed to coordinate in color formation.

Add a Decorative Border to Your Sidewalk

Another easy way to add life to a lifeless sidewalk area is to add a decorative border. There are many different designs you can choose from. Pay a visit to your local home improvement store or nursery, and you will find that there are now more border designs than ever before. You can choose between brick and plastic borders, making this a viable option no matter what kind of budget you are working with. You can choose among decorative plastic borders that can provide an eye-pleasing design to your sidewalk garden. This simple touch can add a whole new dimension to your garden. Moreover, adding a decorative border can also be quite practical, as they can help restrict the growth of weeds, and keep pests off of your garden bed.

Deck Out Your Patio with Hanging Planters

Here is an easy way to bring new life to your lifeless patio garden. Add a few hanging gardens and you will see how this simple addition can add a whole new dimension to your garden. If you have a patio, hanging planters can be an easy way to experiment with different plant textures and blooms. There are many plant varieties that do well in hanging planters. Make sure that you have a water can with a long spout for easy watering.