How To Plant A Flower Bed
Annual bedding plants, planted in properly prepared beds, are the perfect choice for adding splashes of seasonal, vibrant color in your landscape garden. Most all annual bedding plants prefer good drainage, so the best way to plant them in the garden is in "raised beds", or "raised mounds". Raised beds do not require edging or lumber, though edging may help to define the bed. Below is a diagram with step-by-step instructions that can help you create the best performing and best looking flower beds in the neighborhood!
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Step-By-Step Instructions For Building A Raised Flower Bed
Tools you'll need to build a raised(mounded) annual flower bed:
Garden Rake
Round point or Flat Shovel
Leaf Rake (For fine smoothing)
- Start by outlining the shape of your new annual flower bed with spray paint or flour.
- Then spray any grass plants or weeds that are growing inside the outlined area with a solution of glyphosphate, such as Killzall or Roundup. be careful to mix as instructed on the product label (2 ounces per gallon is standard for 42% glyphosphate). Wet all foliage of grass and weeds thoroughly and allow 2 hours to dry completely. Always wear protective clothing and eyewear when spraying any chemical.
- Using a pointed shovel, trench around the outline of the flower bed to a depth of about 6", throwing dirt from trench into a pile at the center of the flower bed.
- Now, mix in equal amounts of a light professional potting or planting mix and a soil conditioner or compost, such as mushroom compost or composted cow manure, with the soil removed from the trench. For larger beds, it will be necessary to bring in extra screened native top soil to raise your annual flower bed to at minumum of 6" height at the center of the bed, gradually tapering the mound to grade at the perimeter. If you're lucky there will be a source on your property. Otherwise, you can purchase bulk quantities of native top soil from your local nursery and garden center or mulch and stone center. You may also add other ammendments to the mix, such as vermiculite, cottonseed meal, fish emulsion ect..
- After thoroughly mixing the native and/or screened top soil with the ammendments, use a hard rake (garden rake) to taper and smooth. Rake from the trench towards the center of the bed to create the mound. A leaf rake can be used to put the finishing smooth touch on the mound. Now you are ready to plant.
- Remove plants from containers and space them (as directed on plant tag) over the surface of bed. Start with a row around perimeter of bed - 6 -12" inside perimeter. Then stagger plants towards the inside of the perimeter row, and so on until the bed is full.
- Use a hand trowel/shovel to plant bedding plants. It's a good idea to loosen roots at the bootom of the root ball or plug before planting. Soil should be soft enough that all you have to do is push trowel in soil, pull back, and drop the rootball of the bedding plant in the hole. Push soil in around the root ball of the plant and move to the next plant.
- When you have finished planting, broadcast Treflan Weed Preventer Granules over surface of bed for season long weed prevention.
- Fertilize your new flower bed at planting time with a long-lasting, slow-release fertilizer for season-long feeding, or every two weeks with a water soluble fertilizer. There are other slow-release flower foods available that will release for a period of 4 to 6 weeks. Pansies, a Winter flowering annual, should be fertilized with a specialty Pansy Food every 4 weeks.
- If you are really serious about the performance of your annual bedding plants, get a professional soil test through your Local Extension Service. This will tell you two critical details about your soil quality; pH and fertilizer needs. For many bedding plants, ideal soil pH is between 5.6 and 5.8.
How Many Plants Do You Need?
First you must determine total square footage of the flower bed. To do so, multiply the length of the bed by the width. If you have a bed that is 4 feet wide and 10' long: 4 x 10 = 40 square feet. If the plant tag recommends 10" spacing you then can refer to the chart below and see that 1.5 plants will be needed per square feet of bed space. Therefore, the equation would look like this.
40 square feet X 1.50 plants per square feet = 60 Plants needed to fill bed.
***SPACING/CALCULATION CHART GOES HERE***
SEE:
Fertilizing Annual Bedding Plants.
Planting Annuals In Containers.
Pruning & Deadheading Annuals
Disease Control For Annual Bedding Plants
Container Gardening Tips
To find planting instructions for various plants, trees and lawns go to: Planting Instructions
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To find planting instructions for various plants, trees and lawns go to: Planting Instructions
Here's A Huge Listing of Popular Annuals
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(105) Plants Found. Showing 1 to 10 of 105.
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