Top 13 Flower Gardening Tips for Beginners

Gardening is the hobby of nature lovers. There is something with the land covered in different vibrant colors of flowers and their fragrance that lessens your stress, gives you peace of mind, and makes you feel better every time you visit it.

Almost everyone wants to have a flower garden in their home. If you follow some basic flower gardening tips for beginners, you can have a beautiful and thriving garden.

Moreover, it is good to have a personal flower garden, your own little paradise where you can relax and feel the beauty of nature. And every gardener knows that gardening is a lifelong adventure and requires a little bit of art, science, and mystery.

The key to succeeding as a gardener is to get started. Here are 12 timeless tips to jumpstart your gardening journey if you want to begin flower gardening. If you wonder whether Gardening will actually save you money, I wrote a whole article that I encourage you to read.

Top 13 Flower Gardening Tips for Beginners – plantsheaven.com

Top 13 Flower Gardening Tips for Beginners

Here are some helpful tips to jumpstart your gardening journey and reap all the benefits of gardening.

1- Choose a Suitable Gardening Site

The most frequently asked question among beginners to the garden is how do you start a flower garden for beginners? The first step is choosing the best location for your garden. Almost all plants, whether vegetables or flowering plants, need 6 hours of sunlight per day.

So look for such a spot in your yard that gets most of the sunlight. After finding the location, see how much shade it gets because of the neighboring trees or fence. Ask for help from the local garden center if needed.

Flowering plants require sunlight to create the energy they need to produce flowers. Generally, the more sun your flowers receive, the better, so the best place for a flower garden is a growing site that gets at least 6 hours of sun per day.

After identifying a location for your garden, observe how the sun hits that area over the day. Remember that the sun’s angle changes throughout the summer and is highest in late June. You might also enjoy reading: 16 Must-Have Beginners Vegetable Gardening Books.

2- Invest in The Essential Gardening Tools

There is a list of gardening tools every gardener should have. These tools will make it easy for you to prepare and maintain your garden.

Even though you prepare your new garden site in the spring, fall is the best time to prepare your new garden site. Wait until your new garden’s soil is dry enough to crumble in your hands in spring. 

Tips for using your essential tools for the gardener:

  • Start by removing sod, weeds, and large stones
  • Ensure you remove all grass and weeds carefully. 
  • Beginning with a weedless garden will save you money and time in the future. 
  • Use a garden fork or shovel to dig down a minimum of 10 to 12″ (25.4 to 30.48 cm) and loosen the soil in your new gardening area planting area, 
  • Apply 2 to 4″ (5.08 to 10.16 cm) of compost over the whole site (the more compost you add, the better).
  • You can use all-purpose granular fertilizer, but ensure you follow the package’s application rates. 

See also: Top Required Tools For Starting a Garden.

3- Prepare Your Flowers Garden Site

Selecting and preparing a garden site is as essential as choosing the flowers to grow in it. All plants, particularly flowers, need sunlight and fertile, well-drained soil. More importantly, they will contract fewer diseases if their new gardening is adequately ventilated, according to Oregon State University.

The next step in flower gardening tips for beginners is clearing the ground. One of the best ways to succeed as a new garden is to start relatively small. Your garden will grow better and look better if you can properly water, weed, and deadhead your garden successfully.

Start by cutting the weeds and sod in the area you have selected to plant. You can slide under the sod with a spade and then cut it into sections. It will be easier to remove this way. Ensure you protect your garden site from invading insects or animals by gardening fences.

4- Improve The Quality of Your Soil by Adding Compost And Other Organic Matter

Another factor is soil moisture. With time, you can improve the quality of your soil by adding compost and other organic matter.

The area where you want to plant shouldn’t have soggy soil. Because if it isn’t well-drained, then water will collect near the surface, causing the roots of plants to suffocate. As you are a beginner, you can face somewhat difficulty in recognizing good or bad soil.

So, one suggested tip among all other flower gardening tips for beginners is asking your local garden center to run some soil tests. Apply the solutions they suggest you to. Moreover, you can improve your soil occasionally by adding organic matter. 

Ensure you don’t start your garden in a site with soggy soil.

5- Preparation of Planting Beds

If the soil is loosened before planting or sowing, it helps roots to grow more easily. Roots can get easy access to water and other food nutrients in this way. Tilling and digging are the two methods used for this purpose.

But, being a beginner, if you go for tilling the soil with a mechanical device, you can end up destroying the soil structure. So, digging by hand is recommended. Moreover, digging is considered more practical for preparing small beds. See also: 5 Must-Know For Making Gardening Easier for You.

6- Choose Your Flowers

Some perennials for beginners are daylilies, peonies, astilbe, and sedum. Some annuals for beginners are zinnias, petunias, alyssum, cosmos, and sunflowers, whereas some bulbs for beginners are daffodils, tulips, cannas, and Liatris.

Later, this article will discuss the easiest flowers for beginners to grow.

7- Know Your Frost Dates

Another essential tip among flower gardening tips for beginners is learning your frost dates.

Know the first average fall frost date as well as the last average spring frost date in your area. Because planting too early or too late in the season won’t be any good for your garden.

8- Start Planting

You need to know the favorable temperatures for flowers as well.

  • Most annual plants need a warm temperature.
  • On the other hand, perennials are good to plant in mid-spring and mid-autumn.

If you are looking for some plants that are easy to grow from seed sown directly in the garden, you should go for annuals. Another easy way to start your garden is to buy young plants.  

See also: Top 6 Houseplants that Help Clean the Air and Remove Toxins.

9- Use Mulch For Protection

Flower gardening tips for beginners must include protection tips for the garden. Mulch helps to keep the weeds out and keeps the soil moist.

If you cover your soil with a few inches of mulch, sunlight won’t hit the soil directly. Moreover, you won’t have to water the plants often.

10- Feed And Water Them Regularly

Having a garden is almost equal to having a pet. You need to take care of food and water for both. Seedlings will dry out if you don’t water them daily.

Watering depends upon the soil, humidity, and rainfall. The moisture of the soil needs to be maintained more in windy and dry conditions than it needs to be in cold weather.

11- Designing And Color Scheme

When you are a beginner, you are very enthusiastic to make your garden look wonderful. Designing and color scheme is one of the main flower garden plans for beginners.

Plant similar flowers together. Give a good combination of colors, i.e., see what colors of flowers will give a refreshing look near a certain color of flowers.  

12- Know The Flowers That Are Easy To Take Care of

While you are at the beginning of gardening, you need to learn how to take care of plants. So, going for some easy plants to take care of is a good option.

So, what are the easiest flowers to take care of?

  • Pansies
  • Impatiens
  • Begonias
  • Snapdragons
  • Daffodils
  • Cosmos
  • Sunflowers
  • Zinnia
  • And marigolds are some such flowers.

So, do try these amazing tips that are easy for beginners so they can enjoy the benefits of having a garden and ensure a sustainable environment.

13- Flowers Plants Selection

Beginners to flower gardening are generally tempted to plant a little bit of everything. But it is better to stick to 6 or 10 plants representing different heights (short, medium, and tall) and also different bloom periods (early, mid, and late summer).

The general recommendation is to mix perennials, annuals, and bulbs to help you create a colorful flower garden blooming from spring to fall. 

  • Most perennials, including iris, peonies, and mums’ flowers, bloom at a specific time throughout the season. 
  • Most annuals, including zinnias and petunias, flower continuously from early summer to fall. 
  • Some bulbs flower, including tulips and daffodils, bloom only in spring, and others, including dahlias, bloom from summer through fall. 

Here is a list of easy flower plants to get started. 

Easiest Flowers to Gro for Beginners

Being a beginner, you may wish to grow a bit of everything in your garden. But it won’t make your garden look neat. What you have to do is pick 5 or 10 types of plants of different heights and different blooming times, such as perennials, annuals, and bulbs.

Perennials bloom at a specific time during the season, annuals bloom from early summer to fall, and some bulbs bloom in spring only, whereas some flower from summer to fall.

Having a mix of perennials, annuals, and bulbs in your garden will keep your garden colorful and beautiful from spring to fall.

Annuals For Beginners– Alyssum
– Cosmos
– Coleus
– Marigolds
– Nasturtiums
– Petunias
– Sunflowers
– Zinnias
Perennials For Beginners– Astilbe
– Lamb’s ears
– Rudbeckia
– Peonies
– Echinacea
– Sedum
– Hosta
– Daylilies
Bulbs For Beginners– Alliums
– Cannas
–  Dahlias
– Daffodils
– Muscari
– Liatris
–  Tulips
Table of The Easiest Flowers to Grow for Beginners – plantsheaven.com

Maintaining Your Flowers Garden

During the first growing season, try to learn as much as possible about your garden and plants by spending time in your garden. The goal is to keep your plants healthy and observe how they grow. 

Watering: Proper irrigation is essential to keep your plants healthy and thriving. You can use a watering or sprinkler to water your flowers regularly. Keep your garden’s walkways as dry as possible to control weeds. Depending on the weather conditions, you may need to water your garden about once or twice a week.

Managing weeds: Generally, weeds compete with plants, particularly flower plants, for water, light, and nutrients. Some also harbor diseases or pests that can harm garden crops. You will give your flower plants a better chance of growing and producing to their potential by controlling weeds. 

Ensure you weed your garden regularly about every other day during the summer and early fall. 

Here are a few methods to help you control weeds in your gardens:

  • Mulching: Keeping your garden’s soil surface covered with leaf mold, compost, or shredded leaves will prevent new weeds from germinating and make weeds that appear easier to pull out. Organic mulches help control weeds and improve your garden’s soil. However, if applied in a 4-inch layer or more, they sometimes produce acids that can hurt plants. For example, a few types of leaves, such as walnut, can inhibit the growth of crop plants and seeds, according to Oregon State University.
  • Fertilizing: Ensuring that your plants have the proper nutrients is essential to growing a successful garden. Generally, plants require 16 elements. Most fertilizers contain nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), which are vital nutrients for healthy plant growth.
  • Deadheading. A flowering plant’s goal is reproduction, and once it has successfully set seed, it produces fewer flowers and ultimately stops blooming altogether. However, if you remove the flowers right after they wilt and before they form seed, you can encourage the plant to continue producing new flowers. In addition, cutting plants back after they bloom will also keep your garden looking neater and help to discourage disease and pest problems.

See also: 3 Best Thorns Gardening Gloves.

Wrapping up

Overall, starting and maintaining a successful flower garden is not difficult if you follow these basic and timeless flower gardening tips for beginners.

Check out this article on how you can make money gardening and enjoy all the amazing benefits that gardening offers.

Altiné

Hello friends, I am Altiné. I am SO excited you are here! I am the guy behind Plantsheaven.com. Plants Heaven is a blog that shares information about preparing, creating, and maintaining gardens in and out of your home, regardless of where you live. My goal is to help you learn to love gardening and reap the benefits that come with it. I am still learning; therefore, the information I share on this site may not always be “expert” advice or information. But, I do my VERY best to make sure the information shared on this blog is both accurate and helpful.

Recent Posts

Gardening is the hobby of nature lovers. There is something with the land covered in different vibrant colors of flowers and their fragrance that lessens your stress, gives you peace of mind, and makes you feel better every time you visit it. Almost everyone wants to have a flower garden in their home. If you follow some basic flower gardening tips for beginners, you can have a beautiful and thriving garden.