Gardening For Dummies

Gardening For Dummies


This article will give you gardening basics to get you started. Planting a garden should not be an overwhelming task. However, for a lot of people it is. If you don't know the difference between a perennial, biannial and annual, then you have some research to do.

The very first thing that you need to do before deciding on what to plant in your garden is to determine three things, the type of climate, how much light and what kind of soil that your yard has to offer. Once you have these three essentials, then you can research what type of plants grow best in your conditions.

The term climate refers to several different factors. These factors include average high and low temperatures, frost dates, average rainfall and winds. These factors will affect your choice in plants. The United States Department of Agriculture has made it a little easier for you to determine the temperature or hardiness zone that you live in. They have created a plant hardiness zone map that divides the country into eleven different temperature regions. This map assigns a zone number to each region.

You can do a search online and find the maps there. Once you find out your hardiness zone, it gets easier to figure out which plants will thrive in your area. When choosing your plants, take into consideration the amount of rainfall that you normally get and the windiness of the area. You wouldn't want a tall plant, that requires a lot of moisture, in a dry, windy area.

The next thing to take into consideration is the amount of light that is available for your plants. If you will be planting flowers or shrubs in a wide open area that has 100% sunlight, make sure that the plant is able to handle this. The same goes for planting in a shady area. You want to make sure that your plant is able to thrive without sunlight. Seed packets and the plant sticks that you find in pre-potted plants will tell you where your plant grows the best.

The last thing to take into consideration is the type of soil that you have. There are basically three types of soil; clay, sandy or loamy soil. Clay soil is the worst soil you can have for a garden. The characteristics of clay soil are sticking together when wet. If you pick up a ball of wet soil and it is sticky and looks like you could throw it on a pottery wheel and make an ashtray, then your soil is clay. Sandy soil has a light loose feel. The water drains through it very quickly. Unfortunately, it can drain through so quickly that the roots of your plants will not get the water they need. Loamy soil is the best soil for a garden. It consists of of large sand particles, tiny clay particles and medium silt particles. The sandy part of the soil provides a loose soil for good drainage while the clay and silt will hold some of the moisture in to nourish your plants. If you have loamy soil consider yourself very lucky.