How to Get the Most Out of Your Flowers

1.Don’t plant too early. I learned this the hard way and unfortunately had flowers die. Some plants are much more hardy than others.  It will usually tell you right on the tag what temperatures they can tolerate. For example, petunias can survive temperatures as low as 40 degrees where potato vines can’t go lower then 50 degrees. So, save yourself some money and heartache and hold off a little bit longer.

2. Dirt is key. Flowers need nutrients just as we do so having good dirt is very important. That doesn’t mean you have to go out and buy soil pep (although it would help.) It can be as easy as adding grass to your dirt. We use a rototiller to turn our grass in as well as making the dirt nice and soft. If you don’t have a rototiller you can turn the dirt with a shovel.

3. When planting your flowers, decide how close you want them. Make sure to read the tag and it will tell you how big they get. I like to plant mine a little closer than recommended because I like my flowers to be full and overlapping.

 

4.  Lay your flowers out first. I usually lay mine all out in a pattern and then go back and dig a hole, add a time release fertilizer, and plant.  This will help your flowers grow larger and healthier.

5. Feed your plants. I use Miracle Gro once a week to ensure my plants are well fed. It is true, they do grow bigger!!

6. Dead Head!  Make sure you are cutting off the dead flowers. This will conveniently help your plant to stay bright all summer, in addition to allowing the plant to grow more flowers as it isn’t sending nutrients to dead flowers!

7. Keep the weeds away!  I don’t always have time to pull every single weed, so I use my little hand rake to turn the dirt and uproot any weed that might be growing.  I do this once a week and it helps with the weed control tremendously!

8. … Enjoy! I love to sit in my front yard and enjoy my flowers.