Planning Your Spring Garden

Like many of us, you probably have been furiously repining gardening ideas on Pinterest and trying to find the perfect layout for your garden. Before you start cleaning off your garden tools and buying all the seeds at your local garden store, you may want to consider your energy levels, time, and gardening aspirations.

Energy

Your energy and physical fitness will fluctuate as spring and summer come. Be sure to plan your garden in such a way that it can work with you and your energy. In the spring you may want to start with a spiral herb garden. This will help you because you won’t need to lean over other plants to get to another (as you may in more traditional gardens) and if you plan properly you will be able to water your plants less. Put plants that need a regular watering on top and then the run off will go to the bottom to plants that need less. A spiral herb garden can also be a stunning and unique addition to your garden the will capture the attention of your guests. Put it by your kitchen or grill and it can also be an easy-to-use culinary garden.

Time

While you’ll want to spend all of your time outside you will have to manage your time so you can live your life without ignoring your outdoor space. Because of that you may want to consider what plants will need a lot of attention and if you want to give it to them. If you don’t you may want to consider hearty, independent plants like herbs or shrubs. If you have time to work on plants on a daily or at least biweekly basis you can try working with more tender and sensitive plants like flowers and berry plants.

Aspirations

If you want to have a garden that you can use for culinary, medicinally, and for ascetic purposes, a traditional foursquare garden may be the perfect start. Used by the Pennsylvania Dutch when they first began living in Lancaster County, foursquare gardens were simple to start, specific to the family’s needs, and relatively easy to care for.

Starting with a foursquare garden is a great way to create a beautiful outdoor living area that can be used in cooking, cleaning, and many other parts of the home. Once herbs like parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme become a established they can be used in the kitchen while flowers can brought indoors as a bouquet or can be dried and made into potpourri for the winter. It’s up to you!

With some thought and consideration you can make a garden perfect for your home that your guests will love.