"On With the Show!" Follow these cues to get a head start on your garden "show" for the season. (Lots of helpful and informative links follow the text!)
What sets the stage for a garden in your mind? What makes it special? To me, it's copious amounts of growing and blooming plants with the added bonus of butterflies and birds and little critters who visit and enjoy the garden. To some, it's the absolute bounty and fullness of space packed with lush growing plants to feed both the tummy and the soul. To others, it's the serenity of wandering through nature far from the pressures of daily life.
The magic of a garden can be yours wherever you live! Your garden can be a haven of peace and growing things no matter how large or small the actual space.
If quarters are tight, you may want to maximize every square inch. Think of your space from all angles, remembering to use hanging baskets, containers, and especially vines to help create the illusion of endless garden. Square foot gardening techniques are a definite option and will serve you well. The smaller the space, the more attention you need to pay to detail. This will help you hold interest within the space you control and away from neighboring distractions. Optical illusions are also useful in a small space. Often, space-enhancing tricks from interior decorating can be used equally well in the garden. Is that "cheating"? I don't think so.
And what if your space is relatively unlimited but your gardening time or skill is not? You will probably be happier applying your efforts to a manageable space, perhaps 20 by 30 feet. Certainly no larger than that to start with. Fence this area off or otherwise enclose it from the surroundings to separate the "cultivated" from the "wild." In a sense, you will mark out your garden room. So here we are, referring back to interiors again.
I think this need to delineate a smallish space is a basic human one. It is our nest, our safe place. And it's about as much as we can comfortably experience at one time. So whether you live in town or in the country, you will still work at creating just one garden scene at a time. This is your personal space to manipulate in whatever way you like, and within it you can create your own interpretation of a garden. You might divide it into veggies on one side and flowers on the other, or it might jumble all types of plants together. In either case, it is your stage.
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