Hello. My questions will be all over the place, but I thought this would be the best section to post them. I originally wanted to start a container garden (which, I still will), but my moms place has some spaces and I'd like to plant some plants. I am interested in rosemary, thyme, etc. which I will plant in containers, but that's not why I started a thread.
If you could take a look here, would you be able to suggest some things? Here are some quick facts:
- I would like to stick with perennials
- The photos I provided all get pretty good sunlight. Not too sure how long.. Should I.. time it?
- I'm unsure if I should be buying some sort of soil? Can't I just use what's there?
- Something easy, since I'm VERY new
- I live in Vancouver, BC (it rains a lot, gets cold in Winter. Snow isn't too heavy)
- I don't want to remove a plant every year so I could replant something new (that would fit a particular season)
- Student. So somewhat limited budget.
Red: I plan on transplanting that up front of the house (I'll show some photos tomorrow, if you'd like what area I'm talking about). Atm, I have no clue what it is. Any suggestions on what I can put there? I'd like flowers on that one.
Yellow: Roses. I plan to keep that. My mom planted that a few years ago
Blue: I'm not too sure what to do here. I like the ideas of carnations. What else could I put with carnations? Open for suggestions. I can even put the carnations at the front of the house.
Pink A: My family wants tomatoes. Would that be big enough? Would the roses get in the way? Since now isn't the best time to be growing tomatoes, I can still plant them anyways, right? If so, what else can I put now so I could have something blooming while the tomato isn't available?
Pink B: I'm not sure what I can do here. Would the tree get in the way?
Also, I like the allysum flowers. I could probably add them with any of the spots I have, right? I was thinking by the Blue sections and even on the Red.
Thank you. I'm really excited for this. To be honest, I'm a little intimated. I know I should "pair" different plants together so they can benefit from a particular amount of water, etc. I'm not too sure if I could even do that.
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
To start with, relax and don't get carried away. It is a very small amount of space you are talking about, room for just a few plants.
I'm unsure if I should be buying some sort of soil? Can't I just use what's there? You can use what is there, but you should be buying some soil amendments, to add to it, to be sure it has enough nutrients. Mushroom compost, compost, well aged manure, or some bagged potting soil, any of those or any combination would be fine, just buy a bag or two of stuff and mix it in.
Re tomatoes - sorry, but it is totally the wrong season to plant tomatoes. They get planted in the spring and produce tomatoes through summer and early fall and die as soon as there is frost. There would be no point at all to planting tomatoes now. If you start from seed, it is about 4 months from seed to ripe tomatoes. If you buy well started plants from a nursery, you can take anywhere up to 2 months off of that. They need full sun.
Your spaces look quite shady, with all the big shrubbery and fencing, but if that rose bush really blooms, I will take your word for it that it gets a little more sun than it looks like. Still its hard to see how that could be a full sun area. Getting a feel for how many hours a day your areas are in sun would be a good thing, but understand that will change through the season as the sun comes from different directions.
All the herbs you mentioned also need full sun. Most herbs are easy to grow in containers, so you might save them for your container garden that you put in full sun.
So my suggestion would just be that you plant your spots with some perennial flowers that handle part shade.
Some that are native to your area, easy care, attractive to butterflies include:
anise hyssop, yarrow, canadian anemone, columbine, bellflowers, coreopsis, bleeding heart, purple monkeyflower, bee balm, penstemon, coneflowers, asters.
Most of these would not be found in big box stores, but most should be available in any good nursery. Sept or beginning of Oct should be a good time for planting perennials, leaving them time to get established and set down roots before they get shut down by the cold. If you take care of them through their first season (next year) until they are well established, they will need very little care after that and will come back bigger and lusher each year.
And yes you can edge the fronts of your beds with low growing flowers like the alyssum
After you have prepared the soil, find a good plant nursery, see what they have available and talk to them about what does well in your area, in part sun locations.
I'm unsure if I should be buying some sort of soil? Can't I just use what's there? You can use what is there, but you should be buying some soil amendments, to add to it, to be sure it has enough nutrients. Mushroom compost, compost, well aged manure, or some bagged potting soil, any of those or any combination would be fine, just buy a bag or two of stuff and mix it in.
Re tomatoes - sorry, but it is totally the wrong season to plant tomatoes. They get planted in the spring and produce tomatoes through summer and early fall and die as soon as there is frost. There would be no point at all to planting tomatoes now. If you start from seed, it is about 4 months from seed to ripe tomatoes. If you buy well started plants from a nursery, you can take anywhere up to 2 months off of that. They need full sun.
Your spaces look quite shady, with all the big shrubbery and fencing, but if that rose bush really blooms, I will take your word for it that it gets a little more sun than it looks like. Still its hard to see how that could be a full sun area. Getting a feel for how many hours a day your areas are in sun would be a good thing, but understand that will change through the season as the sun comes from different directions.
All the herbs you mentioned also need full sun. Most herbs are easy to grow in containers, so you might save them for your container garden that you put in full sun.
So my suggestion would just be that you plant your spots with some perennial flowers that handle part shade.
Some that are native to your area, easy care, attractive to butterflies include:
anise hyssop, yarrow, canadian anemone, columbine, bellflowers, coreopsis, bleeding heart, purple monkeyflower, bee balm, penstemon, coneflowers, asters.
Most of these would not be found in big box stores, but most should be available in any good nursery. Sept or beginning of Oct should be a good time for planting perennials, leaving them time to get established and set down roots before they get shut down by the cold. If you take care of them through their first season (next year) until they are well established, they will need very little care after that and will come back bigger and lusher each year.
And yes you can edge the fronts of your beds with low growing flowers like the alyssum
After you have prepared the soil, find a good plant nursery, see what they have available and talk to them about what does well in your area, in part sun locations.
It is good that you started by planning first. A lot of times people go to nurseries and just buy plants without doing any research at all on whether the plant is the right one for their situation or they buy so many plants they don't know what to do with them.
Measure out the area so you know exactly how much space you have and spend some time outside at different times of the day to see actually how much sun/shade the plants are getting. Keep in mind that the total hours of sun will vary with the time of the year. It looks like a very neat yard so someone has been keeping it up well.
Next to the rose, alyssum should do well if it gets enough sun. It is a low growing plant that can be sheared as it does form a spreading mound.
Carnations should be in back of something, not right up front. Unless you are thinking of dianthus pinks, most carnations grow tall and the stems are not showy. They may need staking. Consider adding plants that will fill in either or texture or color. Japanese painted ferns, hosta, and heuchera, add texture and color even when they are not in bloom and can handle shade. Check out the neighborhood and see what your neighbors are growing. That way you will know what will be hardy there and have an idea of the size and space it takes up. That is hard to do when you are looking at a small potted plant. If you are friendly, you may be able to get cuttings, seeds or if you are very lucky divisions from the neighbors.
It is the wrong time for you to start tomatoes now and the space is too limited. It can be grown in containers next year in a large container in full sun.
There are some herbs that can handle shade and most herbs are very easy to keep in pots. Potted plants can be tucked in here and there and you can move them around to find the best spot for them. Choose herbs you like a use a lot of. Some herbs like mints should never be allowed in the ground.
Measure out the area so you know exactly how much space you have and spend some time outside at different times of the day to see actually how much sun/shade the plants are getting. Keep in mind that the total hours of sun will vary with the time of the year. It looks like a very neat yard so someone has been keeping it up well.
Next to the rose, alyssum should do well if it gets enough sun. It is a low growing plant that can be sheared as it does form a spreading mound.
Carnations should be in back of something, not right up front. Unless you are thinking of dianthus pinks, most carnations grow tall and the stems are not showy. They may need staking. Consider adding plants that will fill in either or texture or color. Japanese painted ferns, hosta, and heuchera, add texture and color even when they are not in bloom and can handle shade. Check out the neighborhood and see what your neighbors are growing. That way you will know what will be hardy there and have an idea of the size and space it takes up. That is hard to do when you are looking at a small potted plant. If you are friendly, you may be able to get cuttings, seeds or if you are very lucky divisions from the neighbors.
It is the wrong time for you to start tomatoes now and the space is too limited. It can be grown in containers next year in a large container in full sun.
There are some herbs that can handle shade and most herbs are very easy to keep in pots. Potted plants can be tucked in here and there and you can move them around to find the best spot for them. Choose herbs you like a use a lot of. Some herbs like mints should never be allowed in the ground.