Want to show the world that you’re a proud part of Royal’s Nation? Celebrate everyone’s favorite World Series champs by planting a Royals themed flower garden in your yard!
If you bleed blue like the team here at Heritage Lawns & Irrigation, you’ll love these handy how-to tips to make the ultimate fan garden. These nine simple steps will guide you from start to finish and help you avoid any rookie mistakes.
Step 1: Choose a Garden Site – Depending on what kind of flowers you intend to grow in your garden, some areas will be better than others. The most important thing to pay attention to is the amount of sun an area receives. You can amend poor soil, and water as needed, but you can’t change the path of the sun.
Most flower gardens can be planted to favor anything from full-sun plants to shade lovers. Scout out the sunniest or shadiest parts of your lawn and choose your ideal garden location. Make sure it fits with the needs of the plants you plan to grow.
Step 2: Decide on Size and Shape – The bigger your garden, the more maintenance and time it will require. If you’re new to gardening, you may want to start small. You can always expand your garden next year, and the next, as your experience and enjoyment grow with it.
When it comes to garden shape, the sky’s the limit. Consider the existing plants, buildings, fixtures, or walkways in your yard. We think a diamond shape might be fun!
Step 3: Remove Grass – In the outfield, grass is good. In a flower bed, not so much. You’ll want to remove all of the grass in an area before getting started. This can be done with a flat shovel. Make sure you dig deep enough to remove the roots as well as the grass blades.
Insider Tip: The depth of your digging should resemble a typical piece of sod, with an inch or so of dirt under the roots. (If you have any bare spots you need to fill, this sod makes a great patch. Just be sure to water regularly until established.)
Step 4: Prepare the Soil – First, you must loosen the soil so the new roots have a good start. Be sure to add amendments like compost (organic matter like decayed leaves, grass clippings, manure, etc.). Mix it well. Depending on the size of your garden, it may be worth renting a small tiller to make sure it is mixed sufficiently.
Related Read: Fix Your Lawn with Soil Amendments
Step 5: Choose Your Plants – When selecting your plants, you can choose to start with seeds or small plants. If you’re patient, seeds may be more affordable, but you will have to water and wait for them to show up (cue the Jeopardy music). Seedlings or small plants may provide more satisfaction sooner.
When planting flowers, you can choose between annuals and perennials. While you can certainly grow both side by side, perennials come back year after year whereas annuals die at the end of each season never to return. Annuals are great if you like to experiment with new plants each year, but if low maintenance is your thing, perennials may be a better choice.
Luckily for us Royals fans, blue flowers are easy to find! Choose from blue iris, blue orchids, hyacinths, balloon flower, delphinium, bluestar, clematis, bellflower, salvia, hydrangeas, columbine, morning glory vines, and forget-me-nots, just to get you started. You could even have each family member choose a flower and have a contest to see whose does best (just to add a little friendly competition to the endeavor).
Step 6: Plant Your Garden – You’ll want to do some minor planning before you plunk your plants in the garden willy nilly. Arrangement of your flowers will affect the look of your garden. The rules are easy:
- If you garden has a front and a back, you’ll want to plant the taller plants in the back, the shortest in the front, and the medium height in between for the best viewing.
- If your garden will be enjoyed from all sides, plant the tallest plants in the middle and graduate the height to the lowest plants on the outer edge.
Step 7: Water Your Garden – It is really important to keep the soil around your new plants moist until their roots become established. Water every day, unless Mother Nature helps you out with some rain.
Once you see noticeable growth, you can water less often, but keep an eye on the garden so it doesn’t dry out.
Slow, deep watering is better than sporadic, light watering. It encourages deeper root growth. Watering in the morning will reduce evaporation compared to watering in the heat of the day.
Step 8: Mulch Your Garden – Trust us, mulch is your friend. It will not only help to keep moisture in the soil, it also deters weed growth. And of course, it gives your garden a crisp, clean look..
Step 9: Enjoy Your Garden All Season – At Heritage Lawns & Irrigation, we think the purpose of your yard is to create a space where you can enjoy life (and celebrate some of life’s little victories…ahem, World Series champions!)
We hope your new garden bed will bring you years of enjoyment and pride and will be a lasting reminder of our amazing Boys in Blue! If you need help making your yard a field of dreams, give us a call at (913) 451-4664 and we’ll be happy to help.
