wintertime is the perfect time to plan anddesign your garden , whether you ’re putting together a layout for your vegetable garden or a master plan for a new landscape . Garden planningrequires taking measurements and prioritizing some type of plants and projects above others . Here are five garden planning and design tips that still work from our archive .
believe paths and other hardscape cautiously . Theright path , drives and other heavy control surface are essential for serve people ( and garden cart ! ) move through the garden . But these feature are expensive , so install only those that are perfectly necessary , advised F. H. Nutter , a Minneapolis landscape designer in 1895 . The best paths make a frame for the lawn and a garden of tree , shrubs and flowers , he read .
Make paths all-encompassing enough!Consider the elbow room two people walking side - by - side need to go along a path and make it wide enough , say Louise P. Mealy , president of the Monticello Garden Club in a 1934 article in theMinnesota Horticulturist . She advocate paths be 4 foot wide if possible . Another great tip from that article : When thinking about the backdrop for your garden , look at your neighbor ’s curtilage . Do they have a beautiful tall evergreen that would be the perfect backdrop for your garden ?
This older garden design features a dedicated vegetable garden with flowers around it. You can put some flowers in the vegetable garden, too, to attract pollinators and brighten the look.
curving pipeline are more enticing . In a lecture to nursery owner in 1905 , peony breederO.F. Brandof Faribault recommended curved lines for driveways and paths . “ They develop a better effect than square single , ” he said . No marvelous shrubs along the paths either , he say , and if you must imbed a tall shrub prefer the aboriginal high bush cranberry rather than lilac . ( beneficial advice , then and now ! ) Of naturally , he also recommend peonies be planted “ liberally ” in any northern garden .
Combine your flower , vegetable , and fruit gardens . In an article in the March 1957 take ofMinnesota Horticulturist , U of M prof A.E. Hutchins offered several originative suggestions to raise both the beauty and utility of a home vegetable garden ; for instance , planting Cosmos with Asparagus officinales make the appearing of a “ beautiful bouquet after the asparagus cutting season is over . ” Among his other recommendations , Hutchins note that helianthus work as great poles for celestial pole noggin , and that “ carrots and lettuce make very pleasing impermanent edging plant for flower bed and schnittlaugh and Petroselinum crispum can be used similarly for a more permanent edging . ”
Creating a new garden on a budget and rapidly is possible . In a 2004 issue ofNorthern Gardener , writerErin Hynesdescribed re - doing her booster ’s backyard landscape over a long weekend , while spending less than $ 600 . ( The budget was $ 500 , but they went a bit over . ) Among her tips : Decide on a elan ( they prefer slightly formal ) , use hoses to outline your proposed beds , see if you could find pass - along plants from your horticulture friends to fill out the layer ( most are happy to deal ! ) , do the redesign recently in the season when plants and even trellises may be on sale ; and if you arepulling up sodomite , see renting a sod cutter and check that you have a lieu to compost or recycle the sward .
To save money on your garden design, shop at garden club sales or wait until June when many plants are on sale at nurseries.
stay on tuned here and inNorthern Gardenerfor more gratuity from the archives of MSHS as we keep 150 days of publishing gardening information .
