BEGINNERS GUIDE TO FLOWER GARDENING

Improved garden products and new, tougher plants mean that even newbies soon will be cutting bouquets and collecting compliments.

By Marilyn Lewis

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There's never been a better moment for beginning gardeners. Improved garden products and easy-to-grow plant varieties have made starting out truly easy.


The first thing you'll want to cultivate, however, is a list of local resources and experts to assist your newfound quest for vegetation:
Many colleges' cooperative extension programs offer master gardener consultants, expert gardeners trained to answer questions from the public on everything from what plants thrive in your climate to how much soil you need. Wikipedia has a list of cooperative extension services around the country, as does Bayer (that's right: the aspirin folks; they also make garden products).

Garden clubs are great for getting started. Find one at National Garden Clubs, check your newspaper or search the Internet.

Explore independent garden stores and nurseries. Find them in the Lawn & Garden Yellow Pages or use the search page at Garden Centers of America, a national affiliation of independent garden centers. Home Depot garden centers are another fine resource.

Now choose a sunny spot in your yard, select -- or dig -- a bed about 10 feet long and at least three feet wide, then try the following pared-down instructions and soon you'll be sporting a green thumb of your very own.

The "dirt" on soil

Here is, hands down, the best garden advice you'll ever get: Spend your money on buying or making great soil. Good dirt does the work for you. You can plant in poor soil until you're 100 and reap nothing but grief. Sow a handful of seeds in rich, well-aerated soil and you're suddenly a genius.

"My mom lives in the Mojave Desert, which is all sand. Her plants just would not grow," says Everett LeRoy, Northwest territorial manager for Burpee, which sells seeds and plants through its catalog. "In the street meridians of her town, she wonders why the plants are so lush and the grass is so green. I tell her, 'It's because they just dig the sand out and replace it with wonderful, wonderful soil.' "

LeRoy did the same for his mom: "I dug 2½ feet down in the bed and I filled it up with soil from a landscape materials place. Now she is the talk of the town."

Where to get such fabulous dirt? If you've inherited a garden, your soil might already be in good shape. But probably not. If you've got a patch of rocks, you'll be starting from scratch.
Either way, here's what to know: When gardeners talk about soil "structure," what they mean is, is it mostly clay? Or mostly sand?

Clay -- is thick and heavy. Water pools up and sits there. It won't drain, so your babies' roots just drown. Clay is hard to dig and a shovelful weighs a ton.

Sand -- well, you know what sand's like. It's easy to dig. Too easy. It slides right through your fingers. It drains alright -- too well. Water runs through so fast your seedlings can't get a drink, no matter how much you water them.

Fabulous dirt, the kind that makes a gardener's life easy and rewarding, has a consistency between sand and clay. It's sort of fluffy and it doesn't stick together. Water disappears, but enough moisture is trapped to keep plants from instant thirst.

Try this test: Water your soil and watch what happens. If the bed is sloped and water runs off in a river, modify the grade or use rocks to shape little terraces so water can soak in. Wait 24 hours, then stick your hand in the soil and grab a fistful -- getting dirty is part of the fun. It should feel moist but not wet, and your hand shouldn't come out slimy, says Barb Pierson, horticulturist and nursery manager for White Flower Farm, the venerable catalog company. "It should have a little bit of soil stuck to it but not with mud on it, and no pooling or feeling of actual water," she says.

For soil that's less than ideal, there are easy fixes. You can go one of two routes:
Simple: Put a handful of dirt into a sandwich bag and get it tested at a garden center or extension service. With test results, your expert can help you choose soil "amendments" (supplements) to turn your poor dirt into rich loam. When the ground is dry, dig or rototill the amendments into your flower bed.

Even simpler: Buy perfect potting soil by the bag. It's not cheap; you'll need it 18 to 24 inches deep the length and width of your bed. But there is no easier or quicker path to the perfect gardening experience. A compromise: Dig bagged garden soil -- not potting soil -- into your garden dirt. Ask your local gardening resources and neighbors what soil and amendments to use. Pierson likes Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Garden Soil.

Now, dig in

With your preparation done, you're ready for the fun: picking and planting seeds. Initially, the variety of plants is beguiling and even overwhelming. To improve your chances of success, stick to no-fail plants such as hardy geraniums, daisies and echinacea (see more plant recommendations here).

Simple: Plant seeds indoors in February in peat pots (here are the Burpee pots) filled with bagged garden soil. Scratch the soil with a fork and drop seeds into the shallow grooves. Smooth a wee bit of dirt over the seeds. Water daily until shoots and leaves emerge (about six to 10 days). After that, keep them moist but not soaked. When you see two sets of leaves and you're sure there's no chance of frost, plug those little cups right into the garden. (Here are Miracle-Gro tips for planting peat pots.)

Even simpler: When you're sure that winter frosts are over, buy six-packs of annual and perennial flowers and plants and install them according to directions on the label. You can also get a few bigger plants if you want instant gratification, but you might as well save your money since small plants grow quickly and catch up. One note: planting seeds is more economical, but can be trickier.

The key is learning to read plant labels. They tell you everything from the climate zone it thrives in, how far apart to plant, water needs and flowering habit, to whether it's an annual or perennial, maximum height and breadth and other tidbits. Don't be afraid to ask your local resources a lot of questions, especially about the climate zone and watering. You can also find plenty of information online:

Good sites for looking up plants are Virtual Plant Tags, Better Homes and Gardens plant finder or the plant search tool at Dave's Garden. Wikipedia is another excellent plant search site.

Wondering what climate "zones" are all about? It's easy: Plug your ZIP code into the Proven Winners' zone map. Better Homes & Gardens has good climate maps, too.

A word about water

Plants are like people. They need food, air, water and light. As with human babies, you can't just throw all this at them at once. Consistent, regular attention is the trick.
Decide early how you will water your garden: Hand watering? Irrigation? Automated sprinklers?

Plants need watering when first put in the ground. Then, they need constantly moist (not wet) soil for at least a week or two after planting. If the soil an inch beneath the surface is moist, it's just right. Even drought-tolerant perennials -- plants that can go for long periods with little or no watering -- need regular water for the first couple of years to get established.

But the beginner's big mistake is over-watering. "When plants are over-watered, they start turning yellow, so then people think, 'I'm not watering them enough.' It turns into a mean, vicious circle. Then it's death," says White Flower Farm's Pierson.

On the other hand, plants that droop are too dry. Choose plants with similar water needs so you can water them all at once with no fussing over individual requirements. Or simpler yet, use only drought tolerant plants. Once established, these need the least water of all; low maintenance for you, easy on the environment and easy on your water bills.

5 more tips from the experts

Check labels for potential height. Place tall plants in the back, medium in the middle of the garden and low plants along the edge. Use a couple of evergreen shrubs -- or a small tree, if there's room -- since evergreens keep leaves or needles all year long, giving color in the bleakest months of the year. Easy evergreens include camellia, evergreen clematis vines, some magnolias, some grasses, boxwood, juniper and hebe.

Burpee's LeRoy spreads a featherweight layer of peat moss over newly sown seeds, then waters. Not only does peat retain moisture and prevent seeds from blowing away, it also turns dark when wet, so you can notice dangerous drying. "The whole secret to seed sowing is to keep soil moist (not soaking wet) . . . If it dries out, that seed is completely dead," says LeRoy.

Plants -- such as like marigolds and petunias -- whose stalks bear a succession of flowers will produce even more prolifically if you deadhead (pick off spent blossoms).

Feed plants regularly with an all-purpose fertilizer. Pierson and LeRoy recommend Miracle-Gro's Water Soluble All Purpose Plant Food or Organic Choice.

Watch leaves for white or dark spots, holes or curled up or ridged edges. Clip a sample into a sandwich bag, seal it (to prevent further contamination) and bring it to your garden expert for diagnosis. Avoid pesticides. Excellent organic horticultural oils and insecticidal soaps are available that are safe to use around children and pets.