Gardening or Yard tips
 

I just bought a house a few months ago. I’m still trying to figure out my yard and how I want to do it. Any (look nice) easy suggestions?

Check out the future height of any shrubs or trees before you buy them if you don't want to prune a lot. Also, make sure you look at how wide they can get so you won't plant them too close to anything.

Plant as many perennials as you can—this includes bulbs in the fall that will come back every year. For beautiful shiny shrubs that stay green all winter try holly and boxwood. They can be trimmed and shaped and they are hardy. Both can have branches cut and put in vases for Christmas. If you want red holly berries, you’ll need BOTH a male and a female holly bush. They should be marked F or M—or ask the nursery!
GOOD LUCK!!

Impatiens are pretty low-maintenance. The flowers come in a variety of colors, and they work well in shade. However, they are annuals.

Carpet roses can work well. However, if there are deer in your area, you MUST spray the plants with deer repellent the moment you plant them. I learned that the hard way. You must also watch for black spot, so they're not all that low-maintenance. (I think carpet roses are lower maintenance than full rosebushes.)

I second PrettyBoy's suggestion on the hostas.

Have fun! I moved from a house in the Northeast to a condo in the South a few years back, and sometimes I miss my garden.

Nice! Real nice information. What’s funny is I was at the bookstore looking at ideas but a lot of it looked like it was for people who have been doing it for a minute. So I said to myself let’s see what ideas GC has Lol. I’m going to my neighborhood gardening shop this weekend to do some purchasing. I’m going to pull this thread up when I do and follow it to the tee and go from there. Thanks again for this information. It’s helpful. I’ve got neighbors whose yards are crazy nice and mine is just bleh.

Thanks again!

My parents were avid gardeners, and when I bought my house, they told me to make a list of the plants & bushes I liked, and see which grew in what season. Once I did that, we decided the colors and needs for each and went from there. I had awesome spring gardens, and low maintenance for the other seasons.

If you can list some of the plants you like - for your area! - then you'll be ahead of the game before hitting the gardening stores.

FWIW, my spring gardens started early, but lasted until mid June. There are so many hybrids of tulips, daffodils, etc that you can do that more easily than 20 years ago!

Yeah, a list would make shopping easier. I didn’t think about that. Will do.

Thanks, honeychile

So, Phrozen Sands, what are you planting?

So far I’ve started with some hostas, geraniums, and I decided to try a little gardening, so I bought some tomato plants too. The sales person told me that geraniums come back every year. He told me when the season ends, I can put them in a box or bag and then replant them again the following season. Apparently, they’ll come back? I haven’t put anything in the ground yet though. I’m doing that this weekend. Everything is still in their little holders they came with. I’m excited to see how the tomato plants will turn out.

I seriously can see this turning into a hobby of mine.

I’m up early this morning so I can plant my purchases. I’m also going to go back today when they open up at 9 to see what else I can cross off on my list. This is fun.

I find it sort of relaxing myself. One other cool thing my neighbor told me was about the seed packets they sell at dollar tree, they sell quickly and I think they put them out around March although it might differ if you're further south. I bought some flowers from seeds last year threw them down and I've got a lot of pretty little flowers, I have no idea what they are since I threw the envelopes out. Also while at your local garden center you might want to see what plants that are native to your area, since those will likely be less maintenance since they are suited to the climate of the area you live.

Ahhh… good idea. I didn’t think about the dollar store. I haven’t done anything with any seeds yet, but that too is a good idea. I’m in Nashville. It can get cold here so I’ve been mostly planting year long items, with the exception of the tomato plants. Today, I picked up a small wooden windmill and a decorative well. The well actually has running water, but unfortunately, I don’t have a power outlet outside for it to plug into. It still adds flavor to my yard though. I picked up a bird bath too.

Are we talking about gardens or lawns here?? If we're talking lawns, before you do anything, get a soil test. In Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University will do a pretty inexpensive soil test and give you good recommendations for what you might want to amend your soil with or what kinds of lawn grass would thrive.

There are some pretty great local FB groups on lawns and gardens for Oklahoma. I'm sure central TN is the same.

I was doing both. I used my rototiller yesterday morning so I can start my garden. But I decided to plant the tomato plants in pots. I’m going to plant something else in my garden. I never heard of soil testing for the lawn though. What’s that all about? Sounds like it’d be useful. My neighbor seems to have a lot of backyard knowledge but he hasn’t mentioned that one. Thanks for mentioning it. I’d be interested in more information on it.

The county agent can give you a box in which you put a sample of your soil and you get back an analysis of it and what you need to add. Just call your county extension office.

Sorry about the accidental edit, I posted my answer in your post.

If you're growing fruits and veggies, I highly recommend EarthBox. Back in the day, when I owned a house in an area with hungry hungry deer, I used EarthBoxes for my tomatoes and cucumbers, and I always had an awesome crop. I put them on my deck so the deer couldn't get at them.

Also, I forgot to mention azaleas! They are low-maintenance and do well in shade. They flower in May in the Northeast, possibly earlier in TN.

Pay a professional.

Fun fact: two of my nieces count as “professionals”

Additional Fun Fact: my degree is in biology but I weaseled out of botany at the last minute

I’m kind of like an unintentional mass murderer of plants. But good luck to you.

fun fact: I have a Ph.D. in horticulture with a minor in botany but I hardly admit it online because then people start sending me photos of sick plants to diagnose or weeds to identify. I taught it on the college level for years but now I teach foreign languages.

Now I know what those soil samples were that we used to ship when I managed a FedEx Office store. I’m not sure if they were soil samples for the same purpose as mine but they were samples we’d ship. They were always from one of the local colleges/universities out here. All of this useful info is in my notes on my phone.

One thing about GC, there’s a lot educated people on here, so at least someone knows something about whatever question one might have. It just takes a thread start about it Lol.

What zone are you in? I am a gardener and live in zone 9. I try to buy mostly native plants for my landscaping as it gets very hot here in Texas and I need drought tolerant plants. I have 2.5 acres and also have 11 raised beds and grow tomatoes, squash (4 types), cucumbers, eggplant, blackberries, dill, basil, parsley and milkweed (I have a large butterfly garden). I usually put shade cloth over the entire garden as it gets very hot. It is suppose to be over 100 for the next week so I will have to water pretty much everyday. I have a well but it dried up last year so I am having to use city water until it fills back up which hopefully, being a La Niña year, will be this fall. There are some great garden videos on you tube-I highly recommend Garden Answer and The Millennial Gardener. Gardening is my passion and if I am not at work I am outside in my garden. Good luck! I find gardening very therapeutic 😊

I’m in central daylight time zone if that’s what you mean. Otherwise, I’m not sure what you mean by zone.

She is talking about plant hardiness zones. The U.S. is divided into zones based on climate, which helps gardeners know which plants are best for their areas. Plants that grow wonderfully in Ohio probably won't be good to plant in Arizona.

Here's a link: https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/

Type your zip code in the box on the upper right and a little drop-down box will tell you which gardening zone you are in.

Ok, got it. Mine says 7a, unless I’m reading it wrong.

If you click on the interactive map and then click on your state you can keep clicking to zoom in all the way down to the nearest main road (I didn't click further to see if my street would pop up).

Its weird because where I live there is like this weird small pocket that puts me in 6b, where the surrounding parts of the county where I live and even neighboring counties are 7a. Go figure.

Also with the zones for example if you buy a packet of seeds it will often tell you on the back of the packet when to plant based on the zone you live in.

One other final thought, if you want to buy flowers like daffodils, tulips and others, usually home depot/Lowes will start selling bulbs later summer at least at the stores near me. Those you will plant in the fall for them to bloom in the spring. Just remember if you plant perennials especially flowers wait until the leaves turn yellow/brown before pulling them out, otherwise they won't flower the following year.

Sorry about not explaining the zones😊. Anyways, happy planting! I was just out this morning and almost heatstroked😞, I wish I was in zone 7!

Nice! Thanks for the tips, andthen. I didn’t know that about the seed packages. I’ve been opening them, planting them, and throwing the packages away. Last weekend a lady who lives a couple of miles from where I live - we talked about some garden tips. I was asking her how she keeps her yard weed free. She said she’s got plants that get rid of a lot the weeds which gives her less work to do. She told me I can come back a take a few of her hostas since they’ll spread. Apparently they’re great weed killers. I’m going back this weekend to dig them up and replant them in my yard.
No worries, aggieAXO. I learned something new.