Make sure your flower beds keep beautifying your garden for as long as possible with minimal maintenance: take necessary precautions from the start.
Before you jump into buying plants to fill your flower beds, consider the natural elements of your plot.
→ Read also: setting up an easy flower bed
If your soil holds water in winter, avoid installing dry soil plants right off the bat. If your ground is chalky, forget the range of azalea, rhododendron and other heath plants. They won’t grow at all.
Your flower beds will undergo strong weather constraints due to their exposure, so choose hardy, robust varieties adapted to your soil.
Avoid fragile plants if you don’t want to spend all your free time maintaining them!
During planting, space your plants well to let them breathe and allow them to receive as much light as possible. This precaution will prevent cryptogamic diseases (related to fungi) from developing on your plants.
Provide a natural surface fertilization with mature compost or with commercial organic fertilizer, not too rich in nitrogen and containing magnesium. Scratch the surface lightly. Repeat the fertilization operation in June for your roses and plants blooming in summer or fall.
Trim shrubs in your flower beds with a well-sharpened tool for a clean cut that heals quickly. Cut off flowers that have faded regularly to keep plants from tiring out. Burn sick stems and leaves to prevent the spread of diseases. Remove anything that can hinder the circulation of air and the spread of light, to keep your plants healthy, capable of defending themselves against parasite attacks.
Mulch your flower beds to maintain moist soil. If your ground dries out too quickly, install porous watering tubes, a form of drip irrigation that is easy to maange.
M.-C. H.
