9 Key Strategies to Help You Edit Your Garden This Spring
Landscape design is a comprehensive degree program in many universities, but you don’t need a degree to landscape your yard! Some easy tricks can help you decide how to build your space. Former landscaper and nurseryman Jerad Bryant shares nine key strategies to help you edit the garden this spring.
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Editing the garden is an artistic venture, as gardens are inherently artistic! They combine plants from all over the world in colorful designs that please the eyes. Combining art and science, we’ll use landscape design principles to create the garden of your dreams.
Some gardeners prefer tidy, formal landscapes with shaped hedges and topiaries, while others like a wild, meadow-like aesthetic with unpruned plants and tall trees. No matter your preferences, you can use the spring season to reset the space to match your vision for the area.
When performing a garden edit, five considerations of sustainable landscape design are function, maintenance, environmental friendliness, budget, and visual appeal. Don’t break the bank; think of local animals and native plants, and modify the garden so it satisfies your needs. By combining these principles, we can create new spaces that help us gardeners and the local community.
Why Do You Garden?
Answering the question, ‘Why do you garden?’ can help you decide how to edit your space, including what new things to put in the yard and which ones to remove. Maybe you garden with children who would appreciate a kitchen garden bed, or you have dogs that need lawn space to be happy. Your particular needs will dictate how the garden should look and feel.
Other possible uses for outdoor space are barbecuing, pool parties, homesteading, orcharding, composting, rainwater harvesting, and playtime. Set up the space to work for you and your family so that you’re inclined to spend time in it. No one wants to sit in a garden they don’t like!
Many of us have multiple uses for our space. I like to compost, grow veggies and flowers, and have some lawn space, so I set up the yard to function well for all three purposes. Your needs may change as you age, so know that nothing is truly permanent. You can always edit the space later to fit your future needs.
Consider Color Theory
Color theory isn’t just for painting and graphic design; it’s a crucial component of landscape design! Though you can splatter many colored plants around the yard, they may clash vibrantly and create a less-than-desirable aesthetic.
On the color wheel, contrasting colors are opposite each other. They work well in pairs. Try combinations like green and pink, purple and yellow, or red and blue.
Other similar colors work well en masse, such as in meadow plantings or large pollinator gardens. Pair red, yellow, and orange together for a fiery, bright summer landscape, or opt for pink, purple, and blue for a cool, relaxing aesthetic.
When there are too many colors, the maximalist effect can be jarring for viewers. If you like maximalist looks, go for it! Plant as many colors as you’d like. There are no rules when it comes to gardening, but color theory can help you create pleasing designs in large or small spaces.
Build Structure
Flat gardens are boring! Create different heights with plants, structures, and containers to create an uplifting effect. Low-growing plants, upright perennials, and shrubs can be contrasted with tall trees to give garden viewers many different perspectives. They can look down, straight out, or up to see a range of floral colors, leaf textures, and bark structures.
Structure helps anchor other additions to the space. Let’s say you plant a high-reaching tree, like a silver maple or a Douglas fir. This tree will influence how the space looks in the future; you’ll plant shade lovers beneath it, and smaller trees nearby to blend it in with the landscape.
Other structures add dimension, including trellises, porches, containers, large boulders, raised beds, and greenhouses. It’s impressive what a few well-placed objects can do to spruce up the area. Use what you have on hand to save money on materials.
Add Containers
Containers are the perfect objects for adding structure during an annual garden edit! They add dimension to the site and offer plantable space on their tops. Just as you’d plant tall, medium, and short plants in the landscape, you’ll use the same concept to plant thrillers, fillers, and spillers in containers.
Thrillers are the main features. Each container should have one, though exceptionally large pots may have two or three. Thrillers are small trees, large shrubs, or tall grasses. They stand erect in the center or back of the pot.
Spillers spill out over the pot’s edges, creating a cascading effect. They’re typically free-rooting ground covers that form vines. In between the spillers and the thrillers are the fillers; they fill the space. Use low-growing perennials, small shrubs, or annuals as fillers.
Divide Mature Perennials
As your plants mature, they grow wide, dense, and full! They form dozens of shoots off a small crown. You can divide these perennials after they grow too big for their space. With division, you turn one plant into many that can thrive in other spots.
Spring is a good season to divide, as the plants are growing ample new roots and will establish well after transplanting. Start by digging them up; dig around the roots, leaving a few inches of bare soil between where you dig and the new shoots.
After digging, rinse, shake, or tease the roots to dislodge dirt particles. You want a good view of the roots. When you can see most of them, take a knife or hori-hori shovel and separate one plant into many. Ensure each piece has ample roots and new shoots so they’ll thrive after planting.
Sow Annuals
Annuals are excellent ways to fill the yard! Their quick-growing foliage and flowers add much-needed texture, color, and vibrancy. Some reseed themselves, sowing seeds readily on bare soil, so you don’t have to.
Native annuals are ideal because they’re equipped to grow in your local climate. They’ll often reseed, and seedlings will pop up each spring or fall.
Other annuals are perfect for individual seasons. Warm-loving tropicals are ideal for summer, as they bask in the sun and warmth that’s common. Cool-weather lovers like ornamental kale, violas, and primroses are perfect for fall or winter. Petunias, alyssums, and cock’s combs fill bare soil with color in spring.
There are two options for annuals: finding starts or starting seeds. With seeds, you can grow dozens or hundreds of seedlings for cheap! Starts are more expensive than seeds, though they’re ready for transplanting right after purchase.
Repurpose the Lawn
Are you tired of your lawn? Rather than spending time mowing it all year, consider converting it into plantable beds or a wildlife meadow! Spring is an ideal season to consider repurposing the lawn. New plants will readily sprout in the soft ground, and conversions are easy when the weather is moist and cool.
To convert the lawn into a bed for planting, start by sourcing lots of cardboard. Ensure it’s free of plastic or tape, and flatten all the boxes into even pieces. Then, layer the cardboard on the growing grasses wherever you want to plant perennials and annuals. The cardboard suffocates the grasses, preventing them from accessing sunlight and air.
Add compost or potting soil on top of the cardboard to prevent it from flying away. The compost also helps the cardboard and grasses decompose, turning the lawn into crumbly, humus-rich soil perfect for new seeds and transplants.
The other option is to let the lawn grow wild! Mow pathways where you’d like to walk, then let the rest of the grass grow tall. You may have to pull weeds if they sprout, but eventually, the grasses will flower, die, and fall over. In a few seasons, you’ll have less lawn and more beds for growing flowers and veggies.
Think About Irrigation
In many areas of the U.S., irrigation is the most important consideration when it comes to garden edits and outdoor planning. Without water, most shrubs, trees, and fleshy plants would wither and die during the growing season. Moisture is key to your plants’ survival rates.
Installing a comprehensive sprinkler system takes time, money, and continuous maintenance. Early spring is a good time to consider adding one, as you have natural rainfall to fall back on in case the installation takes longer than expected. Consult local landscaping and irrigation experts to see how much it’ll cost for your space.
I can’t afford sprinklers, so I use aboveground systems attached to hoses and timers. You can easily set one up yourself, as there are plenty of ways to create a home sprinkler system. Use drip irrigation, impact sprinklers, or soaker hoses to moisten the ground.
Create Pathways
Pathways are the veins of gardens! You’ll use them to walk from one area to another, and they dictate how you walk through gardens. Curvy, windy paths encourage slow walks, where the visitor wonders what lies around the next bend. Straight walkways create a formal look, and they help divide large areas into multiple smaller ones.
If the yard is all lawn, simply mow the walkways where you’d like paths. Continuously mow the paths throughout the growing season and let the surrounding grasses or plants grow tall.
Mulches like wood chips, fall leaves, and straw are superb materials for creating pathways. Place thick layers of the stuff on the paths and reapply after it breaks down. Continuous mulching prevents weeds from sprouting, and it helps keep dust and mud down on the ground.
