Rented a home with a neglected garden, where to start?

Hi all,

I just moved into a new place with a lot of potential to learn gardening. I've never gardened before, but I really have the urge to spruce up this place.

I've taken a picture of the flower bed on my porch. As you can see, I think it's been taken over by weeds, but I want to fill it with beautiful flowers. I've looked around on the web for a good guide to get me started, but I've only ended up more confused. I don't want to plant seeds--I'm hoping for the quicker gratification of planting fresh bulbs that will bloom before the end of the summer. But I'm not sure if it's too late in the season to do that. I'm also not sure how to handle the soil in the old flower bed. And I'm not sure whether that area would be "full sun" or "partial shade". It does get some shade from trees and shrubbery in the area, but it gets a lot of mid-day sun as well.

I guess I'm just looking for a guide that explains how to renovate an old garden by planting fresh bulbs. I'm hesitant to purchase any plants without knowing first the steps to successfully plant and fertilize, but most guides I've seen are seed-oriented or make no mention of flower beds. Any suggestions to get me started would be most appreciated.

Depending on how long the soil has been there and what it's composition is, you may want to dig some of it out and replace it with better. I would add potting soil, compost and perlite, but that's just me. Make sure you get good drainage.

I would guess you are full/part sun. I don't know about the bulbs, since I don't plant many.

Most of the more common bulbs (daffodils, tulips, etc) are spring bloomers. There are some summer/fall blooming bulbs, but if it were me, I'd go to the garden center and buy some nice annuals that will bloom for the rest of the summer, you'll get a lot more enjoyment out of it than you would by planting bulbs. Bulbs are wonderful mixed into a garden where you have things to create interest during the times of year when the bulbs aren't blooming, but in a small area like this I think you ought to go for things that are interesting for a longer time period, if all you plant is bulbs it's going to spend an awful lot of the year looking pretty boring and only a few weeks of pretty flowers. But if you go get yourself some nice annuals, many of them could bloom for you from now until frost.

If you feel like your soil needs some improvement, buy yourself some soil conditioner or compost and mix that into the top few inches of soil before you plant. Then plant your plants, keep them watered (but not too much water!), and if you want easy fertilization get a time-release product like Osmocote or Dynamite, you just sprinkle that on top of the soil and it keeps working for a while (check the package to see exactly how long, different ones work for different amounts of time).

As far as sun/shade--how many hours of direct sun are you getting? I suspect it would be considered part sun, but if you're getting enough hours of mid-day sun maybe you could try a few full sun plants as well.

Definitely replace some of the soil. Is this on concrete or on soil? That would tell you something about drainage I would think. Most plants don't like too much water. Just keep checking the soil and water when it's getting dry.

Looks like partial shade.

Dahlias are nice and colorful. The website listed below says they need at least 6 hours of sunlight.

You'll have to dig them up before frost. Divide and replant in the spring. Bonus: you'll get more tubers every year!

Check this out:

http://www.dahlia.com/

Hope it helps!

I'm confused by annuals and bulbs now. I'm reading that annuals die off during frost, unless you bring them indoors and re-plant them in warmer weather, as mentioned in this thread. When you refer to buying annuals from a garden center, do you just mean buying the actual plants themselves or buying seeds of annual flowers? And how do they provide more blooms than bulbs--just in that they re-bloom in the next year (if you bring them inside)?

As for other issues mentioned, I'll have to keep watching the drainage in the flower bed. I've been watching it lately as it's rained, and the bed never seems to stay flooded, with water seeping out of the bottom. But I'm not sure how moist is too moist.

Will keep an eye on the direct sunlight too. Been getting too much rain lately to tell. The picture of the porch I took only this morning, and it's already looking like it's about to rain again! :)

Most people buy annuals (marigolds, petunias, etc.) as small plants in flats. They will grow and bloom until frost, and you dig them up and toss them.

Perrenials are plants that usually flower in only part of the growing season and stay in the ground over the winter and come back every year (if they're growing in the right conditions).

Some bulbs are hardy (e.g., tulips and daffodils) and will stay in the ground over winter and bloom again in the spring. Bear in mind that you should let the foliage stay after flowering because they need the sun to stay viable for blooming the following year.

Others are tubers, such as Dahlias, that are not hardy, so they have to come out of the ground before frost and replanted in the spring.

i agree with ecrane, for no bigger an area as that is i would go to a nice nursery and buy annuals every year. you want something that is in flower or has nice foilage for the entire season, especially being on the front porch. if you plant perennials, imho, you are just asking for potential problems later on, such as plants and roots growing too large for the confined space. The roots of some plants can even damage your brick structure. When i was looking at houses, someone let an oak tree seedling grow next to the detached brick garage and as the tree grew, it moved the brick siding and caved the roof in. That's perhaps a little extreme, but nonetheless. Your front porch is the focal point of your home, besides, you can have a different arrangement every year if you please, or find the right look that you may never want to change.

Yes, I meant buying the actual plants. The reason I suggested annuals is because they'll bloom continuously from now until frost, vs if you buy fall blooming bulbs you'll only get a short time of blooms. If you really want something that'll come back next year, I'd recommend some small perennials instead of the bulbs. Most of them won't give you quite as long of a bloom period as the annuals would, but they'll still beat the bulbs in terms of providing interest, and they'd come back the following year. But as Len pointed out, you need to be careful and buy ones that aren't going to get very big or else you can run into problems.

Annuals will also give you opportunity to develop your personal style and learn your color preferences and the quirks of your planting area. Like if that planter is in full sun....how hot does it get there with all that brick? Annuals give you the opportunity to keep changing the plant material from year to year --learning what you want to invite back next year and what you don't. Annuals are less expensive than perennials and so it doesn't 'hurt' quite as much to toss them. At some point you may want to switch to perennials --true that majority have a bloom time and then that is it for the year - but so many are so beautiful and are prized for the foliage and shape, etc., and not necessarily the bloom. Most importantly --have fun with the learning process --even though you likely have read about all our trials and tribulations here at DG - problem plants, rotting roots, sagging stems, hanging heads, (I'm not talking about mid life issues either!!) it isn't that easy to kill a plant --especially an annual.

Thanks for the advice all. I'm going to head to the garden center next week and check out the annuals as suggested.