When y'all are putting plants into your beds how much room do you leave between them? To get that really FULL cottage look, do you leave ANY room between them at all?
I'm just starting many of my cottage beds, so that means new baby plants in the beds, which doesn't give that full look right away. I know that I have to start small and add, add, add as I go. Is that how most of you have done yours? Then just kept adding till one plant was basically on top of another and no room left? Can you really plan a garden to be this full, or does it just happen by filling in with annuals and smaller perennials once the larger plants are mature?
Thanks for any help,
Heather
Planting Question
That's a really good question, Heather! I ran into some serious problems last year when I planted annuals between slower growing perennial seedlings -- things of a fairly decent size I got from Bluestone & Park's --because the annuals shaded out the perennials. I think the trick might be to get smaller annuals, but I am still learning, too. I used zinnias last year and they were very happy. And big! LOL! I planted them very late to give the perennials a head start, but it didn't work. However, I am sun challenged and a neighbor's tree (since professionally pruned at my expense) didn't help things.
If you plant perennials too close, you get a fuller look, faster, but you also have to move the plants apart when they get older, so it's a lot more work.
If you only had annuals, you can plant them close and get the fuller look.in the same year.
Hopefully others will chime in, because this is my biggest hurdle!
Suzy
Thanks Suzy, at least I feel better knowing I'm not the only one who finds this part challenging.
Heather~ you are not alone! Especially when the plants are seedlings, some take off more than others and what looks sparse in April, looks great the first of June then overgrown by the end of June, early July..Thus relocating, relocating, relocating! Kinda fun at first, but ehausting when you're on your fourth relocating or dividing of a plant! ;0)
It is exhausting! It feels like the garden will never reach that look I want. No, I didn't say it'll never be "finished" because that word is no longer in my vocabulary when it comes to cottage gardening! Ha!
I actually enjoy the work, it's the frustration of seeing another growing season come to an end and feeling that so much is still left undone. Then again, maybe that's the down side of using annuals.
Usually by this time of year everything is under at least a foot of snow, but we're still waiting for our first good freeze...so it's easy to see where the garden is lacking. What's worse is I can't go out and do anything about it!
I've been going through seeds and catalogs and thinking of making an order. That's what lead me to wondering how all of you space and even plan your plantings. I've never been able to plan a cottage garden on paper. Maybe the large perennials, but that's it. How about all of you? Do you plan it first, or just let it flow once you're in the garden?
Great subject , Heather. What seems to work for me the most is a combination of perennials plants closer the recommended, annuals in larger bare spots and ground covers to fill in between. I find my most important tool is a small shovel, one with the business end little enough that I can easily use it. I don't mind moving a crowded plant when needed.
The closest I ever come to planning my garden is deciding in my head the mood and colors I want in a bed. Soft and romantic for my backyard, calm and relaxing. Bold and bright for the front, visible from a passing car. My dd has asked me to do a couple low maintenance beds for her new home. I might have an idea of some plants I want but I never know exactly where it will go until I dig a hole, and even then I'm quite likely to move it. Sometimes you might have two flowers blooming next to each other that just doesn't work. I consider this an opportunity to add cut flowers to my house. Mao
I'm sooooo glad I started this thread! If I could tell you how many frustrating hours I've spent trying to plan my garden beds...because that's what everyone & the experts say to do. Now I feel a bit vindicated in just picturing a flurry of color, texture and height in my head and then starting to dig.....then if it doesn't work out moving things around 2 months later. I'm starting to think that's how a real cottage garden comes together...from what all of you are saying. Maybe I've been on the right track afterall! =^)
I was thinking about putting in some groundcovers. Maybe some groundcovers that would put off a nice scent when walked upon...thyme, etc. Then eventually they can be my paths instead of grass or mulch...I'm just talking in the beds themselves.
I guess it also makes sense that when you're just getting your beds established, like I am, you'll have to use more annuals. I think this year I'll be looking for things that reseed on their own though, hopefully that'll save me some work next year!
Tthe only planning I do..if you can call it that is to group my plants to shade loving, sun , partial, etc. Then with plants in hand , I eyeball what seems to be pleasing and plop'em in! If I have to transplant, divide, etc..then I do the same routine, eyeball it first then plant. I've tried planning, but 4' of a plant on paper may actually grow to 2' in my garden spot then I'll have gap.. which allowed me to visit and buy more from the nurseries and garden centers,hee,hee! The garden is always evolving, revolving and you're right , it's never finished!
One thing that really bugs me is when people over-plant, when they *know* the plants are going to be bigger (particularly shrubs) and when they get so big that they begin crowd each other. Then the owner goes in and chops a pefectly nicely shaped plant into boxes or weird poodle shapes... grrrrr..... I saw it a ton in the Southwest, but still some here.
On the other hand, it takes a loooonnng time for things to fill in. So I've been thinking, if instead of putting things in a bed in a straight line (that's an exaggeration of course, never seen a cottage garden do much in a line, lol) but take things and stagger them in such a way that from in front it would look more filled in but still give plants room to grow up and out...
Kinda like this (birdseye)
Well, here's my two cents. When I plant perenials, I try to leave enough room for mature growth. I don't plant in rows and do stagger the plants when planting more than 2. Generally, with perenialls I don't plant more than three and I usually plant them in a triangle.
When I plant annuals, I overplant because I like the fuller look. Also, because you can't depend on the weather in Minnesota. Two years ago it took until August for the plants to take off it was so cold.
If you watch your garden, then you can move plants when it appears they are being overtaken by a more vigorous plant. Don't be afraid to dig something up. You can also fill in bare spots with pots of plants.
Sadly, I no longer have a sunny area for a true cottage garden, but when I did, I staggered (as opposed to straight lines, as above) and used alot of Zinnias and Cosmos, which seemed to do the trick pretty well. In my next life, I'll figure out how to never have a seasonal gap of anykind in my garden! LOL!
Deb
PS/I hope everyone's going to post lots of photos of your gardens this summer so I can have some vicarious fun! :)
Thanks soooo much everyone for posting. All the input and sharing has really given me more confidence and made me feel like less of a failure. Keep the ideas and comments coming if y'all have any!
Sometimes it's just so easy to get frustrated and lost on the big picture...especially when you look at all the gorgeous pics in these threads then walk outside my house to ppfffftt. This icky time of year doesn't help, like I said before.
However, after reading everything in this thread, when I took the puppers out today I could picture things in bloom. I was also starting to make a mental list of the seeds I'd like to order along with trades. Picturing groups of 3 here, and over there! LOL! I guess I just better start lots and lots of annuals this year.
I haven't been at my place for a year yet, and all I've planted is perennials so far, except for veggies. While I want that full look, I'm forcing myself to be patient. I want the Ps started before I toss in the filler As. Not saying this is the way it SHOULD be done, but I think it will take less work in the long run. I'm giving the place at least another year before it even starts to look like a true cottage garden. I think putting in pots of annuals will help me through this planting season and get a little closer to "the look" at least until I figure out what really will grow here and what won't.
I guess that everyone has their own way of planting a cottage garden, or at least that's how it sounds. From what y'all have posted here I'm coming up with my own plan...or should I say a better plan??
I like the idea of giving the Ps enough room for their mature size so I don't have to do any more digging and replanting than I have to (back problems). I'm thinking I'll use pots to fill in around new Ps, that way they won't get crowded out like someone mentioned above (I think it was Zinnias that took over). Pots can always be moved if needed. Then I'll use As as fillers around the more mature Ps and in bare places...and also groundcovers in really bare spots and on my paths. Also remembering no straight lines, no single plantings but groupings instead.
You know, this all almost sounds simple now!
joy, on the same page with the back problems. Gardening makes it worse, but it's worth it IMO. But that's why I try and think ahead and minimize the heavy work. I don't want to transplant unless I have NO CHOICE.
Yeah, sounds simple... looks good on paper... just keep those notes about using milk for black spot somewhere close!
ABSOLUTELY! Mustn't forget to give the roses their breakfaxt -- coffee included! I did put the banana peel and egg in some roses I stuck in pots until spring and they're doing great!
I've heard of the coffee, but never the milk, egg or banana! Last year I mixed up some alfalfa tea for the roses and they went crazy. Bloomed like I've never seen them bloom! Maybe this year I'll try a banana omelet. Yuck.
Heather~ the banana peel with a whole raw egg are planted together near the roots of roses to prevent blackspot and is repeated yearly in late Feb. or very early Spring( in a hole near the roots ). The sulfur gas and potassium decreases blackspot from forming and helps to fertilize the rose. Some use a milk potion every 2 weeks to spray the roses to also prevent blackspot.
great to know bananas and eggs for roses :) is there a link on this somewhere here??
Heather, my favorite deception of all time is the garden magazines that go into a full garden and disect it to bits and parts telling you exactly how to achieve the exact same look when the "look" was almost a happy accident for the owner... pleasssse!!!!! It's like me picking out a hairdoo in a magazine and saying I want my hair to look exactly like that... yea, if I had a crew to do it for me every day....
Point being... get plants that cross your path and play with them until you can live with it and then it will be time to divide them!! It never ends! :)
Heres some of mine Last summer. :)
Susan
Amen
Soul~ if you google "banana peel for roses", you'll find many articles that reinforce that potassium from the decaying banana peels serves as an organic rose fertilizer. Googling the raw egg did not yield any info, but I will ask my neighbor for the references. The principle as explained to me is that a raw egg when it decays will explode and release sulfur gas to prevent blackspot from developing on the rose. I used this method with my new Peace rose ( prone to blackspot) and did not have any blackspot problems this past summer nor fall. Sulfur is an active ingredient in chemical preps for blackspot. Having pumpkins, I try to use as many organic solutions as possible. ;0)
Thanks for the Amen and the info!! :)
Susan
Oh, I think I'd rather dust with sulphur than have rotten eggs exploding in the garden!
Susan, I love the look of that bed along your pretty white fence... :-)
Some of my new beds just end up looking rather bare at first... I do fill in with annuals, but more after the first year in order to give the perennials a chance to get a little height to them... I know what you mean about vigorous annuals providing too much shade (and too much competition) for new perennial plants! There are some lower-growing annuals such as alyssum, or even white clover, that might be helpful as "fillers."
So you bury the egg, like a bulb???
Susan, Hello, long time no bumping into! I'd like to add an amen to your statement. Paint by numbers gardening--Bah!
Kinda like claymores for ambitious squirrels to find. I like that!
Thanks Critter.. i didn't really have much blooming there either :) I'm thinking of expanding the bed on each side of the driveway to give it a more curved look.. and expanding the main bed from 5 to seven feet..and edging with a brick design..
Oh Duh, garden6... I saw myself cracking the egg open and mixing it in the soil.. This is much easier.
Hey Dave!! :) Good to see you again :) Yes, exactly, and when you paint by numbers in a garden you spend the big bucks to get exactly such and such plant and sometimes, some plants just don't get along well no matter what. :)
Susan
I don't think it would work even if everyone was in the same zone with the same soil.
PS Just saw my buddy from Marietta. He was up here for the Holidays.
Exactly!!
Thank goodness for good friends :)
Susan
Susan, that pic is gorgeous!! Very nice!
Yes, it's the paint by number planning that I was talking about earlier. That's the kind of plan that I could never follow or come up with on my own. I'm glad to hear everyone saying they don't paint or plant by number either. I can see doing that in a formal bed or garden, that would need lots of planning. I'm starting to think that half the fun of a cottage garden should be experimenting with different plantings together to see how they work!
Exploding eggs, huh? Banana peels? LOL This is really starting to sound like something out of The Three Stooges Grow Roses.
Oh. A wise guy, eh?
Nyuck, nyuck!
I would pay to watch that skit, definitely.
On the other hand, if you've ever flipped through the Spring Hill catalogs, they have "paint by number" garden plans that come out looking nicely informal and cottagey, I think. I've never ordered a collection or planted according to one of their plans, but I have used the plans when trying to come up with combos that might work well....
I think there is an educational value to the paint-by-numbers approach. I mean, I never have and most likely never will, but it really is hard to visualize how things will turn out when you have a pouch full of seeds. It could get a novice comfortable, you know? Like an art student copying a master's works to get the feel of things before the style develops.
I got one of those computer programs that SUPPOSEDLY lets you see your plan in 3-D. I put in all the things I'm planning to do with my bare back yard but never could get it to work. Seeing it from a bird's eye view is useless. So I sketch instead and that helps.