Spring has arrived in Central Florida! Is your lawn ready? Two springs ago, our blog post " Spring Flowers You Want in Your Central Florida Garden " helped you determine which flowers were right for spring. This year, Daniel's Lawn Service & Pressure Washing is helping you get your lawn prepped and ready before you start planting. Keep reading to learn the latest expert tips about growing a garden in your Florida lawn, the best spring flowers for your garden, and how to plan out your landscaping projects.
Growing a Garden in Your Lawn
To start a garden, you can just start planting over your existing grass, right? Actually, the best thing to do when planting a new flower garden is to first remove your grass. This is because you will need to check and prep your soil right in order to see your flowers thrive. Ideally, you will begin preparing your garden's soil in the fall before spring, but prepping it as soon as possible is better than not prepping at all.
Prep your soil with the following garden care steps:
First, make sure the space you've chosen for your garden bed is level, has enough soil drainage, and gets plenty of sunlight. The next important step is to test your soil to determine its pH level and nutrient contents, which can be tested with a do-it-yourself kit from your local home and garden store.
After these steps, you can start preparing the actual space for your flower garden. To help set your boundaries, place wooden stakes or other markers into the existing grass at your desired corners. Then, you may tie and connect a piece of string to each of the markers to make your outline. Use a spade to remove the grass currently in your garden bed space by cutting it into sections with your spade as you go.
When it comes to getting your soil ready after removing the grass, be sure to till it well with a tiller about eight to 12 inches deep to fully break up your soil and help you remove any unwanted elements, such as debris, weeds, rocks or roots. Go through a final time with a rake to make sure all debris is gone. Any removed grass or plant-based debris can be composted. After this, you can treat your soil for its needs, based on your previous testing, by tilling in the nutrients.
Give your soil a week or two for the nutrients to get to work before planting. When you go to plant your flowers, make sure to rake through the soil once more as a final soil preparation step. Prepare the outline of your garden with features such as bricks, landscape timbers, landscape edging or field stone to ensure it stays well-protected.
Finally, it's time to plant your flowers! Do so according to each plant's instructions. Then, give your plants a necessary boost by adding about three to four inches of organic mulch, being sure to give your plants a few inches around their base for future growth.
The Best Spring Flowers for Your Garden
With Florida's subtropical climate, we can enjoy gorgeous flowers and foliage year-round, but it's still important to plant according to the seasons. Even Florida has plants that do better in the spring!
Here's a brief recap of the top flowers and plants we recommend for spring in Florida :
For a full list of Florida plants, their needs, and how to properly care for them in every season, see the Florida-Friendly Plant Database ! To search for flowers, select your region (Central Florida) and select flowers. Then, you can specify your search further according to native plants, flower type, light range, soil moisture, soil texture and salt tolerance.
Planning Your Garden Landscaping
Of course, before you start removing your grass and tilling away at your soil, it's important to have a plan in mind. You'll find the most satisfactory results of your spring garden if you plan your landscaping ahead of time - not just the week before you set out to tackle the project, but months or even seasons in advance. As previously mentioned, prepping your garden bed in the fall is the best way to see your spring flowers in full bloom.
So, what can you do to create a plan make sure all goes according to that plan? Follow these tips on planning a landscaping project :
- Think about your landscaping space's purpose. If it's for a garden, where do you think it will get the most appreciation? Will you use it to line your walkways or porch? Or will your flowers be an accent to a more detailed landscaping design?
- Seek out inspiration! You may want to drive around and see what landscaping choices your neighbors are making. For on-the-go inspiration, the internet has no shortage of landscaping ideas for you to search through. Why not even stop by your local home and garden store for some expert recommendations?
- Set a timeframe. By planning out a timeline and breaking down your landscaping makeover into smaller projects, everything will be much easier to tackle. Now, you can plan your finances and your time accordingly.
- Decide how the work will get done. What is the size and scope of your garden or other landscaping project? Do you have the right tools and experience to make it a DIY project? Hiring a landscaping company will likely be the best choice to make if your project involves any slopes in your lawn, drainage issues or any other technical problems.
Central Florida Landscaping Experts
If you want your garden to fully bloom this spring, make sure everything is done right with the help of Daniel's Lawn Service & Pressure Washing . We're more than just a lawn care company - we are a team of trained, licensed professional lawn care and landscaping professionals based locally in Central Florida. For both commercial and residential lawn care services, expert garden and landscape design, tree services and pressure washing, we have you covered! today to schedule your next appointment.
