Ten Things to a Better Garden: Part One

So many neighbors, friends and blog followers ask me what are the key things that  you have done to make your  garden so healthy and abundant.....

that's a  good question?!

So I thought about the top 10 things 

that I have done lately and actually over the last 15 years, 

that have made me a better gardener 

and why using those things have made 

  this  garden easier to manage

 and

   more beautiful

here they are:

1.  Keep a master plant list

Throughout the process of this extensive landscape design

 I have kept lists of what we ordered, 

 how big the plants were & when we planted them,

ie. 1 gallon, 5 gallon, 24 inch box etc.

The list is organized by

 genius and species and also common name

I keep this list with my drawings of the landscape design in a binder 

and add little notes 

and ideas now and then.  

I continue to add things like bulb orders, 

notes on veggie seed packets that have worked well and when I planted certain specialty items that I wanted to bloom at a certain time during the year

 It sounds sort of silly, but I actually refer to my design binder

many times throughout the year 

It keeps me reminded as to what is actually working...

And how big certain plants have gotten 

and what I may want to change next year

I also read and re- read the Western Garden Handbook 

as well as many other great  books and publications from Master Gardeners, Fine Gardening and Garden Design

2.Use a Color Wheel

Just with interiors, color, texture and variety are key to a beautiful garden

If you're stumped about which colors work well together look at a color wheel. 

The color wheel shows you the most basic Primary, Tertiary and Secondary colors

Colors to the left or right of one another tend to work well together as do colors directly opposite of one another.

 And don't forget about playing up the beauty of  spectacular foliage like bronze tones and lime green, as well as variegated leaves.

My garden in Ojai has a distinct color pallet and I planned it that way

I never stray from it...ever

3.  De -Clutter

I love the messy  English style beds 

but I love an orderly mess

Let your plants do their thing and then clean up...

kind of like dealing with kids after they get going with boxes of play things

What we have found is that if we don't really stay on top of what needs to be done it gets away from us....really quickly

Today we cleaned out three large beds

  

We typically do a first of summer trim and clean out, 

after the big spring bloom starts to fade,

and then another big prune in the fall

We usually take  at least 2 full pick up loads full of garden debris and clippings 

to the organic re-cycle center each month

in exchange we get a discount on great compost!

We also have a triple bin composter which yields 

about 6 cubic feet of compost every month

TIP:  Get some good flexible buckets like these here...these are invaluable

Next to my felco prunners these tubs are my best buds

5. Outside of the neighborhood thinking

Go on as many garden tours, beautiful home drive-by's, 

nursery walks etc. 

as you have the time for 

And don't for get to use your parks, trails, wonderful hotels 

and garden shops 

as your inspiration

Many of these gardens are designed by our best and most famous landscape Architects and we can learn so much from them

Five more to come.... have a wonderful Weekend

kelley

PS

New things in the shop here