Do you want a beautiful garden right away, without waiting for the plants to flower, the grass to grow, the shrubs to grow? It's possible! Follow the 6 tips from Philippe Ferret, our garden expert.
1- Use rolled turf
It is the ideal solution for greening a new garden with well-prepared soil. Order it in advance and prepare the soil while waiting, amended with a little potting soil or compost and organic fertilizer, this incorporated in the 10 cm surface. Level and tamp. Water the day before laying. Upon receipt, do not wait and unroll and lay as for a carpet. Install the lays in staggered rows then tamp down to make the roots adhere well. Water copiously until you see the regrowth of the green carpet and do not mow too close the first time. Then, maintain like an ordinary lawn: mowing, watering and adding fertilizer .
2- Bet on seasonal plants
They have no equal when it comes to composing beds intended to mark each season: annuals for summer and autumn, biennials for spring. Semi-hardy plants also offer an effective alternative for the summer with lantanas, daturas (brugmansias), oleanders, dipladenias... Combine them with fast-growing "bulbs" such as dwarf dahlias, acidenthera, gladioli or begonias to be planted until mid-June.
3- Install plants that have already flowered
Succumb to impulse purchases with the very wide range of plants available in containers, already in bloom, whether perennials or shrubs . Immediate effect guaranteed! But make sure to moisten the root ball well beforehand, to plant without delay and to follow the waterings . Choose plants that have barely flowered for a longer lasting effect. Be careful, sometimes these plants are chosen for their compact, even dwarf habit, and in fact will not grow very much.
4- Opt for fast-growing plants
You will find them especially among vigorous shrubs such as elderberries, privet, eleagnus, escallonias or even abelias... Be careful because, on the other hand, in a space that is too small, you will have to provide adapted and repeated prunings in order to contain their subsequent vigor. Only knowingly succumb to the attraction of hedge plants such as the Leyland cypress requiring two prunings a year in order to maintain it at two meters in height.
Among the climbers, it is the same for the most vigorous like the clematis armandii and montana, Turkestan knotweed or akebia. Install them on supports with proportional dimensions.
5- Erect structures to dress up the garden
Quickly installed, they immediately bring relief and appeal to any flat terrain. Consider simple arches to flower, a pergola or a small gazebo. If necessary, paint these structures a distinct color or white to magnify their presence and plant the surrounding plants in harmony. Partition the garden into "rooms of greenery" thanks to trellises, skylights or fences on which to lean your beds.
6- Bet on the flower meadows
They allow inexpensively to enjoy abundant flowers in the space of only a few weeks. These dosed mixtures of annual flowers are sown directly on previously prepared soil. It is then sufficient to water regularly to ensure good and rapid germination and then to let it grow and flower without too much care. On the other hand, a reflowering the following year in the same location is often random, even disappointing. Then repeat the operation for an equally rewarding effect.
Philippe Ferret