Planting a Flower Garden From Scratch

If you are considering planting a flower garden from scratch, the first step is to identify a good patch of yard. For me, it was easy! I didn't have to go too far to identify the next area of my yard; it was right out back, outside my office window. I selected this rectangular portion of yard because the grass had issues and was pretty sparse. This past year, the weeds had pretty much invaded that section.

I had already used two large rectangular areas of my yard for Mexican Petunia gardens. Both of those patches of yard were selected as flower gardens because of grass issues. Not having an irrigation system, it was imperative to plant smart.

For quite some time, I had been telling my next door neighbor Janice that I wanted to plant sunflowers in my yard. Last year, I was too late to put in sunflowers. I was also too busy planting Mexican Petunias and Peter Pan Agapanthus. I've had so many flower garden ideas on my mind that I am happy to have a large, cooperative yard with plenty of sunlight!

In February, I set my mind to digging up that area of yard. Check the picture below! Preparing the ground for sunflowers required that I use choppers to remove many thick roots which criss-crossed this area.

Patch of Yard Prepared for Sunflower Garden by JaguarJulie
Photo Taken: February 24, 2013

Our weather forecast still called for some intermittent freezing temperatures, so I wasn't ready to put any seeds in the ground. Since it would be a while before I was willing to add the sunflowers, I opted to add mulch and brick pavers to edge the area.

Adding red mulch and Holland brick pavers to garden by JaguarJulie
Photo Taken: February 27, 2013

The garden area measures approximately 9-1/2 feet by 15-1/2 feet. I used 6 bags of red mulch, along with ten 12-inch red brick patio stones and 52 Holland brick pavers.

So, step one of planting a flower garden from scratch = done! Click that off my bucket list and on to step two: Starting Sunflower Seeds for a Flower Garden.