Garden guide

10 Tips To Help Sprout Ideas For The Upcoming Growing Season

By NANCY NYGARD

With spring just around the corner, February is a fabulous time to spruce up your yard. Don’t be afraid to make changes — maybe just a tweak, or perhaps, installing an entirely new design feature. It could catch the eye of the Home Front judges for the Coronado Flower Show, scheduled April 1516.

Here are 10 ideas to add a fresh spark to your garden.

1. GET OUT OF LINE. Straight lines belong on ruled note pads, not in your garden. Many gardeners plant in straight lines mimicking soldiers in formation, especially when adding seasonal annuals to their landscape. Strive for a more naturalistic look. Plant annuals in several small drifts or masses; repetition is an important principle of landscape design.

« When adding spring flowers, arrange the plants in clusters instead of straight lines. DAVID PRAHL | DREAMSTIME

2. STEAL FROM YOUR NEIGHBORS (inspiration, not items). During neighborhood walks, keep your eyes open for plants thriving in nearby gardens. Chances are they’ll do well in your yard, too. Be mindful of sun exposure, though. That enticing fuchsia growing in your neighbor’s shady side yard will not do well in your sunny, south-facing perennial bed. Not sure of the name of your neighbor’s plant you’re coveting? Take a gander at tip No. 3.

3. MEET YOUR (PLANT) NEIGHBORS. If you never learned the names of the plant life that surrounds you, download a plant identification app on your phone. There are many plant ID apps available. PictureThis, PlantNet and iNaturalist are three of the most popular. These apps are a terrific way to photograph, identify and document your plant wish list. They are also more than just a little addictive.

4. FLIP YOUR FRONT YARD. Many front yard landscapes are laid out from the perspective of the sidewalk with ornamental shrubs and flowers hugging a house’s foundation. This gives passersby a visual treat, but residents get a view of nothing except an expanse of grass from inside the house. If this is the case with your front yard, consider adding a swath of perennials and shrubs close to the sidewalk to brighten the view from the interior of your home.

5. SAY ADIOS TO YOUR LAWN. If the most action your lawn sees is the weekly visit from your gardener, it’s time to remove that patch of grass, which consumes time, money, fertilizer and water. But don’t fall prey to artificial turf. It increases the heat level, ruins the soil’s ecosystem, and — despite what the turf salesperson says — looks like plastic carpet. (Would you add plastic trees and flowers to your yard? Probably not.)

Consider a combination of low-water herbaceous plants, mulch and permeable ground cover such as decomposed granite to create a low-maintenance space that benefits the natural ecosystem. For best results, consult with a landscape architect.

6. VEGGIES IN THE FRONT YARD? Why not? Now that you’re removing turf from your front yard, how about adding veggies? Fritz Haeg, author of “Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn,” advocates removing conventional front landscaping and planting edibles. Haeg calls his approach “full-frontal gardening.” Besides being a smart use of space, it’s a great way to meet your neighbors while tending your crops. Consider using a galvanized metal stock tank, or a cattle trough, as a raised garden bed. These troughs add visual interest, are relatively inexpensive, come in a variety of sizes and won’t rot in a few years like wooden containers. I use two metal tanks for veggie gardening and love them.

7. LEARN ALL ABOUT THE BIRDS AND THE BEES (and the butterflies). Choose plants with pollinators in mind. Bees, butterflies, moths and hummingbirds are instrumental in providing pollination services while contributing to the richness of local biodiversity. When shopping for flowering plants, remember the adage, “Hummingbirds like ice cream cones; butterflies like pizza.” Tubular-shaped flowers (trumpet vine, salvias) will attract hummingbirds; flat flowers (yarrow, sunflowers) attract butterflies. For details on attracting pollinators to your garden, check out the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources website anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8498.pdf.

A vegetable garden in the front yard is a practical use of space and can be decorative.

8. DON’T BUY A DOBERMAN WHEN THERE’S ONLY ROOM FOR A DACHSHUND. Do your research and read the labels on plant containers. If you only have a space for a 2-foot-by-3foot plant, choose a variety that remains small. Otherwise, you’ll be hacking, and eventually hating, that plant on a regular basis. Sounds elementary, but so many gardeners are swayed by nursery impulse buys — I’m guilty! — then after a year, realize their Doberman of a plant is taking over their petite plot.

9. SHOP AT LOCAL NURSERIES. Though big-box stores can sometimes save you money, the advice you can get from trained nursery employees is invaluable. Local nurseries are also excellent resources for native plants, special orders and free horticulture seminars.

10. ASK FOR HELP. When in doubt, call the San Diego Master Gardener hotline (858) 822-6910 or email help@ mastergardenersd.org. ■