Preparing Your Dream Garden

Are you craving that dirty fingernail feeling with dreams of perennials swimming though your head? It's time to start making plans for what you want in those old flower beds. Instead of having mish-mash have your dream garden. Let your garden introduce your home.

So, where to start. Go through growers magazines and design your garden. Write down your dream plants that you want to use. Find out their sun, shade, soil and zone types they like to be in. You better know the water requirements too. Sit down with a piece of paper and draw out the area you want to put the plants in. You need to know heights. Determine if you want paths, sprinkler systems, brick-a-brack, and lights. Concentrate on dreams for your plants.

To prepare your area for your dream:

1 .Clear the area of all undesirable plants or debris.

2. Do a soil analysis. Kits can be purchased from growers and greenhouses or take a sample to your local co-op. pH is an important factor as well as NPKs.

3. Find out what your favorite dream plant's home would be.

4. Begin adding your soil amendments appropriately. With the information from your tests you should be able to come up with the perfect yum yums to make your plant grow wonderfully.

Now, you are ready to make your dreams come true. Do some serious considerations of where to get your plants. Remember, dime-store plants will give you dime-store qualities. Also, be aware that plants from mass marketing stores could be mis-marked. Their employees, although they may mean well, are not always plant savvy.

Consider a grower who shares your dream.

Cheryl Koonce has taught science and math to grades 5 - 12 for the last 18 years. She has looked for exciting ways to teach her students. One of her favorites lines comes from "The Magic School Bus." "Go ahead take chances, get dirty." She frequently makes this comment to her students during class. In response her students are not afraid to learn and accept the challenge willingly. They enjoy the investigations they embark on and look to find answers to new problems.

To view some of her lesson plans go to http://www.greenhouseland.com She will be demonstrating greenhouse lessons in her workshop which is to launch during the summer of 2009.