Dans Papers - May 18, 2007

Gardening season is here and what better excuse to get dirty than for the sake of beloved little sprouts? If you enjoy watching your mom's flowers and vegetables sprout before your eyes, then the time has come for you to create your own garden filled with your favorite flowers, colors, scents, creatures and vegetables.

There are many choices when deciding which type of garden to grow - a few basic rules apply. A sunny area is essential when choosing where to place the garden. Take a stroll around the backyard and choose a location that has sufficient sunlight and is in a convenient location for water delivery. Also, make sure the location is not in the way of other gardens, but also visible enough to be seen by all.

After you choose a location, consider making a sun chart. Sun charts are a fun way to measure the amount of sun exposure in your garden. Sit down with a piece of paper and either draw pictures or symbols to represent the layout of your house, fence, garage, walkways, trees and other objects that do not change location. Then, add a special symbol marking the location of your garden. Now, it is time to start charting the sun. When you wake up in the morning, see where the sun is hitting and mark it on the sun chart with a crayon color of your choice. Do this again around lunch and dinnertime, using a different color crayon each time. When finished, if the location you chose for the garden has several colored lines, it receives enough sun and you are ready to start planting.

The next step is to decide what type of garden to plant. Do you want a garden that is pretty, edible, attracts butterflies or is fun to touch and feel? Edible gardens will provide the quickest gratification because most vegetables have a short harvesting period - and you can eat your work! What is better than that? Radishes are fun to plant and usually ready to eat in about a month. When planting radishes, plant some seeds about half of an inch deep and the rest a little deeper. The seeds on top will germinate quickly and the deeper seeds will grow later, but larger. Scallions are the fastest crop of all and are ready for harvesting within a few days. Consider giving your edible garden a theme like a "pizza garden" by planting pizza toppings and ingredients such as bush tomatoes, oregano, basil and cucumber vines.

If you want to plant a garden for viewing pleasure, plant your favorite flowers or classic beauties such as violets, daisies, pansies and ornamental grasses. Butterflies are also attracted to gorgeous gardens. To attract butterflies to your garden, plant flowers with a strong scent. Butterflies love flowers that are sweetly scented and have bright colors such as purple, blue, orange, yellow, white, pink and red. After the flowers bloom you can pick them for a bouquet or press the blooms for use in a future craft project.

All plants need water to live, grow and stand tall. Most gardens need about one inch of rain every week. To find out how much rain your garden gets a week make a rain gauge. Find a can or small container and set it outside in the middle of the garden. After each rain, use a ruler to measure how deep the water is. If the water adds up to an inch or more in the course of one week, your garden is getting enough water, but if it comes up short, water your garden to make up the difference. It is best to water the plants earlier in the day so the plants have time to dry before it gets dark. This helps to protect the plants from disease.

Spring is here, so why are you still sitting around? Get up and start planning your garden. Before you know it you will have a version of mom's garden to call your own. No matter what type of garden you choose, remember the most important thing is to take care of it and have fun while doing so.