I've got the same issue. My gardens are brand new. So I plan to fill a lot of my dead spaces with wintersown annuals. If you're not afraid of datura, it can get pretty large in a couple of months. Petunias, marigolds, and vinca are others I plan to use where the perennials are still in their foliage stage, which will be most of the garden this year. I only have a few perennials that I bought or started from seed last spring. Hopefully they will bloom, but until I see it, I plan to use a lot of annuals.

thanks token! datura is pretty. I am afraid of nothing. I Have some plants now that are invasive (yarrow, catmint, wormwood, mint) so I am willing to try fast spreading seeds.

thanks for your answer! that helps a lot!

Karen

I think it might take you two years to do that, if we're talking about perennials. Most of my plants from my first year, didn't grow to their full size. I would guess that maybe half of them didn't bloom. By the third year, your garden should be pretty stuffed.

I would imagine that if you want to try and accomplish that this year, you could do it with annuals... I didn't do any of those back then.

I'm also using some reseeders like Cleome, cosmos, and forget me nots. All will bloom this year since they are annuals. Be sure to fertilize with a low nitrogen fertilizer though. Otherwise you won't have many blooms.

Karendee, there's one other thing you might want to think about. Gardens don't have interest just in the summer. Ornamental grasses can be really nice in the winter and fall. Evergreens and shrubs can help too. Plus the bulbs that bloom in spring like daffs and crocus and hyacinths. And summer bulbs like lilies and irises. And fall bulbs like spider lilies. Hellebores in the winter. Deciduous shrubs are also good for winter like redtwig dogwood. A packed garden can be a lot more than just flowers. You might want to peek in at the Cottage Garden forum for some inspiration. :)

thanks both of you! I do have some good shrubs and trees in my gardens (small tress like cherry and crab-apple). I have some areas that need more flowers though... I do love the cottage style as well.

I will have to focus on some annuals that re-seed. I did poppies for that reason. I direct sowed and also WS Poppies.

thanks,
Karen

Oh -- this brings a question to mind. Are there any plants that will choke out kudzu??? I can't get rid of it. I've tried using landscaping fabric around groups of plants, but it just finds a way out and strangles the plants. I just keep pulling and pulling and pulling.... sigh...

Leisa

kudzu is pretty bad Leisa.

The only invasive plant I had to get rid of was crown vetch. Here is what I did.
I dug up the largest clumps. Sprayed with weed killer. Used the weed eater on the rest. Then I added thick landscape plastic. Next I added about 6 inches of mulch. I did this in the early spring before anything was sprouting much. It got really hot under the mulch and plastic. I still had to pull any stray vines that escaped from the plastic on the edges. I still have the plastic in this area and this spring I do not see any signs of the yucky plants. I think this worked for me. with kudzu you might have to use more than one layer of the fabric and leave on for a year or more to kill everything under it.

there is a forum here about weeds that I got my info from. you may want to post there for help.

good luck!
Karen

Here is the front flower bank 2 years ago with Ws'd perennials just starting and Irises I was able to save from death, I used annuals to fill in, although I forgot the get a pic during July2007.
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Here is the same bed in 2008, I didn't even have to weed in there until July, plus I plunked and ran so I will need to divide and move arond I always include annuals such as impatiens or zinnias for additional color
June was a record high temp last year,Irises, Peonies went from bud to dead in a week, so not much color when this pic was taken, but gives you an idea how fast things can fill in. I will be moving things around for the various heights this year now I know how they preform in this bed.
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Thanks BusyLizzy! those are nice pics, I like your bed.
Karen

Thought: If you have space to create a holding bed for your baby perennials that won't bloom this year, perhaps build one and fill the rest of the spaces with OODLES of annuals (totally ignoring spacing on the packet, which will eliminate the need to mulch ANYTHING)

More plants usually = less mulch.

And the annuals can be turned into the soil and composted in place over the winter. Just remove the seed heads before you do it.

I do have a holding bed area... it is also where i plant the few veggies.

I will cram my beds with annuals as well. I can harvest the seeds and let them enrich the soil also.

I plan to visit some stores for seeds. Plus some generous people here have done SASBE's for me! I love it here.
Karen

I have many beds and not much mulch. I DO pack in the plants (both perennials and annuals) to avoid getting a lot of weed germination in between.

Mulch was something I always wanted (cause, yes, it makes the beds look neater) but it never hit the "I'm willing to make a huge investment" list - it would take a LOT of mulch to get all my beds to a decent depth. I wanted it for both the weed retension and the water retension. But then last year we did make the big leap into a sprinkler and drip water sytem. So water is not a problem anymore and the gardens grew very full getting enough water for once, so the fullness blocked out weeds!!

I hear that about alot of mulch! Just that front bank, when I did buy mulch took 7 pickups full.Many years I would get a tri-ax dump truck load of pine mulch.

I used that money for mulch and bought myself a chipper shredder, the power lines were being trimmed 2 years ago and they dropped off a huge load of shredded material. I run that thru the chipper, along with other limbs or trimmings.

I understand chippers/shredders or truckloads of shredded tree limbs are not for everyone, but I have the space.

Last year I bought , yet another toy, a Toro blower/vaccum, eletric. I told people I was busy vaccuming the flower beds, lol. ( they had to come see and try it) I works GREAT, and for 60.00 , well worth the investment. It has a variable speed control so I can blow the leaves off of stones and not blow the stones away and the vaccum chips up all the old mulch and the dead leaves and makes new mulch.

That is the plan for this weekend, and if I take some pics I will post to show you this neato yard toy.

Thaks for the ok on the front bed, a work in progress it is, lol

Lizzy, I used 12 loads of leaf mulch and 8 loads of wood mulch from the landfill to make my beds. I could use another 6 loads of leaf mulch, but I'm tired. I just want to eat some veggies and see some pretty flowers now.

I agree with the mulch, I had so many loads last year and that was not enough! Lots of flower beds were not looking like a great idea then :)

I plan to stuff them with annuals that hopefully I wintersow properly and then maybe spread a little mulch here and there around the new plants at least.

I have posted on frecycle and craigslist for bottles etc, no hits yet but I am hopeful.

next I might just sow in cups or other purchased containers.

Karen

Last summer Proudgm & Tiffy posted a few pics that answers this question. Proudgm was worried she'd planted stuff too close together, but I thought the beds looked so perfect that I saved the thread so I could copycat their methods! I can't find a weed anywhere in there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to thread

tosser, I agree those gardens look nice!

Karen

Although I never used to do it, I must say that there is something to be said for mulching. I now do it in particular gardens so that they become less work as the summer goes on. The mulch I use is one I make with shredded leaves/pine needles and used coffee grounds. If I feel the soil need a pick-me-up, I will add some homemade compost.

I mulch when the plants have been growing for a bit, usually June. Here's a photo of a garden which has just been mulched.

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This is a section of the gardens in August.
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I hate dragging out the hose. Mulching helps so much that last year the hoses stayed against the house all summer. Never could have done it without the mulch.

If I had to buy mulch, the gardens wouldn't get it. Can't afford it. I start in the fall with my own leaves and shred them and place in bags under the veranda. There they wait for me until the spring. I also collect some from the curb - shredded stuff only - and have friends who will call to let me know their leaves are ready for me to get. This spring there are over 50 bags waiting for me under that veranda. :O)

Mulch will save you on water and will feed your soil which will feed your plants.

having said all of that, you can see from the second photo that I still stuff the gardens. Some of them are even more stuffed than that one. :O)

Tiffy, those are some pretty areas. I need more plants so I have less mulch, right now it is a sea of mulch cause my plants and bushes are so small.

I will add some mulch, I do like how it looks but it is so much work and I have joint isues. it hurts me so bad to do all that work :)

Karen

I agree wholeheartedly with tiffy (and by the way your gardens look wonderful). Mulch serves many purposes in the landscape and one should not overlook its use in this day and age when drought and water restrictions are in the news all the time. If you are lucky enough to live in an area where water is not an issue now or where mother nature is currently supplying you with sufficient moisture so that you don't have to irrigate, that is nice. But with changing weather conditions, you might never know when all that could change.

Mulch helps prevent water evaporation and your need to apply it to keep your flowers and plants looking good. It decomposes over time to improve the soil structure to help the soil hold onto the moisture it does get. It is readily available by collecting fallen leaves, community giveaways by those cities that collect fallen leaves and then compost them and either give it away or sell it, and often tree trimming companies will give chipped wood away for free (my local utility company gives it away free when they clear limbs from the power lines).

I for one would not consider a garden complete without a nice layer of some type of mulch to conserve moisture, improve the soil, and keep weeds down. Too me it would be like going out into public wearing loads of jewelery without any clothes on! LOL

I agree mulch is very beneficial. it is just pretty darn expensive where I live. I am hoping to not have to spread so much.

If it was not storming right now I would take pictures for all of you. I have lots and lots of space to fill. My gardens are more mulch right now than plants. so, I have to spread a lot. We did 9 loads full one year (last year I did less and did not cover very thick)

Thanks for all the advice everyone!!
Karen