Create a stunning flower bed in 6 easy steps

Few things provide more pleasure than the beauty of a flower bed or the flavour of homegrown, sun-ripened vegetables. Learn how to make the most lovely flower bed possible in 6 simple steps.

• Enriching your soil with compost is beneficial whether your soil is sandy and drains too quickly, is clayey and drains poorly, or drains well.
• To prepare a flower bed, dig 45 centimetres (18 inches) deep and add 5 to 10 centimetres (two to four inches) of compost along with planting soil.

At first, plant only those flowers whose growth and bloom habits you know well. Then add some excitement by trying something new each year. When in doubt, plant annuals and add a few perennials each season.

Don't plant more than you can weed, water, and care for in an hour or two each week. Even the best-designed flower beds look poor when neglected.

• Select and arrange your plants according to their flowering periods so that you'll have blooms all season long.
• Keep a chronological list that tracks when the flowers in your area bloom.
• Plants need loving care, so follow the labels exactly and give them the right amount of light, soil, and water.

Protect roots, suppress weeds, and retain moisture by covering the flower bed with 5 to 7.5 centimetres (two to three inches) of an attractive mulch, such as wood chips.

Cut or pinch spent flowers every day. This keeps your flower garden looking neat and encourages more flower production.

Flowers are a beautiful and inexpensive way to turn problem areas into delightful points of interest.

• Use shade-loving flowers - such as impatiens or begonias - wherever sun-hungry grass refuses to grow.
• You can use a fast-growing flowering vine to disguise landscape eyesores, such as a garbage area or an unsightly garage.
• Popular flowering vines include clematis, with its gorgeous red, pink, or purple flowers, and the fast-growing trumpet-creeper (Campsis), with large fluted flowers that attract hummingbirds.
• Create supports on smooth surfaces with fishing line or wire attached to nails or screws.

A breathtaking flower bed will enrich both your garden and your home. And because they're so simple to start and maintain, there's really no reason not to add some fragrance and colour into your life.