Sun Or Shade? Gardening Tips For The Summer

BOSTON (CBS) -- Having a backyard garden can be a very rewarding but challenging task. If you are thinking about installing a new garden there are some very important things to consider. Mark Saidnawey from Pemberton Garden Services has some great tips from beginning to end.

The first thing is to scope out where you want a garden.

"Well, the first thing we want to do is assess how much sunlight you have in your garden. Picking the right plants depends on how much sunlight you have. As you can see this spot has beautiful sunlight and this spot has endless choices of wonderful flowering plants that you can put in," Saidnawey told WBZ-TV.

Then it's time to prepare the area before you just dig in and start planting.

"That's the hard part. Digging up, and turning the soil. and we've already turned this bed over and now we're laying down some compost," says Saidnawey.

There are many different compost options out on there. Cow manure and lobster compost are just two examples. Pemberton Garden Services likes to use a lobster compost from the coast of Maine and they work it into the soil.

If you have a well-established yard, you may have lots of plants you can divide and just transplant.

"You can transplant most flowers it just depends on the time of the season for them. You usually don't want to dig a plant up when it's blooming. It'll shock the plant. When plants get very large you can divide them and move them around your garden," says Saidnawey.

Just 24 hours later, Mark's team has turned a bare plot into a beautiful garden.

"This garden here has some plants in the sun and plants in the shade. And the ones you're watering are in full sun. So we selected full sun. Drought-tolerant, sun-loving plants," says Saidnawey. And watering the garden as the plants get established is, "the most important part of a new planting."

There are hens and chicks and sedums which are really drought-tolerant plants along with a rock garden formation. The Japanese Maple planted in the corner surrounded by some ornamental grasses really draws you in.

As for the shady spots, they picked an area shaded by hemlocks and planted ferns and grasses.

Maintaining the garden is important throughout the season.

"We made sure we added enrichment to the soil. We're watering. And then we're using a really nice bark mulch. This is a leaf mulch which is organic. and it's not the typical heavy wood bark mulch that you see at the market. This will actually break down and enrich the flower beds," says Saidnawey.