How to Put a Quilt Pattern in Your Garden

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By kossmore
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Put a Quilt Pattern in Your Garden

Many quilt patterns have flowers and are not just for your bedroom or the inside of your home. You can now plant a quilt. The flowers become the quilting fabric. Many quilt patterns have straight lines, hearts and circles which will work well for your garden quilt. If you do not have a larger space of land for a full size quilt, try something smaller and create a rainbow or even letters.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Flowers
Graph Paper
Mulch
Quilt Pattern
Rake
Rope
Shovel
Stakes

Step 1

Choose a Quilt with simple lines. Some easy patterns to try are:
-- Breezy Days
-- Center Diamond
-- Crazy Quilts
-- Hearts
-- Lemoyne Star
-- Log Cabin
-- Patchwork
-- Pinwheel
-- Shoofly
-- Whirling Star
Step 2

Choose plants that are similar in size and low maintenance. Some suggested plants:
-- Begonias - Bronze Leaf Red Eureka Begonias, Eureka Green Leaf Pink, Green Leaf Pink Eureka and Green Leaf White Eureka
-- Dusty Miller - New Look
-- Lobelia - Regatta Marine Blue
-- Marigolds - Yellow Boy
-- Petunias - Fantasy Red
-- Rudbeckia - Yellow Becky
-- Salvia - Victoria Blue
-- Turf Grass
Step 3

Design the quilt on paper first. Measure the space where the quilt garden will be planted. Quilt gardens should be planted on a hillside with a nearby viewing platform that is 5-6 feet tall.

Use graph paper and mark heavy dark lines for boarders, then mark an "X" for each plant. Add colors to represent the plant colors. When you have finished your draft, take it to your local nursery and talk to a plant person for suggestions. They may have ideas for plants and how to add other colors by using different mulches. There are brown, black and gray mulch colors.
Step 4

Mark off sections using different colors of rope or string, even sticks and garden stakes to transfer the design. If the ground is hard, work the soil the day before and add compost and other soil amendments. Add a watering system if you can or just be sure the hose will reach easily.

Start your planting in the center of the quilt, this way you will not be walking and carrying plants over the planted quilt garden. Place small groups of the plants into each section before planting to remind the people who are planting, which plants to plant.