Digging into Spring

If you're looking to get out of your winter blues, and break into spring with a new outlook on life, flowers are a perfect way to do just that! You can enjoy them for quite a while. A personal garden is a fun way to dig your hands straight into spring. If you're not interested in spending too much time digging outside in the cold, then a little patio garden is a wonderful alternative that's just as simple to make. So if you're interested, grab your gloves and let's go! I'm going to teach you how to get the most out of spring, by building your very own spring garden.

Building your own spring garden is very easy. The first thing you need to do is to decide on whether or not you want a big one, or a small one! A flower bed is a bit larger than your average planter pot, but it provides a certain sense of 'oneness' with the earth. If you're going to go with just a pot or two on your patio or front step, you need to find yourself the perfect planter! Oddly enough, the Garden Shop doesn't offer a heck of a lot in the way of planters. There is one autumn one, but you're going to find real success by making a trip over to the Lost Desert, and visiting Osiri's pottery stand! Osiri carries a small collection of very beautiful earthenware that you can use to create a unique and beautiful patio garden. My favourites tend to be the larger pots and urns, such as the Ummagine Pot, Slorg Pot, and the Twin Pot Set. Each features large sizes, sturdy bases, and enough heft that when filled with soil and water, it won't knock over in a wind storm.

Once you've found yourself a pot or a patch of ground to create your spring garden, there are a few basic tools you're going to need to be successful at gardening. Let's look, shall we?

Dirt Shovel: You need some sort of small hand shovel that you can dig up earth with. If you're working a larger garden, a full sized shovel might be of benefit, but all you really need is something to create holes for plants! My favourite is the Dirt Shovel, a small hand shovel perfect for digging in the sand, or more importantly, your new garden!

Garden Gloves: While you could just go around digging your fingers into dirt all willy nilly, a good set of gardening gloves will protect you from any unwanted nips and nibbles by creepy crawlies in the ground! You'll want to get a pair that's fairly thick, and if possible, a set that has some friction on the grabbing side. I always keep an extra pair or two around during gardening season. If you pick them up cheap, a sturdy pair of gardening gloves can be just as important as dirt!

Basket: While it might not seem like the most important piece of the gardening puzzle, having a large basket to carry all of your materials in can really save time! Find one that is big enough to fit all your materials in, but small enough that you can still carry it.

Water: Water is a very important part of a growing garden. If you don't have water and sunlight, well, you don't have water and sunlight! (And you also don't have growing plants!) Finding a method to carry the water is often the hardest thing. Neopia lacks a large variety of watering cans, so if nothing you see on the market seems suitable, find yourself a plain old juice jug and fill 'er up! Your water carrier doesn't need to be anything fancy; it just needs to do its job.

Dirt: How silly, I nearly forgot the most important part of gardening - dirt! Good healthy soil is key in making the most beautiful spring garden you can. This is the home of your flowers, so you better be picky! I always have a big Pile of Dirt nearby whatever garden area I have. Make sure that yours is easy to access, and that you won't be dragging pots too far from their final resting spot to be filled. If you're able, grab a chair and set yourself and your materials right next to the dirt! It will make gathering it just that much easier. Of course, if you're planting in-ground, you probably won't need a pile of dirt, as... well, most of Neopia's non-water locations have dirt. Heck, even Maraqua has sand!

So there you have it, all the things you need to know to create your spring garden! Bye! Enjoy! So long - Wait a minute!! I've forgotten the most important part of a spring garden; the flowers! We all know that flowers create a beautiful garden, but what flowers can you have bloom during such a cold season? Spring may be the beginning of Neopia warming up, but we're still not out of the frost and chill yet, so what CAN we plant? Well, spring flowers are very hearty plants that enjoy the cold weather, and thrive in it. They don't mind a bit of chill nipping at their petals, and often times tend to wither and fade when it gets too warm. Spring flowers are definitely the bright spot of the colder seasons, so here is a list on what flowers are perfect for your new garden!

Tulips

Tulips are beautiful flowers that are reminiscent of little cups. Their long petals fold upward and when they bloom, are filled with vibrant colours that you can't ignore! Tulips come in a variety of colours, but my absolute favourite are the Colour Changing Tulips. These pretty flowers have been bred very carefully so that they change colours constantly, never the same colour two days in a row. If you pile a bunch of these together, you'll never get bored!

Daffodils

Plain yellow Daffodils are a classic spring flower that seems to resonate in the heart of every gardener. One of the most uniquely shaped flowers, Daffodils, like Tulips, are bulb plants and are usually started out by being planted way before the winter even begins. If you want bulb plants without the seeding work, just find yourself some freshly grown flowers at the garden shop! Daffodils also come in white, and a few other silly colours like Electric.

Crocus

The Crocus is a unique and beautiful flower that is usually found in small bunches very close to the ground. Like other bulb plants, Crocus prefer the cooler spring weather and tend to open far too much when the heat hits them. Crocuses are beautiful plants both for their flowers and for their unique leaf design. If you're looking for foliage that will be beautiful when bloomed and not, the Crocus is the perfect choice for you!

Bleeding Heart

It's a little known fact that such a sophisticated flower is a spring favourite! This droopy and often melodramatic plant has been known to strike inspiration in thespians across Neopia. It can add that perfect splash of red, and is a beautiful flower to dry for cards, or attached on wrapping paper.

Columbine

The Columbine is a pretty star shaped flower that prefers half shaded spots to ones with full on sun. They come in purple and rich blue, and feature a unique white centre! The Columbine has always reminded me of spring because the central, lighter part of the flower looks just like fruit blossoms from an orchard, which to me, symbolizes the delicious fruit that we can soon partake in! If you're going to plant these, be very careful where your garden is going to be. Try not to put any of your spring flowers in direct sunlight. Morning light, with afternoon shade is always best!

Once you've chosen your flowers, and the colours that you want to work with, think about adding a few stuffer plants as well! Cyclamen and Bluebells are both beautiful, bushy plants that grow low to the ground, which would fill in any unnecessary space. A perfect garden is a full garden, and garden that you love!

Once you have everything you need to build your spring garden, all you have to do is put it together! Relax, choose a nice day to be sitting outside, and find a private moment to put everything together. A little soil, a few flowers, definitely water, and a lot of love will create the perfect spring garden! Happy spring!