As far as fertilizer, I don’t use any on the plants. I do fertilize the lawn with Scott’s 4 step program - not that you can tell - it is not a full lush non-weedy lawn. From what I hear It’s a little bit of time before a seeded lawn is full completely, in the meantime it fills in with weeds. So it’s pull the weeds and reseed the bare spots until it’s full.

I pretty much only water if I plant something new in the perennial garden - but I do water the vegetable garden daily if it doesn’t rain- early morning or after 7pm or so - so it’s not full sun. If it gets really hot and dry for a period I’d water everything early or late in the day, but it’s not been like that yet here in Illinois.

I am still learning so much but it seems if you truly plant the plants where they are supposed to go - full sun plants in full sun, blah blah blah and give them the proper space to grow, they will do well. I also love Hostas as place holders in the garden. I had a ton of them lined up in a row when I started gardening and move them around a lot. They are hard to kill and as space holders they help keep the weeds at bay. They can be divided every 2-3 years too!

I love to go to garden centers to look at plants and pick the garden designers/experts brains but your local garden club might have yearly plant sales, with plants priced reasonably and the bonus is that you know the plants they are selling thrive in your area.

I’ll post more pics tonight as more flowers are blooming now!