Hello & welcome teengardener16. Check out garden books from your local library, specifically The Well Tended Perennial Garden by Tracy Disabato-Aust. That'll get you started with plants that can "anchor" your garden bed. Also check out your local garden nurseries since they lean toward selling plants that do well in your region and happy gardeners tend to be repeat customers. Be sure to pay attention to bloom & water information so you have something blooming from early to late season. Water can be supplied to plants either via natural rainfall or from supplemental water. I use terra cotta plant nannies but recycled plastic milk or juice containers do the job with a hole punched an inch from the bottom if set up close to the plants & filled with water.

I've been gardening since age 6 and am within reach of age 70 so it tends to be a habit over the course of a lifetime.

Good luck! Have fun!

I had thought about adding some box woods to do a little bit of topiary... I have seen them in several pics of cottage gardens. Do you think that would be okay???

boxwoods are tough plants and that would be fine but wait til fall when the weather is cooler. Summer time is the worst time to put things in the ground because you risk transplant shock.

regarding your soil ammendments efforts. I applaud your efforts. That's the very first thing you need to work on. I would add compost (to what you presently add). I would try to aerate the beds as well as possible. And before planting, wet them so when its ready to be planted, the environment would be great for your plants.

As for flowering plants - look around your area, your neighbors for example and take photos of plants you like. Post them here so we can help identify these for you. That for me is the easiest way to find out what works best in your area.

Typical cottage garden plant (to name a few)s:

Roses

holyhocks

daisies

lilies

lavenders

echinacea

Wow!!! Thanks SO much :) you are SUPER nice that would really help if you could identify plants for me!! Thanks again :)

BTW I got my composter and compost is in the making!!!!

You are on your way to exploring the wonderful world of botanical interests. Some of the perennials in my southern New England shaded garden beds include (Botanical name/common name): hosta/plantain lily, Hellebore/Lenten rose, Aquilegia/columbine, /Poligonatum odoratum/variegated false Solomon's seal, Tricyrtis hirta/toad lily, Heuchera/coral bells, Cimicifuga racemosa/black snakeroot, Carex/Japanese forest grass, Daphne x burkwoodii. If you're curious, Google Images and see what they look like.

In full sun I grow Buddleia/butterfly bush, Caryopteris/blue mist shrub, Phlox paniculata/tall garden phlox, Hemerocallis/daylily, Hibiscus syriacus/hardy hibiscus, Baptisia australis/false indigo, Leucanthemum superba/Shasta daisy, Echinacea purpurea/coneflower, Euphorbia/polychroma spurge, Pennisetum alopecuroides/fountain grass, peonies, Coreopsis, Gaillardia/blanket flower, Hypericum/St. John's wort, Penstemon/beardtongue, Persicaria virginiana/Virginia knotweed + lots of others. I didn't want you to get cross-eyed seeing so many.

Think of plants as living organisms since they are. If you buy shoes too small, they hurt your feet. Dig too small a planting hole and your plants will not thrive. Don't ask me how I know this to be true--I learned the hard way.

Sorry I haven't posted any pics but life threw me a couple of curve balls but I did look around my yard and the only plant I wanted more of my sis found out what the name was but I have been looking at this post over and over for advice :) (which there is so much of :) well my soil is much better but is still super heavy... And I kept screwing up the compost so I have yet to actually add some to the garden... GRRRR.... I am gone for 2 weeks in August so when I got back the garden beds were COMPLETELY over grown with weeds AND my lavender plants that I bought for the cottage garden are mostly DEAD!!!!!!! WHY ME??? Anyway... As I said my life got a little screwed up... So any advice for killing all the weeds in the garden without damaging the soil??? I will also be leaving for a month on Saturday. What if I buy soil and cover the entire garden... And then mulch it??? Or put a tarp over it???

Also if I add peatmoss to alkaline soil will it balance the PH???

I'm not on here often but I have a few suggestions that I think will work for you. Good for you for wanting to start a cottage garden! Cottage gardens started out as gardens of everyday rural people that were kept close to their homes for accessibility and to keep them safe from livestock and wildlife. Most of what was planted was either useful or it was something that would be easy (often native) to grow and attractive to cheer the homeowner. While improving the soil is a time-honored skill, there were limits to what they could do. Also, they were busy people that had to make a living so none of these were fussy plants.

If you wish to improve your soil, simple is better than expensive and complicated. Collect your leaves this fall. chop them up a bit and put them into your soil or things like coffee grounds that are unlikely to be offensive to your neighbors. Just remember that soil improvement isn't a one time thing and this one will take time. Organic matter will loosen up the soil to improve drainage if that's a problem and make it arable. As far as changing the ph- you are far better off choosing plants that will appreciate or at least tolerate your soil's ph.

Then walk through your neighborhood on a regular basis for about a year. See what's already growing there in conditions like your new garden and doing well and is something you like. If you can, ask the homeowner about it. Ask them where they got it. A lot of plants need to be regularly divided (like daylilies and iris) and the homeowner might be happy to give you a start or two. Some can be easily rooted, even some shrubs, and they might be willing to give you a cutting or a sucker. Others self-seed and they might be willing to share that with you, too. Don't take anything that requires special care or that requires constant spraying and/or fertilizing to succeed. So, free plants! And plants that are likely to be successful and easy care for you, too! They'll be the backbone of your garden.

Until your plants get big enough to out-compete your weeds, you can put down several layers of newspaper topped with whatever you're using as mulch. Keep the newspaper away from the roots of your plants and only use a little mulch around the roots of your plants. You'll need to make sure that your plants' roots can get water and air. You can use chopped leaves as mulch if you need to economize.

Hope this gets you started.

teengardener16 I live in Roanoke VA and will be starting two small cottage gardens in the front of the home.

Greetings from NC... If you want to prevent weeds from invading, you can put down a thick layer (at least 6 sheets thick) of newspaper, and then put your mulch on top of the newspaper. The newspaper will keep the weeds down and also keep the soil from drying out as fast in the summer. And it will gradually rot away and add some nutrition to the garden soil.