Many a homeowner with a backyard will have several fun ideas to convert it into a recreational place, a patio, pool and deck area or even grow vegetables and flowers. If you want to know ways to have lovely 'flowers or veggies for my backyard garden', you can read tips from experts at online gardening sites of which there are many. First let us see how to go about planting a backyard vegetable garden.
• Plan ahead
• Test the soil for nutrient content
• Test it for moisture content
• Prepare the ground
• Sprinkle seeds
• Follow proper gardening tips on growing and maintaining the vegetable garden

The first step in planning any garden is to decide the types of plants to grow. Divide your vegetables into seasonal crops. Warm season vegetables and cold season vegetables need to be planted at the appropriate times. Warm season veggies like melons, cucumbers, squash and bell peppers need to be planted in spring and harvested by late summer or fall when ready. Cold season veggies include leafy greens like chard and lettuce, roots like potatoes and carrots or the cabbage family like cauliflower and broccoli.

These can be planted during two seasons - later summer and harvested in fall or winter or early spring and harvested before the warm weather arrives. This really depends on the growing period of the veggies. Next test the soil for nutrient content and add the appropriate amount of nutrients like phosphorous, nitrogen and potassium needed for veggies to grow well. Make sure you know the exact proportion of nutrients to mix. Test the backyard soil for moisture content and depending on the soil, you will know how much to water the plants.

Prepare the soil by tilling it, digging a few inches needed to place the seeds and start sprinkling the seeds in these little holes. Making rows of vegetables is easier to maintain and manage the growth. You can mix rows to have one row of say cucumber, another of pepper and so on. Monitor the seeds, watch them germinate and follow all instructions on watering, weeding, fertilizing the plants so that they grow well and give abundant veggies for your family.

If you have a large enough backyard, you can divide it and have one part vegetable and one part flower garden. While the veggie garden is more utilitarian, the flower garden can be a place to relax with the family, get them interested in gardening and teach them all about the beautiful butterflies and birds that visit your little paradise. There are many creative ideas you can use when planting a flower garden in your backyard. One could be a kid-friendly garden that they can be interested in.

You can plan a flower bed that grows in the shape of your child's name or a steam engine in their favorite colors. Make sure the flowers are not poisonous and involve your kids in the planting, growing and watering of the flowering plants. Avoid using unsafe chemicals and pesticides. Instead use organic ones that are equally effective and safe too. Do you enjoy making and keeping flower arrangements in your home to liven up the indoors? Then have an exclusive cut flower garden with beautiful blooms like the popular rose, lavender, daisies, sunflowers, and such. Grow them in neat rows so that it is easy to walk around and cut the flowers.

If you do not have much time to monitor delicate flowering plants that need a lot of care, why not try growing a wildflower garden. Wildflowers are hardy, grow naturally and what is more they do produce beautiful flowers and when grown in an informal garden they have their own charm. What is more, a wildflower garden can even attract wildlife like hummingbirds and squirrels.

Another creative idea is a butterfly garden where you must plant flowers that will specifically attract butterflies. Find out plants that attract butterflies and if you can tolerate the caterpillars, you will have a wonderful array of butterflies visiting your garden. The flowers must be planted in plenty of sunlight and with wind protection. Make sure you include a birdbath in the corner of your flower garden and you will not be short of any number of birds visiting and enjoying the nectar from the flowers and then splashing around in the water. You will really have your own mini paradise in your backyard.