Are you at the beginning of your gardening journey? Are you trying to decide how to start? It can be pretty overwhelming in the beginning. I want to share a few of my top tips for any new gardeners and what has helped me over the years to keep going and not give up.
Table of Contents
- Keep it small
- Grow what brings you joy, find your niche as new gardeners
- Don't let over information stop you
- Grow easy plants for new gardeners
- Read the plants tag
- Know your growing zone.
- Don't assume the local nursery/garden centre only sells plants for your region.
- Don't waste your money
- Instant satisfaction as new gardeners
- Patience as new gardeners
Keep it small
This may sound super obvious, but it is easier said than done. It can be very easy to get carried away when buying plants, I mean there are so many beautiful ones out there how can you not let this happen.
If you just have a small space to work with where your only option would be pots, then, keeping it small is a lot easier. I suggest maybe start with 3 or 4 medium sized pots and build from there.
If though, you have a large garden then this is where the overwhelm may set in. I liken it to cleaning your home, when you look at it as a whole it can be too much making us not start, rather when you go room by room it is a lot more manageable. The same applies to your garden instead of looking at as a whole view it in sections.
Choose one small area to focus on first. I recommend an area that you see and use the most. Spend a year working on this area alone, improving the soil, planting some easy perennials along with a few annuals. Then once that area is complete move onto another small area.
You will be amazed at how quickly the garden will grow and with that your knowledge also will grow too. It will keep it enjoyable and that is one of the most important things.
Grow what brings you joy, find your niche as new gardeners
So, what do you want to grow? What types of plants are you drawn towards? This is going to be your guide as to what you will grow.
I started my gardening journey growing herbs and vegetables, with an odd floral plant thrown in for good measure.
I love useable plants, ones that I can use in cooking and herbalism. It was from these plants that I found my joy for gardening and it grew from there spanning into many other areas of gardening.
As new gardeners you have to start somewhere so growing what you enjoy is key. You have to like what you grow.
This may be cut flowers, shrubs, vegetables, herbs, trees. The list is endless.
Don’t let over information stop you
Now that you have your pots or planting area, you have chosen what you want to grow, you will want to learn about your chosen plants and what they require. This is where the over information journey begin, full sun may not mean full afternoon sun, shade isn’t deep shade and so on.
We all love a good google search, endless amounts of information right at our fingertips. Personally I am an information junkie myself, but I have learnt over the years you have to know when to walk away and just give it a go.
‘You wont know unless you try’ this is a great saying and very true. For every plant out there there is differing information on it. One person says it needs water another says it doesn’t and so on. So what do you do? Grow one and see for yourself what it likes.
Despite differing information there will usually be a general consensus on key growing conditions listen to those and go from there. Remember you can always change its growing conditions, a plant can also be relocated more than once.
Grow easy plants for new gardeners
Most plants out there are pretty forgiving, meaning they will take some abuse. Others can be a lot more tempramental needing more care. As new gardeners I would probably avoid growing these plants, as much as you may want to grow them.
Why? Because having plants constantly dying on you is disheartening. We want to keep the joy not lose it by stubbornly growing plants that are too advanced for you.
The list of plants that will fit this easy criteria will very much depend on where you live. Where I live here in BC Canada some of those plants include, thyme, oregano, carrots, potatoes, day lilies, hydrangeas, pansies, geraniums to list but a small few.
Read the plants tag
Reading a plants tag is very important it will give you most of the plants information. If it doesn’t have a tag then you will need to turn to google for its information. A couple of websites I really like to use include Gardenia.net and Gardeners world.
Most tags will tell you the basics like plant size, preferred location sun, part sun or shade, and growing zone.
Now a tag wont tell you everything but it will give you a good idea on where to begin.
Know your growing zone.
This is easier to do in the US and Canada but for other countries it is a bit different. You will need to look at how your country rates your growing zones. You can also google what growing zone your city or town is and go from there.
The growing zones aren’t based on summer temperatures but rather how cold the winters are.
Don’t assume the local nursery/garden centre only sells plants for your region.
I am talking about perennial plants here not annuals.
I live in a zone 8 area so you would think zone 8 plants will be fine unfortunately this isn’t always the case. If they have good shelter from cold winter winds they may be ok but not always. If your unsure err on the side of caution and go for a zone lower.
Your garden is individual and may have different growing conditions than a garden on the other side of town. Some people may have greenhouses that they use to store their plants in the winter. The garden centre knows all this and will buy in their plants accordingly.
Don’t waste your money
Going to a garden centre can be like a child going into a candy store, it can be very dangerous to our wallets.
Go with a plan. Have a rough idea on what you are looking for and try to go straight to that section.
If it is a new plant you haven’t grown before then buy one not three or four of the same plant. See if it will survive in your garden first before committing to more.
Now all of this is easier said than done but its worth trying. Our wallets and partners will thank us for it.
Instant satisfaction as new gardeners
Some plants will give us this others will not. Try to have a mix of the two.
Annual plants are great fillers, that means plants that die off every year but will fill in any holes or gaps while your bigger shrubs grow.
Although bigger more established plants can give us that instant satisfaction they are a lot more expensive to buy. If they don’t survive that can be a heavy blow, why not invest in one that is a bit smaller and cheaper. Yes you wont get that instant hit but watching it grow will in the end bring a lot more joy.
There are also plants that will establish and grow very quickly, like for example hostas, sedum or even raspberry bushes.
Patience as new gardeners
Patience, at the end of the day a garden will teach you how to develop this quality. It is a wonderful quality to have and will help you in other aspects of your life.
Watching a plant you planted as a seedling mature year after year is a wonderful thing to experience.
If a plant dies move on keep trying until you find your niche. You may end up growing plants that you never expected to enjoy.
Try not to waste your hard earned money on difficult plants or plants that may give instant gratification but end in heartbreak.
Above all find the joy and keep going don’t give up
Happy gardening where ever you are.
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