Education:
💡Start SMALL! Your excitement to grow a garden will be quickly extinguished if you do more than your current knowledge will support.
I think during my first year, I grew lettuce, one squash plant and a couple of pepper plants. That's it. Those few things used up all of my few summer garden brain cell knowledge. For real.
💡Grow what you love to eat! The reward is FOOD!
It makes no sense to spend all of your time, energy and money on growing food you don't even want to eat.
💡Learn what plants grow best in your Grow Zone.
Why waste time, money and effort on growing things that won’t grow easily in your area. You’ll get so frustrated trying to grow plants that don't want to be in your yard. Trust me. Know your zone and what grows best: Find your Growing Zone Here
💡RECYCLE!
You can spend as much or as little as you want in your garden venture. Unless you are going for a perfect picture, magazine tour ready garden, then think out of the box and use things you already have if possible. Or, use things that have multiple purposes. Here are some of mine:
- Old food storage containers to store the small pieces in my garden like clips, twine, landscape fabric staples.
- Old kitchen colander so sift soil to get a finer grade for planting seeds.
- Used yogurt/cottage cheese containers to cut up for plant labels.
- I buy old ceramic wide bowls from thrift stores for bird feeders in my garden for usually about $2-4 each.
💡Look for Discounted and Free stuff!
You can find tools, planters, etc. on Facebook Marketplace, Next Door App, OfferUp, or other platforms that sell used (or free) goods.
I have found the best deals on these sites to accessorize my garden. Things from furniture, yard decor, tools, to planters... dirt cheap or free. Often times, I've gone to buy one thing and the seller just gave me other items.
💡Utilize YouTube!
There are billions of videos on YouTube. Thousands are about gardening. Take time to find them and view them. It’s FREE education. You can literally just type in what you want to learn … don’t be intimidated, or afraid. Give yourself a handmade PhD in Gardening after you view all of these videos because you will feel like a PRO!
💡Take notes.
Each season write down WHAT you planted, WHEN you planted, type soil used, if started from seeds or plants, fertilizer used, and the results.
Then, the next year you can refer to your notes. I look for free calendars from insurance agencies and such to make notes on. It helps to remember the days I planted things to so I can know when to expect a harvest based on 'days to harvest' on packets.
💡Learn about flowers.
I didn't even think about flowers in my early years of gardening but overtime I realized they serve a major purpose…. Pollination! Beauty!
Also, many flowers serve as either a repellent or a trap for unwanted pests! 🪻🌹🪻🌹🪻🌹🪻
💡If you hate bugs, you'll get over it.
My first year I was so skittish. I was getting grossed out all over the yard, but my desire to grow and learn prevailed. Bugs come with the territory….literally. Over time, bugs will 'bug' you less and less.
💡If you grow tomatoes, plant a bunch of purple and green basil near them to stop or reduce hornworms. Start lots of basil plants inside so they are nice and big when you plant your tomatoes. This tip works great for me!
💡Learn about your terrain.
Do you have rich soft soil that is easy to dig into?
Do you have clay?
Do you have small boulders just below the surface so you can dig?
This is important to know, I thought I'd be able to just stick a shovel into the ground and make beautiful beds until I learned my yard was built on top of the residue from blasted rock when the subdivision when it. Hence, I'm a container and raised bed gardener.
Determine if you want a raised bed garden, or garden from tilled soil, or a container garden, or a mix of all 3?
💡Share your harvest!
I did not expect the joy I felt in my heart when I picked veggies from my garden and handed them over the fence to passersby in my subdivision. No one has turned me down.
Sharing your harvest in akin to tearing down walls and fences in my opinion.
💡Keep a quick first aid kit near your garden area…. Band-aids, alcohol pads, stuff for bug bites.
Little nicks and cuts are just a part of the process. Be prepared. 🩹
💡Wear gloves.
Many gardeners love getting their hands dirty. There are some nasty germs out there. Wear gloves if things get too messy. It'll keep your from having to pick mud from the crevices of your fingernails afterwards too.
💡Use Potting Mix, NOT Gardening Soil.
This was one of my biggest mistakes as a newbie. I threw gardening soil into my containers and the plants got root rot! Why? Because garden soil is for the ground. It is heavy and thick and holds water. If you use it in a container, it won't drain well enough. The roots of the plants will drown and your plant will die. Remember, I warned you.
If you only have garden soil, no worries, all you have to do is amend it with compost and perlite. Here is a recipe.
💡These two clips are the only ones I use; they serve every purpose I need in the garden.
- Garden Clips: These clips are the best in my opinion. I used them for nearly everything; hold down tarp, clipping vining/trailing plants, to clip tulle over fruiting plants, to tie bags shut.
- Spring Clamps: When I need something a bit more sizeable like for closing open bags of soil over the winter, or for clamping something thicker and wider I use these.
💡Any container you use to grow vegetables or flowers MUST MUST MUST have drainage holes in the bottom.
I threw this tip in as a bonus. I never make assumptions about what a newbie gardener knows, or doesn't know.
💡Most Important of All .... Have fun!
None of it is worth it if you hate doing it. If you love doing it, the actual results will be less important because whether you get a good harvest or not, you'll be having fun.
