Gardening for Beginners – Tips and Tricks will give you advice from those who have already been in the garden trenches and lived to tell the stories.
“The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul.” – Alfred Austin
In one of my gardening groups, the question was asked – “What is your best advice to a beginning gardener?” The answers were brilliant.
Seasoned gardeners imparted their best tips and tricks to the question.
I thought my readers would love to know these gardening lessons for beginners. I put together the best answers for you in this post.
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Here are the Gardening for Beginners – Tips and Tricks:
Gardening for Beginners – Planning Your Garden
Gardening for Beginners #1 – Start with a small Garden.
If you’re anything like me, when you start a project you want to go big. It’s exciting to start something new, but gardening is a marathon.
Becoming overwhelmed is easy if you do too much at once. There’s a lot to learn to get the best results.
Spend a little more time planning out your garden, and start with one corner and see how that goes.
Gardening for Beginners #2 – One gardening project at a time.
Start with one thing and become a master of it. Then move on to the next plan.
Gardening for Beginners #3 – Stick to a garden schedule.
If you make a routine and follow it, you’ll obviously have more success. Check your plants regularly and water, mulch and feed them on schedule.
Gardening for Beginners #4 – Don’t use chemicals.
Learn organic gardening ideas to deter pests by companion planting and natural recipes for keeping pests at bay.
If you go the organic route, you’ll be rewarded with beautiful butterflies and bees.
Gardening for Beginners #5 – Know your garden zone and what that means.
Growing a garden has different rules, depending on where you live. Knowing what your garden zone is and what that means for your garden is starting your oasis on the right foot.
Gardening for Beginners #6 – Learn from other gardeners.
Find local gardening clubs and organizations near you. You can trade plants and seeds with members and absorb their collective wisdom.
I’m moving to a new state at the end of the year, one of the first things I’ve done in preparation for that move is to join the state’s gardening group board on Facebook.
I pop into the group every day, and I’m learning so much about the area already before I even go there!
Gardening for Beginners #7 – Take a walk around your neighborhood and look at the gardens.
Get some fresh air and look at your neighborhood in a different light. Your new mission is to see what type of plants are doing well and to find out what garden look you like.
An extra bonus of this tactic is you can strike up conversations with your neighbors and gather more wisdom and even start new friendships.
Gardening for Beginners – Design Elements
Gardening for Beginners #8 – Don’t expect a magazine cover garden immediately.
Creating a beautiful garden takes time. Be patient.
Gardening for Beginners #9 – A small garden doesn’t have to be boring.
You can create a themed garden, section your garden off into rooms, or even fill your space with container gardening.
Adding birdbaths, statuary, arbors, and lattice dividers can all add the “wow” factor to any garden.
Gardening for Beginners #10 – Gardens are a constantly changing canvas.
Your garden will evolve over time after you give your plants time to grow.
Just because your garden doesn’t look the way you want it right now, doesn’t mean it isn’t going to turn into an oasis that you’ll love.
Gardening for Beginners – Tools and Equipment
Gardening for Beginners #11 – Always wear gardening gloves.
Your hands need protection. Wearing garden gloves is an essential step in gardening safety.
Make sure you purchase gardening gloves that fit your hands, avoid big, bulky garden gloves.
Gardening for Beginners #12 – Buy the correct gardening tools.
Find good-quality garden tools and take care of them. Decide how big of a garden you’ll be starting with, and then research the best tools for the job.
Gardening for Beginners #13 – Buy a good quality garden stool.
A garden stool is money well-invested. This purchase will help save your back and knees from wear and tear.
Gardening for Beginners #14 – Wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts.
Protect yourself against ticks and mosquitos by covering yourself up.
Gardening for Beginners #15 – Wear sunblock and a hat when you garden.
Protect yourself from the sun. Getting a sunburn is easy when you’re distracted with so much to do in your garden.
Make sure you prepare before even heading out the door with sunblock and invest in a garden hat that becomes part of your “uniform” when you start digging.
Gardening for Beginners #16 – Buy a book that goes through the gardening year month-by-month.
A good resource like a monthly gardening to-do list is invaluable for such a low cost. It’s like having your own gardening coach to cheer you on your journey.
Gardening for Beginners #17 – Buy good garden shoes.
This is the fun part. You’ll love the choices they have now for gardening shoes and how comfortable they are.
It will be one of the best gardening purchase you make.
Gardening for Beginners – Amending Your Soil
Gardening for Beginners #18 – Build healthy gardening soil.
The soil is where the magic happens. Make sure your soil is the perfect building block for creating your dream garden.
Take a soil test and amend the soil before you do anything else.
Gardening for Beginners #19 – Mulch like crazy.
Garden mulch is your friend. Use it.
Gardening for Beginners #20 – Learn your garden fertilizers.
Seaweed, fish emulsion, and worm juice are just some of the terms you’ll be learning on your new hobby.
Gardening for Beginners #21 – Turn your kitchen waste into compost.
Coffee grounds, egg shells, leftover fruits, and vegetables are no longer something you should throw away.
They are pure gold for your garden. Learn why.
Gardening for Beginners #22 – Nourish your garden early in the morning.
Watering and fertilizing should not happen in the middle of the day. You can burn your plants.
Early morning hours are the best time to water and fertilize your garden.
NEVER water your plants in the hot sun! You’ll burn them.
Gardening for Beginners – Picking the Right Plants
Gardening for Beginners #23 – Use native plants from your area.
Native plants are easier to grow than other choices. Talk to your local garden center about native gardening ideas, and you’ll make your life way easier.
Gardening for Beginners #24 – Don’t plant your plants too close together.
Make sure you realize how large the plants and trees you pick will grow before planting. You don’t want to have to move things around after they’ve become established because they outgrew the space.
Gardening for Beginners #25 – Start with inexpensive plants to begin your journey.
You don’t want to spend a lot of money at the beginning of gardening until you realize what works and what doesn’t.
One of my most expensive lessons was all the rose trees I bought. I envisioned rose trees dotting my landscape, so I went overboard and bought ten pricey trees.
Not one of those trees survived a year. All my rose bushes did live. I still don’t know why they died, but I learned a very valuable lesson.
I saw what worked in my yard and planted more of those plants and bushes.
Gardening for Beginners #26 – Be careful about your selection of trees you plant.
Not only do you have to know how large the tree gets, but you also need to educate yourself on the root system of the tree.
You don’t want tree roots to cause damage to the foundation of your home. Remember that even a 30-foot tree was once a tiny sapling.
Gardening for Beginners #27 – Learn about the benefits of planting ground cover.
Ground cover protects the roots of your plants, aerates and fertilizes your soil, brings beneficial insects to your garden, and helps keep in the moisture.
Gardening for Beginners #28 – Educate yourself on invasive plant species.
Mint is an herb that will completely take over your garden if you plant it in the wrong place. Find out what plants are garden hogs and either plant them in an area all by themselves or put them in containers.
Gardening for Beginners #29 – Pay your bills before you go to the garden nursery.
This was my favorite answer, hands down. Why? Because gardening is addicting and once you get started, you might have a real problem keeping your plant buying under control!
Gardening for Beginners – Planting Your Garden
Gardening for Beginners #30 – Label all your garden plants.
Over time you probably won’t remember what you planted, so take the time to label your plants.
Visitors to your garden will be guaranteed to ask what type of plants you have, so make it easy on yourself by labeling everything right out of the gate.
Gardening for Beginners #31 – Group garden plants together that have the same nutritional and watering needs.
Make things easy on yourself by saving yourself a few steps.
Gardening for Beginners #32 – Plant the right plant in the right place.
Each flower, bush or plant each has its own unique needs. If the plant needs full sun, believe it and place the plant accordingly.
Gardening for Beginners – Care for Your Garden
Gardening for Beginners #33 – Make sure you don’t overwater and underwater your plants.
Finding the perfect balance to keeping your garden happy and healthy is a process.
Know the signs for each plant if they aren’t getting enough water or if they are getting too much water.
Gardening for Beginners #34 – Keep a garden notebook.
Keeping notes on what you plant and each one’s needs will make things easier. Starting a garden notebook can keep you on track.
Gardening for Beginners #35 – Deadhead your garden plants frequently.
When you deadhead your plants, you’re encouraging new growth. Read up on each plant and how you often you do this.
Gardening for Beginners #36 – Remember that some plants go dormant.
Just because a plant doesn’t show signs of life, doesn’t mean it’s dead. Find out if your plant goes dormant during the winter season before discarding the plant.
Gardening for Beginners – Low Cost Gardening Tips
Gardening for Beginners #37 – Become a seed saver.
Not only will you save money by saving your seeds, but you’ll also create an even closer bond with all of your plants because you’re part all the seasons of the plants.
Gardening for Beginners – Keep Going
Gardening for Beginners #38 – Visit your garden every day.
Enjoy the changes your garden will go through as your garden flourishes. Do everything with love and your garden will respond in kind.
You might even want to document the progress with photos. You’ll be happy you did once your skill set improves. There will be evidence that you too were once a beginner!
Gardening for Beginners #39 – Be patient with your garden.
Probably the number one response to the question was to be patient with gardening. Realize that killing a few plants is a normal part of the process, but the rewards outweigh the frustrations.
Gardening for Beginners #40 – Watch gardening channels on YouTube!
Gardeners’ World on YouTube was frequently mentioned as a favorite channel.
Gardening for Beginners #41 – Never give up.
Everything you do is a learning experience. It takes time to cover all the bases in gardening.
Not every flower will bloom. Try it again and again until you get it right.
Gardening for Beginners #42 – Have fun gardening.
You’re going to have some wins and some losses, but learning is part of the fun. Know in advance this isn’t going to be a perfect experiment and you’ll be better off.
Gardening for Beginners #43 – Gardening is never dull.
There’s always something new to learn, which makes this a very interesting hobby. At the same time, it challenges you.
Gardening for Beginners #44 – Experience all the seasons of your garden before making big plans.
If you’re able to wait a year before making drastic changes to your yard, this would be a smart plan.
During that time, you would test and amend the soil, learn what the shade patterns of your garden are, and identify the plants you want to grow and what they require.
We’ve reached the end of Gardening for Beginners. I hope you enjoyed it.
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Hi buddy,
Thanks for all the wonderful tips!! I always say I can’t grow anything. My husband had a garden last year but it really didn’t get all the work it needed. Hopefully with using some of your tips we can do better this year.
You’re very welcome. I’m so glad you liked them. Thanks for letting me know. Kelly