Tips for Beginner Gardeners

Following my Container Gardening post, I wanted to touch more on my tips for success in the garden. These can apply to any level, but I find I say these most to people who have never had a garden of their own before.

1. Don’t be afraid to fail

This tip comes as inspiration from my very sarcastic husband, who suggested one of my tips be “don’t suck.” To which I explained that it very well might suck at first. You don’t learn everything immediately and in the garden, as with life, a lot more is learned from trial. We can learn from success, but we learn even more from failure. The addendum to the “don’t be afraid to fail” tip is that you have to be open to lessons learned, or else no progress is made.

2. Start with research

I talked about a little it in my last blog post but one of the best ways to know right off the bat if you’ll have any level of success with certain plants is to do some good old fashioned Google searches. I suggest narrowing your searches to your region or zone so you don’t waste time planting something that will never have its needs met. For example, here in the midwest, I can’t leave my aloe plants outside through the winter. They do well in the summers but because they are so majorly watery and “gooey” in the middle the freezing in the winter is often fatal.

3. Do what you want

There aren’t special rules in the garden. You can’t really do it wrong. If the needs of your plants are met, there’s no set strategy that has to be implemented. If it works for you, you’re doing it right. If it makes you happy, you’re doing it right. If something doesn’t work, learn from it and try again. It’s that simple. Beautiful, right?

4. Have a goal

Spend some time thinking about what you want your garden to accomplish. Do you want to grow food? Do you want to feed pollinators? Do you want more wildlife? Is it for your own mental and emotional health? Whatever it is that you hope to get out of your garden, stay close to that goal. In time, your goal(s) may expand but when starting out, don’t overwhelm yourself.

5. Simple is not a bad word

Most of these tips center around a guiding principle: keep it simple! Don’t overcomplicate what doesn’t need to be complicated. Yes, it’s true that there are some cultivars that require a delicate germination and cultivation process. It’s also true that even more varieties are the total opposite. Start there. Start simple. If you decide to get more complicated next season, or the season after, or never, that’s fine too (remember that “do what you want” tip?), just do what feels right.

For every gardener, regardless of skill level, there is a different garden. Your garden will be yours. Take that ownership and make it something beautiful. It’s important to know that your garden will not look the same as everyone else’s and that’s good! Don’t be discouraged. 

Let the imperfections be as beautiful as they are. 

I believe in you. Your garden is going to be incredible.

I’m here to help in any way I can. Don’t hesitate.

Until next week, friends!