Start your first garden by following these 10 simple steps

Discover tips on how you can make the most of your new gardening adventure in this step-by-step guide.
 

Growing your own garden is a fun and rewarding experience. Be it fragrant flowers or planting a vegetable garden (or both! ), everyone can benefit from getting their hands dirty. When you're new to gardening, it can be difficult to know where to start. But you don't have to know everything at once; when you break your project down into manageable steps, you can start gardening at your own pace. You'll be rewarded with your efforts with beautiful views, yummy flavors, and colorful blooms as you do. These steps will help you get started, but if you're unsure where to begin, you might look at a garden plan to guide you through the process.

1. Consider the plants to plant 

What kind of garden do you want? A vegetable garden? An herb garden? A flower garden? If you want to grow vegetables and herbs for adding flavor to your dinner, plant varieties your family will eat or be willing to try. If you want flowers for their flair, color, and fragrance, decide on something that is annual that blooms most of the summer but needs to be replanted every spring, or something perennial that returns every year. The benefits of each may differ, but you will have to remember that they will require different levels of maintenance. One suggestion: Begin small until you know what you’re getting into.

2. Choose the Correct Spot 

Almost all vegetables and most plants need 6 to 8 hours of complete sun each day, so you should observe your lawn throughout the day to determine which spots receive full sun versus partial or full shade. No worries if your lot is mostly shaded. You'll have a hard time growing tomatoes there, but many other plants (such as hostas and outdoor ferns) thrive in shade. Do not skip this step, because your plants must receive the right amount of light to thrive. Check plant tags for exact requirements or ask the staff at your local garden center. A few more tips: Pick a relatively flat spot for your garden, since a sloping garden is more difficult, expensive, and time-consuming to deal with. Consider windbreaks (such as your home or the home of a neighbor) that will protect plants from being damaged by strong winds. Make sure your garden is in an area where you cannot avoid it: Outside the back door, near the mailbox, or near the window you stare through while you're cooking. If you can find a place close enough to a water spigot, you needn't drag a hose across the entire yard.

3. Make sure the ground is clear. 

Get rid of the sod covering the area you intend to plant. If you are looking for quick results (you want vegetables this summer right now), cut it out. Slice the sod with a spade and cut it into sections. Put that chunk on your compost pile to decompose. Newspapers are a better way of covering grass, but it takes a lot longer. (For example, start in autumn before planting in spring.) Cover the future garden with five sheets of newspaper; double the amount of the grass is Bermuda grass or St. Augustine grass. Spread a three-inch layer of compost (or a mixture of potting soil and topsoil) onto the newspaper and wait for it to decompose. It should take about four months. You’ll therefore have a weed-free bed and a deep, rich bed by spring.

4. Improve the soil quality. 

A more fertile landscape influences the quality of your vegetable garden. This also applies to other plants. A residential landscape is always poor infertility, especially in new construction when the topsoil may have been stripped away. Soil conditions might be excessively wet, poor and infertile, too acidic or alkaline, or a combination of these. The solution is simple: add organic matter. Add a 2- to 3-inch layer of compost, decayed leaves, dry grass clippings, or aged manure to the growing bed when digging or tilling the soil. The best way to avoid digging in established beds is to leave the organic matter on top of the surface where it will eventually decay into humus, mixing it with the subsoil. Earthworms will do the heavy lifting of mixing the hummus in. Learn more about your soil by having a soil test done at your county extension office. They'll instruct you on the procedure: How much soil to send from what parts of the garden and when to gather the samples. You can expect a two-week wait for the results, which tell you what your soil lacks and how to amend it.

5. Work on the Soil 

Working the soil is very important to prepare new beds for sowing or planting because working the soil allows roots to penetrate more easily to access water and nutrients. There are two methods: tilling and digging. Managing soil by tilling involves cultivating it with a machine like a rototiller of similar size. This is a good practice when you are associating large amounts of organic matter with the soil. However, it may disturb beneficial soil microorganisms and earthworms. So doing too much can be detrimental. Insufficient tilling or work in moist or dry soil causes damages to soil structure and plant roots. A digging technique is more useful when preparing small beds. Dig only when the soil is moist enough to form a loose ball in your fist but dry enough to fall apart. Turn the top 8 to 12 inches of soil by hand with a spade or spading fork, mixing the organic matter from Step 4 at the same time. (Walking on the beds compacts the soil, so place boards beforehand to evenly distribute your weight.)

6. Pick Out Your Plants 

Some people spend months poring over catalogs; others go to the garden center and buy just what catches their eye. Either method is fine as long as you pick plants that adapt to your climate, soil, and available light. Plants, even those for beginners, can be bought online. Here are a few varieties that are easy for beginners to grow:     • An annual garden should include the following plants: Calendula, cosmos, geraniums, impatiens, marigolds, sunflowers, and zinnias.     • Among the perennials are black-eyed Susans, daylilies, lamb's ears, pansies, phlox, purple coneflowers, and Russian sage.     • Fruits and vegetables: cucumbers, lettuce, peppers, and tomatoes.

7. Plant the seeds 

A few plants, which include kale and pansies, are cold-tender so you can plant them in autumn and early winter. Tomatoes and most annual flowers, on the other hand, prefer warm temperatures, so the best time to plant them is after the danger of freezing forward has passed in your area. Mid-spring and mid-autumn are good times for planting perennials. Many plants, like lettuce and sunflowers, can be grown directly from seeds in the garden. Check out the seed packet for details on planting time, depth, and spacing. If you're a novice, you can get a start on planting by starting seeds inside a few weeks beforehand. There are planters made especially for seeds and seed-starting mixes available at garden centers. Follow seed packet instructions and place the containers on a sunny windowsill or under grow lights if you don't have window space. Make sure to keep the plants moist but not wet. Starting your garden with young plants gives you a much easier way to get started. You can buy transplants from your local nursery and simply plant them into your prepared garden beds. Remove plants from the container by piercing the bottom of the container with your fork or fingers. If the roots are bound, you can try untangling some of the roots with your fingers before you set them into the hole. Soak the soil with water, then pat the soil into place around the roots.

8. Getting Just the Right Amount of Water 

Seedlings should never be allowed to get thirsty, so water them frequently for the first few weeks. When the plants get larger, you can decrease the amount you water them. A transplant needs to be watered about every other day or so until its roots become established. In addition, the amount of water you need varies with the weather, humidity, and rainfall; once a week is a good place to start. Clay soil dries out faster than sandy soil, so you won't need to water it as often. Conditions with sunny, windy conditions dry out soil more rapidly than the weather with cool, cloudy conditions. Still not sure? Feel the soil 2-3 inches below the surface. If it feels dry, it’s time to water. Water deeply and slowly so that the water soaks in instead of running off. Water early in the morning to minimize evaporation.

9. Protect Your Plants With Mulch

Put a couple of inches of mulch on the soil to keep weeds out and moisture in. This way, you don’t have to water as often, and sunlight won’t hit the soil, so weed seeds won’t germinate. You can choose from many different kinds of mulches, each with its own benefits, for example, shredded bark, straw, and river rock. When you use organic mulch, like bark, compost, or cocoa bean shells (which smell good, by the way), it nurtures the soil as it decomposes. A vegetable garden or bed of annuals can benefit from the accelerated decomposition of a mulch. For perennials, consider mulch such as bark chips.

10. Ways of Maintaining Your Garden 

Your garden is beginning to grow. Keep up with maintenance chores. Water your plants. Pull weeds before they become big. Get rid of dead, dying, and diseased plants. You can eradicate destructive insects by picking them off the plant and dropping them into a bucket of sudsy water (such as tomato hornworms), hosing them off, or using an insecticidal soap purchased at a garden center. You should support tall plants (like tomatoes) with a stake or a trellis. You should also harvest vegetables as soon as they are ready. And don’t forget to stop and smell what you’re growing. You may not need to fertilize if you enriched the soil with compost before planting. Some vegetables (including tomatoes and corn) are heavy feeders and need a quick-release fertilizer every three to four weeks. Make sure you follow the package instructions carefully and ask an expert at the garden center for help.