If gardening is new to you, you might not know where to begin. You may garden at your own pace by segmenting your job into smaller pieces. These steps can assist you in starting your garden:
Think about What to Plant
Choose between flowers, herbs, or veggies to plant. Choose herbs and veggies that your family will eat or try if you’re planting a food-related garden. Consider color and perfume if you’re looking for flowers to add beauty. Consider annuals that bloom throughout the summer or perennials that bloom less often yearly.
Choose the garden that’s best for you.
Most veggies and flowers need six to eight hours of daily sun. Observe your yard during the day to see which sections get full light and which get a partial or entire shadow. Don’t fret if your yard is shady: Tomatoes can’t grow in the shade, but hostas and ferns do.
Clear the ground
Clear the planting area of weeds and sod. If you want to grow vegetables this summer quickly, cut them up in the spring. Gardening is best for long-term projects. Use compost and newspaper decompose to improve the soil quality first. Consider starting in the fall.
Make sure to test and improve your soil.
Have the county extension office test your soil to enhance its condition. They’ll help you through the procedure, including how much soil to send and where and when to gather samples. Two weeks later, you’ll know your soil’s inadequacies and how to fix them. DIY kits can be helpful too.
Make Your Beds for Planting
Sowing or planting in garden beds helps roots grow and get nutrients and water. You may till by hand or using a rototiller. We recommend that you till manually. Besides, making smaller beds is easier when you dig.
Choose Your Plants
Some people spend weeks perusing catalogs, while others visit a garden store. Both strategies work if you choose plants that thrive in your climate, soil, and sun. You may also buy plants online. These are beginner-friendly options:
- Vegetables: peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, and tomatoes
- Anthology: sunflowers, cosmos, and marigolds
- Perennials: Russian Sage, daylilies, and purple coneflowers
Start Planting
Some plants, like pansies and kale, may flourish in the fall and winter. Tomatoes and other perennial flowers love warm temps, so don’t plant until frost risk is gone. Plant perennials between mid-spring and mid-autumn.
The right amount of water at the right time
Daily watering keeps seedlings moist. As plants grow, reduce watering. Until they’re established, transplants need daily or weekly watering. Once established, how often your water depends on the soil, humidity, rainfall, and soil, but once a week is a good start.
Make sure your garden is protected with mulch.
Mulch helps keep weeds away and the soil moist. Limiting sunlight from entering the soil prevents weed seeds from growing. Choose from mulches like straw, shredded bark, river boulders, and more. Compost, bark, and cocoa bean shells improve the soil when decompose. Choose decomposable mulch for a vegetable garden or annuals. Use bark chips for perennials.
Maintain Your garden regularly.
Keep up with gardening routines as your garden grows to help it achieve its full potential. Pull weeds before they bear seed. Remove the dead plants and exterminate harmful insects. Pick veggies at their peak, and do sniff anything you’re growing.