The Best 5 Tips for Beginning Gardeners

Gardening can be such a joy when you know exactly where to start. These tips for beginners will surely put you on the right path for success.

Before we dive deep into the best 5 tips for beginning gardeners let’s start out with dreaming. What do you want your garden to look like? Where do you want it to go? What do you want to grow in it? Try closing your eyes and picturing what you hope for it to look like. Write down your answers to the above questions to help you remember your dreams. Put your paper somewhere safe so you can refer back to it whenever you need it. This little dream sesh will help you remember what you want when you are in the thick of working hard to make it come alive!

I personally like to create a list of all the plants I want to grow. I write down each one on a piece of paper. Before I write them down I dream of what I want to grow in my garden. What I want it to look like. How it will serve me, aka provide me with delicious veggies and gorgeous flowers. This bit of planning helps me stay on track. Especially since it can be so easy to get lost in all the options the gardening world has to offer. I keep this list and other things I have collected for seed starting in two brown paper bags in my house. It seems kind of simple but for now, it allows me to feel somewhat organized and prepared.

I know.. you didn’t come here for me to ramble on about how I get organized to garden or how imagining the perfect planting area will help you stay focused when the work gets tough, you came around because you need the first steps to get you rooted in gardening!

So here they are, the best 5 tips for beginner gardeners to get started!

Tips and Tricks

Know your last and first frost date
Your gardening Zone
Research a few seed companies
Choosing the best gardening area
Review how much you can take on

1. Know your last and first frost date

Knowing the last and first frosts dates can seem like such a basic piece of knowledge that it wouldn’t even be something worth looking up or documenting, (at least that’s how I thought!). However, I am here to tell you it is indeed noteworthy! The last frost date is the estimated date that the lowest temperature overnight/during the day will stay above freezing until the first frost in the fall. This means that it is now safe for you to begin planting outdoors without the risk of killing your seeds due to a low-temperature drop. It’s important to be aware of this so you do not spoil all your hard work due to a simple mistake!

The first frost date is the estimated date in the fall when the temperature in the night/ day will drop below freezing. So the first frost date tells us that we need to have everything harvested from the garden before the drop in temperature hits or else all of the crops/plants left in the garden will be killed by the cold.

If you click here it will take you to The Old Farmers Almanac to find your first and last frost date!

2. Your garden zone

Your garden zone is another part of the whole gardening aspect that is sometimes overlooked. I am here to remind you that it is a good idea to know what zone you live in. Knowing the gardening zone you live in allows you to understand what grows well there. For example, what vegetables, fruits, and flowers thrive so you can plant those and have plenty of success. It also provides information on the best times to start planting outdoors; as well as what type of perennials to plant so they will last the winter months.

If you click here it will take you to PlantMaps.com so you can find your garden zone!

3. Research seed companies

This tip might sound a bit odd but, researching a little about seed companies can make a significant difference in the success of your seed germination and growth. Hear me out before skipping to the next tip! There aren’t many regulations on processing and storing seeds, so when you buy them you do not have a guarantee that the seed will successfully germinate let alone grow into a plant. Reading up on the companies allows you to gain an understanding of how they ensure the seeds will be successful and where the company puts effort into developing the success of the seeds. One other point if you can help it may be to research a local company in your area. This allows you to know that the seeds were grown and packaged locally to you!

4. Choosing the best area to garden

Now we all know a garden generally needs a lot of sun but have you taken that into accountant for where you are planning to put your garden? This is a tip but also a gentle reminder to look into where you have decided to put your garden. Check on it during the day to see how much sunlight it gets. Are there areas that might not get as much sun as others? Does it get as much sun as you had thought? This can be an end-all for some of your plants so it is definitely an important step to take the time out of a couple of days to observe the sunlight during different hours and ensure it is exactly what you need!

5. Review how much you can take on

This might be the last step, but honestly the step I think is the absolute most important in the success of your garden! Before committing to growing this huge bountiful garden take a few minutes and look at what you already have on your plate. Take a review on how you are already feeling about every other commitment you have going on. Does being responsible for a garden feel overwhelming? Do you have big plans for the summer that have you going away lots? Have you already committed to other things in your life that are already utilizing much of your free time?

It is a good idea to review what you have going on already and what your priorities are to ensure that you do not accidentally overpack your life with commitments. The last thing you want is to put in the effort to grow a garden, fill it with hopes and dreams and then it dies on you because you were not able to provide the attention and love it needed.

I say all of this with love and respect because I have been there. When I started I had huge dreams for a large bountiful garden. I bought the seeds, planted them, and then forgot about it all. How…. I know how do you forget about it like that? Unfortunately, I just had some other really large commitments in life that had to take precedent and so it all got forgotten about. It sucked pretty hard when nothing even began to sprout. It definitely defeated me. I honestly wasn’t even sure I would want to garden after that. But low and behold here we are!