Tips for First Time Gardeners

One Hundred Dollars a Month reader Claudine recently sent me an email with a question about getting started with gardening, she wrote,

Hi Mavis, do you have a blog post on how to start a garden for the first time? I have a new yard (with grass) but plenty of room and is like to grow some food – but I have no idea where to start. Thanks!

I think I could probably go a million different ways with this question, but the first thing that comes to mind is grow what you will eat.  I know that seems obvious, but it’s not.  I think a lot of times, first time gardeners think that they “have” to have tomatoes, or whatever, in order to be gardening, but when you get right down to it, their family doesn’t even eat that many tomatoes.  So, think about what type of produce you buy most often at the grocery store.

If you find yourself throwing lettuce into the cart every week, that’s the perfect place to start.

Second, don’t feel like you have to grow ALL of your produce in order to make a garden worth it.  You may not have the time/space/desire to grow everything your family eats.  Supplementing a few meals with garden fresh produce is still super satisfying.  Unless you go straight homesteader, you will still have to buy your produce—so garden to supplement and enjoy the hobby.  It will take a lot of the pressure off.

Once you know what you want to grow, consider your space.  If you have a sunny patch of grass you want to turn into a garden spot, perfect.  You can choose to go all in and make raised garden boxes, or start out by just having designated garden beds.  I find that I “tweak” my garden space every season, after learning from the previous season.

A lot of gardening is like that, actually, something doesn’t do as well as you would have liked, so you move it the next year or you work on improving the soil, etc.  Even after years, my garden is constantly evolving.  And for those of you that don’t have space in your yard, consider container gardening—you can actually grow quite a bit in containers.  Plus, it is easier to control the quality of the soil and drainage.

Finally, know your dirt.  If you are going to use the dirt you already have in the backyard, prepare to invest a couple of growing seasons in making it hospitable.  Test your dirt’s pH levels, and then amend it accordingly.  I usually end up buying garden soil every year for some spot in my yard as well as making my own potting soil.  Yes, it seems insane to pay for dirt, but I’m impatient, and want to start growing immediately.  I typically add a little homemade compost to enrich it even more.

As a final word of encouragement, remember, you can do everything right and still get plants that will die or be poor producers.  This happens to experienced gardeners {read:  me, like all of the time}, so don’t let it discourage you.  Some years are better than others, some variables just can’t be controlled, etc.  Garden on.

Hope this helps you get started,

Mavis