7 Tips on How to Start a Garden When You Don’t Have a Green Thumb
14 Feb 2022
Image by Ekaterina Ershova from Pixabay
Gardening offers plenty of benefits. It provides you with a means of obtaining organic food, allows for outdoor recreation and exercise, and can even serve as an outlet to let your creative side flourish. However, if you’re truly terrible at gardening, it can be difficult to encourage yourself to start such a daunting project.
Before throwing the towel in on all your gardening dreams, there are some simple steps you can take to make sure your garden is as successful as possible. Find out what they are below.
1. Start Small
If you have a less-than-average green thumb, planting an entire acre of land with vegetables might not be the best idea. That’s why it’s always a good plan to start small.
Start with a couple of pots and your favorite plants and really focus on getting them to grow well. As you gain more confidence, you can upgrade to a 4×4 raised garden bed where you can plant various compatible veggies, herbs, or flowers in a confined area.
The time you invest into this project will pay off handsomely when you see the fruits (so to speak) of your labor. Not only that, but if one or more of your plants does die, it won’t be a complete loss since you’re not heavily invested in its survival.
2. Practice Good Soil Prep
One of the most important parts of starting a successful garden is having good soil to work with. First, mix together one part each of peat moss, composted manure, and coarse sand or perlite to form your base soil for planting.
Next, amend that with one part each of peat moss, coarse sand or perlite, and lime. Mix this thoroughly into the first mixture you created to ensure even soil distribution throughout.
Be sure not to use regular garden dirt for your containers, as it is often too dense for better root development in potted plants.
3. Do Your Research
Before you begin any project, do some research. Decide what type of garden you’d like to start. Grow flowers? Vegetables? Herbs? Fruits? What type of soil do you have, or what is the hardiness zone of your location?
If you want to grow plants that require more space or dirt, be sure to purchase some heavy-duty gardening tools beforehand. Also, think about how often you’d like to work in the garden and what type of maintenance will be required for each type of plant (if you don’t already know).
4. Start Planning
Once you’ve decided what type of garden you’d like to start, decide how much time and money you can devote to your new project. Keep in mind that gardening can be a very resource-intensive task.
Depending on what type of garden you want and how much space is available to you, it may take several days or weeks just to prepare the ground for planting. Besides this, you’ll need to dedicate time every day to maintain your garden through watering, weeding, and pest control.
5. Get Help
If you’re starting a garden for the first time, this may be the most important step in the process. Get help from friends and family who have experience with gardening and try to talk to people at your local garden supply store or farmer’s market.
By talking to people who’ve done it before, you can get valuable tips and tricks that will help ensure your garden is successful. You can also read helpful gardening books or look up information on the Internet.
6. Be Patient and Persistent
Gardening can be a slow process. It might take weeks for your seeds to sprout or the first signs of flowers to pop up in your garden. If you’re not seeing any results after several weeks, don’t lose hope. Keep up with water and weed maintenance throughout this time, even if there are no signs of growth yet.
Once you see your first sprouts, chances are your garden will flourish. Be patient and persistent throughout the process, though, because gardening is a fun hobby but can also be very frustrating.
7. Pick Foolproof Crops
Some crops are easier to grow than others. If you don’t have much experience gardening, choose crops that are foolproof and require little attention from the gardener throughout the year.
Vegetables like tomatoes, eggplant, and cucumbers can be very rewarding once they start producing fruit but require a lot of work in the beginning stages. Herbs, especially ones that can be dried, are a great choice for first-time gardeners because they only require watering every few days.
Starting a garden can be overwhelming for those who believe they don’t have a green thumb. In reality, anyone can enjoy the benefits of a garden just by following these simple steps.
Cheers,
Big Daddy
If you are a PR agency or brand and would like me to review a travel destination, vehicle, restaurant, product or service, please send me an email at craig@bigdaddykreativ.ca
Craig Silva
Craig is a husband, a father, team leader, travel and food writer, senior youth group coordinator, designer, brander, community builder, volunteer, and social media strategist. Craig likes to travel, go camping, go on road trips, watch movies, build stuff, operate the grill, and sing with his band. Craig is a member of the Travel Media Association of Canada. In June 2017, PR firm Cision identified Craig as one of Canada’s top 10 most popular male bloggers in the parents and family space.
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