6 Tips for Starting a Garden from Scratch

If you are a beginner gardener, just moved to a new place, or want to expand a plot you already have, there are a few things to think about if you want your plants to thrive.

Perhaps you don’t even have soil, yet, or have very little space at all where container or vertical gardens are going to have to be the way forward. You might have a rather shady yard or live in frigid zone four or tropical zone ten!

Whatever is true for you, there are certainly a few things to figure out before you start buying seeds and plants and shoving them in the ground.

Source: GrowVeg/YouTube

1. Know Your Zone

Knowing your USDA hardiness growing zone helps you to identify which plants will likely be successful in your region and which will simply not grow or will struggle. The USDA hardiness zone map breaks up the USA into zones based on the average lowest temperature that that region will experience.

Knowing this helps you to understand that trying to grow a tropical plant that requires a long growing season will not work if you live way up north. Similarly, those living in southern Florida are not going to be able to grow plants that require a long period of dormancy and cold snaps.

It is easy to figure out your growing zone by plugging your zip code into the map on the website.

2. Clock the Sun

Ideally, you should spend a year looking at how the sun hits all the different parts of your garden, but this might not be realistic. If this won’t work for you, at least pay close attention to which parts of your property get full sun and for roughly how long.

Many garden veggies require 6-8 hours of full a day, whereas lots of leafy green need some afternoon shade. There are lots of flower varieties that will grow in a number of different light conditions. You can play around with creating shade by planting lettuce, for example, in the shade of a cucumber or bean trellis.

So long as you can lift them, containers are great as you can move them around to get them in just the right spot.

3. Nurture Your Soil

Source: The Gardening Channel With James Prigioni/YouTube

As time goes on, you might be able to start your own compost pile and create your own soil. Adding mulch to your garden beds year after year will also help to build soil in situ.

4. Water Well

Having a good understanding of your average rainfall is also essential when planting a garden. If you live in an area that experiences regular drought, don’t try to plant water-loving plants.

Make sure that your gardens are within a reasonable distance for carrying watering cans, or at least think about how a hose might stretch to where it needs to be.

If you can, you can look into water catchment solutions for your garden. Perhaps a rainwater catchment barrel coming off a shed roof is feasible, or just a container that can catch rainwater.

5. Be Familiar with Frost Dates

Source: The Ripe Tomato Farms/YouTube

Use an almanac to figure out your predicted last and first frost dates. Just like with the USDA zone map, you can plug your zip code in to find your dates.

It is vital to know these dates as they dictate when it is safe to sow seeds or plant tender seedlings out in your garden. As well, knowing the date of the first frost of the cold season helps you to know what is left of your growing season. You might be able to get in a sneaky planting of some late cucumbers or squash.

6. Don’t Forget Your Garden

Lastly, it is important to build your garden beds or place your containers in a place where you can ideally see them from your house, or at least have to pass them on a regular basis.

If your gardens are stuck way at the back of your property, you are less likely to visit and less likely to notice any attention that is needed.

Out of sight, out of mind, so they say. Alas, this adage is a disaster for a growing garden.

Related Content:

• 5 Produce Scraps That Re-Grow Food
• Why Plants Go Dormant In The Winter and What to Grow!
• How to Use the Outside Wall of Your House as a Thermal Mass Heater to Grow Plants
• 6 Tips to Get Your Home Garden Growing This Spring
• How to Grow Edible and Medicinal Plants From Cuttings

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