How to | Gardening for Beginners - Part 1

There are many who see garden makeover programmes on television and think they would like to have a go but don't know where to start.

Having watched these programmes, as a new starter with the desire to begin gardening, it is easy to think that it is necessary to have a qualification in horticulture or landscaping following instructions to the letter.

Do you have to have the perfect lawn with beautiful straight stripes? No, if you have a young family it has a dual purpose, setting off the planting but also a play area for the children. Try keeping nice lines when being used this way.

Read gardening tips as most will be useful and add to your knowledge base, watch the gardening programmes but most of all get started in the garden.

How do you start gardening?

This is such a frequent question. Gardening for beginners is like most things, if you don't try you will never succeed.

Do you have to be born with green fingers?

It is to be expected that some people will be better than others. That goes for most things in life. You can have enjoyment picking out a tune on a piano without having to play a Beethoven concerto. The same is true of gardening.

Gain knowledge of the fundamentals whether that be by trial and error or taking lessons. If you wish to take it a bit more seriously take a look at courses on horticulture or enrol for a one off tutorial at your local garden centre. Often they run plant growing tutorials or how to plant up a hanging basket, aimed at educating and encouraging sales from their centre. Sometimes a gardener who thinks they are beyond the basics stage can get useful reminders.

Gardening is all weeding and deadheading.

A frequent complaint but the weeding and deadheading, in other words maintenance can be so relaxing. Once planted, gardens needs time to mature and it needs some tender loving care to achieve the best results. Don't make it hard work and tackle large areas all at one go and mix up the jobs. Working like a Trojan weeding the whole garden in a day can be very wearing and although you will see the fruits of your labour it can produce a mental barrier for the next time. Take it slowly and it might surprise you how your mind drifts off onto other things. It is called relaxing your mind. You begin to work out many things that are subconsciously worrying you.

Maybe one day you will be a landscape gardener landscaping a clients pride and joy!

Plants, Weeds, Tell Me the Difference!

How-to instructions on how to tell a weed from a plant we would like to keep. That course would be a gardener beginner's dream. Don't worry, the majority of us who started without any formal horticultural training do not either. They say we learn by our mistakes and this applies to gardening as well. You have what you think is a "good one" and as it matures you recognise it as a weed. Next time you will recognise that seedling, well maybe! If you grub a good one, well again you have to put it down to experience.

Remember the definition of a weed is a plant in the wrong place. I have "weeds" that grow from seeds that the birds have kindly brought in and are actually quite nice. They are native wild flowers and as long as they are annuals, not invasive and Mother Nature has planted them in a sympathetic spot, I leave them. Why not, they are free after all.

Gardening is a costly hobby; can I afford to do it?

Gardening is only an expensive hobby if you make it so. If you are starting a garden from scratch, buy some packets of seeds.

Start by growing hardy annuals. As the name suggests you can sow the seeds directly into the ground as soon as the soil has warmed in the spring. Sow thinly into shallow drills and when they germinate carefully remove any where you have overcrowding and replant.

If you have enough window space and large window sills try sowing half-hardy annuals. They need to be sown indoors and given protection until it is warm enough to plant out. Even very experienced gardeners still get a thrill and sense of achievement seeing seeds germinate and grow into beautiful flowering plants. Get results this way and will give you all the encouragement you need to go to the next stage.

To grow perennial plants for the garden I have to buy them

Not always, growing perennial plants from seed is very rewarding and cheaper than buying containerised plants. You can get many plants for the price of just one container grown from the garden centre. Some perennials if sown early enough will flower the same year but more often than not it will be their second year before they mature and you see the fruits of your labour. Be patient and it will be worth the wait.

Another drawback is that you may not find the seed for the variety you would like to grow. You will look at the seed catalogue and see hardy geraniums but not the one you admired when visiting a garden.

Go to the garden centre and there it will be in a container. Look through the stock with a keen eye and you will find yourself with a bargain. If you are fortunate the single plant you buy might split into three. If so, split it, pot up each and grow on. Yet again it will be the next year before you benefit but will be well worth the wait.

Another way to get value for money is to take cuttings from the plant you have purchased. Some species take easier than others from cuttings but just have a go. There are cuttings that some people find really easy but will not work for me and vice versa.

Gardening can be a relaxing and rewarding hobby. Take that first step, you will have failures but you will have more successes than failures.

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