Practical Gardening Tips for Beginners
Practical Gardening Tips for Beginners
I learned my first gardening tips as from my mother. Indeed, she gardened with vigor most summers during my childhood; I remember her kneeling forward in the soil, hands working in the dirt, her spine taking on the shape of a tortoise shell. And although I learned all about self-sufficiency by observing her from afar, I wanted NO part of the actual experience.
Gardening wasn’t fun; it was dirty. It took an awfully long time for a single item to grow; back then, I didn’t even like the taste of vegetables. One of the few memories I have of helping my mother in the garden was emptying the beetle-filled bags that hung from our fence; that experience alone was enough to scar me straight into adulthood.
Nearly 3 decades later, I’m thrilled to report my opinion on gardening has evolved; indeed, these days I’m an enthusiastic convert.
The Benefits of Gardening
I now believe gardening is the coolest hobby in the world. Here’s why:
1. Gardening is the cheapest way to get your hands on organic produce.
It’s no surprise that organic is pricey. Gardening enables you to grow the healthiest stuff yourself for a minuscule upfront cost.
The trick to saving money with a vegetable garden is limiting costs while maximizing yield; with a bit of forethought, home gardens will save you money at the grocery store. The National Gardening Association found that a well-maintained garden yields 1/2 pound of produce per square foot per growing season; as such, a 600-square-foot garden could churn out 300 pounds of fresh produce (about $600 annually in savings).
_
2. Gardening connects you to your food source.
When you realize how long it takes + how hard it can be to grow a single head of broccoli, you find yourself less likely to waste even a bite of it. This realization eventually extends to the rest of your food as well; as such, you waste less food + save more money.
_
3. Gardening is the epitome of both the local food movement + self-sufficiency.
Tending to your own garden? If so, you have no need for produce shipped from other continents. You can eat content knowing that neither your fruits nor your vegetables created carbon emissions in transit; that’s because your produce didn’t sit on a diesel-burning refrigerator with wheels for days + days.
And when you grow your own food? You’re less reliant on big business to do it for you.
Gardening Tips for Beginners
Today I’m giving you my gardening tips for beginners that also happen to be low-waste and come with a very small upfront cost.
Before we dive in, a quick note: I use the term gardening loosely. Gardening does not have to mean tilling part of your yard to make way for rows of crops.
Gardening can simply mean growing something, one thing, even, in the space you have. Maybe it’s a small raised bed on your deck. Or maybe it’s growing basil, parsley or mint on your fire escape so you don’t have to purchase herbs at the grocery store in that plastic box for a few months.
My goal is to entice you to grow SOMEthing (perhaps you’ll even learn to enjoy the experience!). Here are my best low-waste gardening tips for beginners:
Gardening Tip #1: Get your tools
Spades, shovels, hoes + rakes:
It’s worth investing in quality tools that will last several years rather than buying cheap ones that may break + need to be replaced. That said, don’t spend significant money upfront, especially if you aren’t sure gardening is a hobby you’ll stick with.
When it comes to zero-waste gardening, it pays to keep an eye out for good second-hand tools. Try Freecycle, check out garage sales or borrow from a fellow gardener.
If the minimalist in you wants no part of acquiring + storing a collection of gardening tools, go bare-bones. Know that all you really need is a spade; you can create a makeshift spade out of a milk jug for free.
Need to keep the critters out?
Netting is plastic. Ask around; can you take netting off someone else’s hands?
Alternately, if you have an old dog crate in your basement, grow your most susceptible crops within (hey there, strawberries!).
Plant labels:
Here’s a great gardening tip for beginners: There’s no need to purchase those fancy plastic sticks. Repurpose your bamboo toothbrush into a plant label by writing directly on the handle with permanent marker + snapping off the bristles. Or repurpose the stick from your child’s popsicle treat for the same purpose.
Gardening Tip for Beginners #2: Get Composting
All that compost you’ve diligently saved all year long? Congratulations, you’ve created the perfect nutrient-rich base for your vegetable garden!
I’ve said it before + I’ll say it again: When it comes to zero-waste gardening, composting is the holy grail. That’s because composting uses the entire food item so nary a speck goes to waste.
Thanks to the magic of composting, last year’s fruit + vegetables scraps provide this year’s garden with a healthy, robust life source.
Having homegrown compost eliminates the need to purchase fertilizer in that plastic bag, too. Forego fertilizer completely + embrace compost: Add as much organic compost to your soil as possible or up to 20% of the total soil makeup.
3. Start from seeds
Purchasing established plants from the garden store can get pricey. But starting your garden from seed? That’s free, especially if you saved seeds from last year’s produce.
Growing plants from seed enables you to skirt around those pesky plastic pots, too:
As with anything plastic, the harder + more durable plastic pots are easy to recycle – but because they’re so durable they can also be reused easily year after year.
Those flimsy plastic seed starters are another story. Soft plastic is increasingly hard to recycle. Soft plastic doesn’t last all that long, either: It rips or cracks after a single use.
If you buy plants + have plastic pots leftover, save what you can for your future growing needs + return the rest to your garden center. Don’t recycle them, as recycling systems are overburdened as it is.
When growing plants from seeds, get creative as you also go plastic-free. Use egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, newspaper rolls, paper cups + eggshells to hold your seedlings before transplanting them into bigger pots or directly into the garden.
Make miniature greenhouses for your seedlings by placing them inside a clear plastic bottle (a lemonade bottle, for example) or a plastic strawberry container. Homemade greenhouses create hardy seedlings ready to be planted outside when the weather is right.
Got old, expired seed packets lying around? So the date of expiration has passed. Plant them anyway + cross your fingers. If they take, you’ve gained. If they don’t, you’ve lost nothing.
4. Waste zero water
Here are 4 tricks for making the most of water during the growing season:
Mulch after you plant.
A layer of shredded leaves or straw will keep in moisture, prevent weeds, keep soil temperature stable + add nutrition to the soil as it breaks down.
Invest in a rain barrel.
If you live in a single-family home, hook your rain barrel up to a downspout on the exterior of your home + watch it fill up remarkably fast.
Get creative.
I have two dehumidifiers in my basement. When the dehumidifiers fill, I use that water to water the garden.
Repurpose plastic.
Cut off the bottom of your plastic containers to make a funnel + bury the spout so that it’s pointed to the roots of your plants. When you water, place water directly into the funnel. This encourages water to go exactly where it’s needed: the roots.
Gardening Tips for Beginners: The Final Word
If you’re thinking of taking the plunge + attempting your first garden, here are 5 final suggestions:
1. Plant fewer plants.
Eggplant! Heirloom yellow peppers! Brandywine tomatoes!
It’s so easy to get carried away, especially if you purchase established plants from a garden center. Reign yourself in + garden on the small scale in your first year.
_
2. Stick to easy plants.
Salad greens are notoriously easy to grow, as are herbs. I successfully grow sugar snap peas + green beans with very little effort, too.
Save the more temperamental plants (cauliflower, melons, onions) for down the road when you’ve acquired additional know-how.
_
3. Keep your expectations low.
Beginners looking for gardening tips should consider using their first garden as an experiment. This way, if things awry, you won’t be too disappointed.
On the flip side, you’ll be very, very pleased if you yield some crops.
_
4. Location, location, location.
Most vegetable plants do best in full sun, so plant your garden in a location that gets at least six hours of it each day.
In order to provide equal sun exposure to all your plants, place the tallest ones on the north or west sides so they don’t shade the smaller plants.
_
5. Be patient with pests.
I believe that chemicals have no place in a food garden. That’s because, by exercising patience, nature usually takes care of the pest problem.
If you must resort to insecticides, apply them responsibly. Never apply pesticides in the morning when pollinators are most active. Finally, do so with full knowledge that synthetic + even many organic/natural pesticides kill beneficial insects, too.
Happy growing!
