Topics

Gardening Basics: 4 Easy Steps to Get Beginners Growing

Beginner gardening

If you are new to gardening, it can seem overwhelming. But even for the newest gardeners, growing delicious food and beautiful flowers can be super simple! We want to give you all of the information you need to succeed, so we’ll cover every base of the gardening basics for you. There are certainly a lot of factors to consider, just take a deep breath, and we will walk you through things step-by-step.

Gardening Basics for Beginners

The basics of gardening include planning ahead, having the right tools, designing your garden space, and selecting the right seeds. This overview for beginners will familiarize you with these 4 gardening basics. From here, you can link to more in-depth gardening and growing guides.

1 - Planning

Planning should be your first step. The size, location, light, and status of the soil are all important factors in how you set up your garden. Also, when will you need to plant each type of seed, how often will you commit to the maintenance of your garden, and when will you harvest your fruits and veggies?

Follow these links for more in-depth coverage of each topic:

Soil Testing

Sun vs. Shade

Raised Beds vs. Rows

You can do all of this planning in your head or on a piece of paper so that nothing gets lost in translation. A gardening journal to record all of your thoughts, goals, and observations will be a huge help in planning your garden.

Your Spring Planning Guide: 6 Steps for Successful Summer Gardens

2 - Gardening Tools

Next, you will want to make sure you have all the tools you need to install and maintain your garden. Gloves, hand trowels, and watering cans are some of the essentials to start with.

If you’re working with a small area, you may only need smaller hand tools. However, if you’ve decided to work on a larger garden this year, you’ll probably want to invest in some larger tools. Wheelbarrows and spading forks can be helpful in large gardens.

What Do I Need to Get Started? Essential Gardening Tools for Beginners

3 - Designing Your Garden

Designing your garden will also be a fun and necessary step to take in these beginning stages. Part of the design process is deciding what arrangement to put your precious plants in. You can design for ease by putting plants that will be ready to harvest first closer to the front of your garden, or you could design for organization by putting all like plants together. Maybe you’ll decide to go with a color scheme or more of a permaculture design and integrate different types of plants next to each other. Or maybe you will use containers and raised beds.

With so many choices, you really have the freedom to find something that works best for your circumstances and resources.

Garden Design for Absolute Beginners: 6 Tips for Success

4 - Growing From Seed

Finally, the seeds are the most important part! Understanding the seeds you are planting is the only way you will have plants that grow.

We explain in-depth how to read our seed packets to ensure success.

Growing a garden with heirloom seeds will give you a wide variety of choices to choose from.

To get started growing a vegetable garden, take a look at the easiest vegetables to grow from seed.

If it's flowers that you want to grow, these are the easiest flowers to grow from seed.

In our Planter's Library, we talk about why planting from seed is such a fun and rewarding way to grow your plants. You will learn how to grow each variety with our growing guides.