5 Gardening Tips for Beginners

This past March, I made the decision to finally commit to learning more about gardening, and what it takes to have a real “green thumb”. I’ve never been able to keep anything alive, but I’d attribute that mostly to me lacking the time and dedication needed to really nurture these creatures.

In preparation from gardening season, I began growing some seedlings indoors, so when the weather on the northeast got warmer, I would be ready to transfer them outdoors into my garden (here is the raised garden bed I built. I got it off amazon). During this process, I learned a few gardening beginner tips and I want to share them so if you’re trying to get into gardening for the first time like me, you’ll find it less intimidating.

1. You need less than $20 to get started

   • You don’t need a huge budget to get started. I went to Home Depot and purchases a large bag of Miracle Gro potting soil and some seeds. Everything was under $15. I wouldn’t recommend purchasing any pots just yet. Keep things lean and cheap to begin with.

2. Use household items to begin seedlings

   • You can begin growing your seeds (aka seedlings) in old egg cartons or in boxes using old paper towel/tissue cardboard tubes. I show the whole process here. You can even use old plastic water bottles, cut the bottoms off so you have 3-4 inches and put holes in the bottom for drainage. Point is, you can find all of these items in your home to grow your seeds for about 1.5 months before transferring them over to a pot.

3. Save seeds from you kitchen

   • When your in the kitchen, be mindful of all the seeds you can collect, When you have tomatoes, bell peppers, canteloupes, cucumbers, lemons, just about anything with seeds, save them. Some of them won’t grow, but many of them will. This will prevent you from having to go out and purchase seeds, when you can just collect them from the foods you are already consuming in your kitchen.

4. Do your own research

   • Thanks to the likes of TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, there are so many visual aids out there to show you how to embark of your gardening journey. I recommend taking the time to also read and learn more specific details around gardening outside of just getting soil and planting seeds. All of your plants are going to require unique care and support, and it’s not a one size fits all approach. Take your time learning about what compost does for your plants, which vegetables you may need a trellis, the best fertilizers out there, and how to preserve your garden bed in the winter. I just started and I know there is so much for me to learn. So if you’re getting into gardening, setting the expectation that continuous learning is inevitable is so important.

5. Ditch the pressure! Have fun!

   • My philosophy around gardening as a beginner is to keep the pressure low. It’s the same as if you’re trying to live a healthier lifestyle and you go cold turkey vegan and start working out 7 days a week. It’s not sustainable. It’s best to approach gardening by familiarizing yourself with playing in the soil, planting seeds, killing some of your plants (we all do), and learning the patience game. This is all trial and error and you will make mistakes, so it’s best to keep the stakes low and start with an open mind and a very cheap budget. That way, you won’t feel like you invested a whole ton of money if you realize gardening isn’t for you. Keep it light and fun.

I hope this was helpful and inspires you to try something new very soon! Here are some pics of my gardening journey thus far.

XOXO

Tiff