Beginner’s Guide to Start Gardening: How to Get Started
Gardening is like creating a little piece of paradise right in your own backyard, or on the rooftop, or even on your windowsill. If you’ve ever thought about growing your own flowers, herbs, or veggies but felt overwhelmed by where to start, you’re in the right place. Let’s dig into how you can start gardening from scratch, no matter how much (or how little) space you have.
Who does not like plants? It can calm our mind as well as help us to get distracted from the chaos of our daily life. Whether you live in an urban city or a village, whether you have a small space or a big one, have a lawn or not, making a garden is much easier than you think.
You can find many blogs about how to get started in gardening on the internet. There, they might start discussing about many things like how to set up the garden considering your location, how much space do you have, what tools should you buy, what is the quality and pH of your soil etc. etc. But I think the first step of starting a garden is JUST STARTING IT. Yeah, you’ve heard it right. Just start what you have right now, with the tools you have, with the soil you can manage, buy some little fertilizers, and use pots you already have or utilize the lawn of your backyard. Of course, the other steps are important, but these things could be figure out later on. You can follow my blogs to know about the tips and tricks to gardening.
My Gardening Story: From Curiosity to Passion
When I started gardening, I bought a rose seedling and plated it in a pot. Slowly, my garden grown and became a wonderful garden. I would not say it’s a big garden or a perfect garden, but at least I feel satisfied when I see the greenery of my garden. In my journey, I’ve grown many plants, made some mistakes, made some progresses and many more. But at the end of the when a new flower blooms, it just makes me feel like I’ve succeeded as a gardener. The garden became my personal escape, a place where I could disconnect from the stresses of daily life and just focus on something simple yet so rewarding. Though there are so many things untouched for me to learn in gardening.
The Magic of Gardening: A Life Full of Color
When you start gardening as a hobby, slowly it becomes a passion. Then it gets involved with your life. Gardening is more than just an activity—it’s an experience that calms the mind and nourishes the soul. Just imagine this, you step out to your rooftop or backyard and see a breathtaking display of flowers and greenery. All the different variation of colors really stands out against the greenery. As for the smell—oh, the smell! The air smells like a mix of beautiful fragrant breeze of the scent of flowers and earthy soil, which instantly calms you down.
It’s not just about how nice your garden looks. It’s about how you feel. It’s very satisfying to take care of plants, watch them grow, and see them blooming into something beautiful. It’s like each flower is a little achievement for you that shows how much love and care can do. What about that sense of having done something good? It really can’t be explained into words.
Starting your own rooftop or backyard garden:
Are you prepared to begin growing your own plants? It’s not as hard as you might think to start a garden, no matter how big or small your backyard is. This is how you can begin:
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Finding the Right Spot:
The first step would be finding the perfect and convenient spot on your rooftop or backyard for your garden. Make sure the spot gets enough sunlight, as most of the flowering plants requires at least 6 hours of sunlight in a day. The place must be sturdy and easily accessible too. Also if there’s a spot with shadows, you can keep it for propagating plants and making composts.
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Selecting the containers for planting:
If you are starting gardening in pots, then you must select the pots or containers according to your plants. The beauty of container gardening is that you can move them around and experiment with different layouts. Choose pots with sufficient drainage holes to prevent water from clogging on the bottom and ending up rotting the roots of the plants. Plastic pots are light weighted and easier to handle. But I don’t recommend you to use it as it’s harmful for the environment if not recycled. Instead, terra cotta pots are not only a great option for a rustic look and having aesthetic vibes on your garden, but also, they are excellent at retaining moistures.
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Choosing Your Plants:
Well, that’s up to you what plants you are planning to keep on your garden. But keep in mind they are easy to maintain as you are just starting. Also, some plants are different for different geographic locations, so you might not get the same results. Different cares for different plants will be updated on Greeny Tales, so keep an eye on the blogs.
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Soil and Fertilization
Find the soil available near you and make a potting mix with fertilizers. For starting, avoid using chemical fertilizers as it can kill your plants if the perfect quantity is not maintained. Organic fertilizers like compost or worm castings are great for long-term plant health. Some uses cow dung as compost too, but make sure it’s dry enough. You can also make compost easily in your own garden with the daily wastes from your kitchen. To keep your plants healthy, feed them with a balanced fertilizer every few weeks.
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Watering and Care
Watering is one of the most important things for the plants to survive. If you’re starting container gardening, then it’s the mandatory thing to water your plants. But it’s important to keep the right balance on water. You should water often to the plants but you should keep aware if it’s too much water or not. Too much water can lead to root rot, while too little can cause your plants to wilt. The thumb rule is to water your plants when the top inch of soil feels dry. During hotter months, you may need to water more frequently. And again, different kinds of plants need different quantities of water.
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Enjoy your beautiful sanctuary
Now it’s time to enjoy your new garden when the flowers start to bloom. You can spend your mornings or evenings on your garden and enjoy the peace and quiet you’ve created. You can read a book or just enjoy the view. This space will become your little escape from the world, a place where you can relax and replenish.
Embracing the Process
It takes work to start your own garden on your rooftop or in your backyard. It’s not just the plants or flowers that matter; it’s also the time you spend making something grow from nothing. On the process you may make some mistakes and be sad about it. But A Gardener, Janet Kilburn Phillips, said once, “There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments.” You can make improvements and make your garden more beautiful. You may also face some challenges on the journey. Maybe that’s what makes gardening a journey to happiness. The true gift of gardening is the peace, focus, and happiness it brings into your life. The beauty you create is just a bonus for you.
Before you plant, get a pot and your favorite plants. You’ll soon realize that what you’ve grown is more than just a garden—it shows how much love and care you’ve put into it. That, my friend, is the best part of gardening.
I wish you all the best to embrace the journey of Gardening. Happy Planting.
