What do you wish someone had told you when you first started gardening?

How about some hints or tips that are working well for you?

Here's one: paint the handles of your garden tools a bright color...it makes them a little harder to lose!

GO SLOWWWWWWWWWW!!

Start out small, and don't over do it!

Then go bigger once you get more knowledge
and really know you love of gardening...

Research what you want in your garden and make sure it will grow good in your area. All plants do not do well in all area's. Keep your tools up so you don't trip over them(advise from sidewalk crack inspector) Main thing is adopt a pet from your loacl shelter that makes gardening more fun, them helping you dig in the garden.
Jimmy

A Crack Inspector

My tip is to go slow...don't plan a huge garden or flower bed that you either don't have the time to take care of or don't know how to take care of it...This will led to a big disappointment. I do have to admit bright colors on garden tools would be handy, that is unless you want to wear yourself out looking for them....DH painted all of mine forest green, think I should tell him he painted them the wrong color????

Get plants free from friends and family!

Really learn about fertilizers,
what they can and can't do.....

Or what they do to a plant,
and which plants don't need it...

Many new gardener's kill plants
with too much kindness more than neglect...

I try talking with other gardeners, especially the ones that have been at it for a long time. They have learned with practice. Don't be afraid to stop at someones home & ask questions. I'm sure the gardener would feel proud to answer any & all questions you have. Happy Gardening, StanetteTN6

I have a tip for poor or bad soil...I live where they buried junk, which means I have a ton of glass in my dirt. So...what I do is buy a bag of potting soil, till with my baby tiller and toss my seeds on top, then cover with the potting soil. That way I'm not digging in the glass...or other junk that was buried here.

and too I work small areas. I had to just to start a yard, my house sits on top of what was a wheat field. so we started cleaing the junk up and started grass in small areas, each year we would decide where we planned to clean and what we wanted there. It's slow, but well worth it.

I save the seeds from peppers and tomatoes I buy at the grocery store. They don't always grow or give you the same results as the original fruit, but many times you will be pleasantly surprised!

Wow,what a great thread.

So many good things I wish someone would have told me in the beginning.

I grew up on a farm ,so I learned a lot about growing things as a child.When I was older and had my own place. I only had space for container gardening.

So my number 1 tip ( I wish someone would've told me)
Container gardening is great,(you can grow anything)but in the high heat of summer,you must water every day.

I wish someone told me to plant more evergreen shrubs, as they make a big diffrences in the winter garden. And to add a lot of flowering shrubs as they are pretty low maintance .
swin

To test the soil. Find out which seeds I wanted to plant and amend the soil accordingly. To plan the garden for different sun requirements; so, I didn't end up moving the plants all over the place and losing so many of them. That annuals usually bloom longer than perennials. That I need to select my plants so that I have blooms all year long or at least interesting things going on. Many plants have interesting seed pods and such that look good during the winter or even with ice crystals hanging from them.

Also that hardening is necessary for most seedlings that are being taken from indoors to outdoors. Also that some flowers need to be planted in the fall.

Boy there is so much I wish I had known lol.

I wish someone would have told me not to stress so much! I did so much reading and tried to be perfect at everything! You have to sometimes let nature take it's course...You'll end up with stronger plants if you don't baby them too much.

Christina, you're right....
More plants end up dying from over pampering..
than lack of something..

This goes along with the above. Be patient. The best planted garden isn't going to look like your dream-idea by next week. Plants take time to establish and grow. Some days there won't be anything to do, so don't do anything.

Very good advice Margaret!!! Be patient, But once you get the dirt really under your fingernails, you relish each moment of the growth of a plant...That YOU planted that seed yourself and coaxed it in to planthood and oh how proud we are of this cherished plant and then comes the biggest reward: It is when someone compliments you on your plant/plants...All that patient time paid off

You wouldn't believe some the stuff I have dug up in my garden spot. Somebody had a metal pile there at one time. I have picked a 5 gal bucket full of metal. I have almost a full set of steak knives.

Also there is one spot that refuses to grow anything, I am not sure what was dumped or buried there.

I just keep picking this stuff out, I don't want to have to remove any more barded wire from my tiller tines again!! WHAT A MESS THAT WAS!!!

MY SUGGESTION IS :
DO A 4 BY 4 PLOT TO START......YOU CAN HOE AND WEED IT FROM ALL SIDES......

START WITH 3 TOMATOES AND ONE PEPPER PLANT.
THEY DO NOT NEED ANY EXTRA FOOD TO GROW THEM
THEN LET YOUR MIND WANDER FOR 2007.


GOOD LUCK ,HAPPY NEW YEAR.
DODGE

Amigatec - would your barren spot be right for container gardening surrounded by gravel maybe?

It is in the end of my Asparagus bed. Planted Asparagus there twice and it refuses to grow there.

This is a WONDERFUL thread...I'm wondering why Barley didn't come up with it sooner?

I wish someone would have told me that that pretty pumpkin I used for decoration on the porch would make 37 baby pumpkins come up in my FLOWER bed!!!

Seriously, I wish I would have not started out by planting so close together...you look at those baby plants and you just want to get as many in that bed as you can... It still ended up fun and productive...and it is STILL hard for me to do "less"...but I am getting better!

I also wish I would have been more aware about the pests that I would be battling in my area...(WHITEFLIES..ARGHHHH) I would have tried to be a little more prepared for the battle!

I absolutely LOVE the hint of painting your garden tool handles a bright color...you know how much time I spend looking for those darn things!!!!


~V~

I wish someone had told me what fungus gnats were! When I first started gardening I had tons od little pots with stor-bought soil, and before I knew it we were INFESTED. It was like that movie "The Birds" only my house was "The Gnats". Freaky! It was too clod outside to put my plants out, so we suffered with them until I finally called a nursery and they helped me figure out how to get rid of them!

Clod = cold