Gardening Basics for Beginners: Your First Step to a Home Harvest

Many people start gardening because they want to escape from the city, or they want to grow their own healthy food, and for every new gardener. 

You can avoid common mistakes and enjoy every part of the process, and we will look at everything from choosing the perfect spot and planting your very first easy-to-grow plants to using iPhone plant ID.

Choosing a Spot and Planning

The success of your future garden starts even before you put a shovel in the ground, as it begins with a careful look at your plot of land, and it does not matter if it is a small flower bed or a big vegetable garden, the main ideas are the same.

The Sun Is Your Best Friend

This is probably the most important thing because most vegetables and flowers that you want to have in your garden need a lot of sun, needing at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight every day. 

Without enough sun, leaves can turn yellow, and the plants might not grow flowers or fruit, which is why you must watch your plot during the day to see where the sun stays the longest and where there are no shadows from the house, shed, or tall trees. 

If you do not have such a sunny place, you can always choose plants that like shade, like spinach, lettuce, broccoli, or some decorative flowers.

Easy Access to Water

Plants need water, and the closer the water source is, such as a well or a faucet with a garden hose, the less work you will have to do to water them, since carrying heavy watering cans is not easy, especially on a hot summer day, so you should think about your watering system from the beginning.

Protection from the Wind

Strong winds can hurt small plants and break their stems or even make the soil too dry, which is why placing your garden beds near a fence or the side of a building can provide the needed protection, and if you have no natural protection, you can build temporary walls from a special cloth or net.

Planning the Beds

When you have found the perfect spot, it is time to plan, so you should take a paper and a pencil and draw a map of your plot, marking the chosen area, and then you can decide what kind of garden beds you want.

• Ground beds are the simplest and most common type, where you just mark the borders and work with the soil on the ground.

• Raised beds are wooden boxes that you fill with good soil, which are easy to build, get warm faster in the spring, let water pass through well, and make it simple to control the soil quality. 

A good width for a garden bed is 80-120 cm, which is comfortable for working on both sides, and the length can be what you like, as long as it is comfortable for you; also, you should make sure there is enough space between the beds to walk and use a wheelbarrow.

Soil Types: How to Find and Improve Them

Soil is the base of everything, and how well your plants grow depends on its type, but you do not need to be an expert to find out what kind of soil you have, as there are two simple ways to check.

1. Checking with Your Hands

You can take a handful of wet soil and make a ball.

• If the ball does not stay together and falls apart when you press it in your hand, you have sandy soil.

• If the ball stays together, but it falls apart when you try to make a "snake" with it, you have loamy soil.

• If you can easily make a "snake" and even bend it into a circle, you have clay soil.

2. Checking in a Jar

You can put a handful of soil in a clear jar, add water, close it, and shake it well, then you should wait for 30-40 minutes; the clay will sink to the bottom first, then the sand, and the organic parts will be on top, and this way you can see the different parts and find out what kind of soil you have.

Now let's see how to work with each type:

• Sandy soil is light and lets water go through it quickly, which means that the food for the plants washes away, and the plants can suffer from not having enough water, so the main job is to make it hold more water and be more fertile by adding organic material like compost or peat, which helps the soil hold water and food better.

• Clay soil is heavy and dense and does not let water pass through easily, which means the plant roots do not get enough air, and there is a chance they will get sick, so the main goal is to make the soil better for water and air by adding organic material like compost or sand, which will make the soil lighter and let air through better.

• Loamy soil is the perfect type of soil because it has a good mix of sand, clay, and organic parts, so it is good for water, air, and plant food.

Basic Tools: Your Gardener's Kit

You do not need to buy everything at once, as for a good start, you will only need a few basic tools.

• A spade shovel is needed for digging, moving plants, and making garden beds, so you should choose one that has a good handle and a strong blade

• A scoop shovel is good for moving soil, sand, or plant food

• A rake is needed for cleaning leaves and for making the soil flat and ready for planting

• A hoe is a great tool for taking out weeds and for making the soil loose

• A pruner is very important for cutting small branches and for getting your harvest

• A wheelbarrow is good for moving heavy things like soil, compost, or your harvest

• A watering can or hose is needed for watering plants every day

• Gloves will protect your hands, so you should choose ones that are strong but not too big

Getting Seeds and Seedlings Ready

Growing seedlings is a mix of art and science, and it helps you get an earlier and bigger harvest and also grow plants that might not be ready in your climate if you plant them directly in the garden.

Soaking seeds. Some seeds, especially those with a thick cover like peas or beans, can be soaked in warm water for a few hours or overnight to help them grow faster.

Treating seeds. Some seeds, especially if you buy them without a package, can be treated to keep them from getting sick, and you can do this with a weak water mix or with special products.

Growing Seedlings at Home

• Pots. You can use special plastic trays or just old plastic cups with a small hole in the bottom for water.

• Soil. You must not use normal garden soil because it can have weeds and diseases; instead, you should buy special soil for seedlings from a store, as it is clean and light.

• Planting. Put the soil into the cups, press it down a little, and water it, then make small holes and plant the seeds, with the hole usually being two or three times the size of the seed.

• Conditions. You must put the pots in a warm and bright place where the temperature is about +20-25°C, and when the small plants appear, you should give them a lot of light, using special lamps if the natural light is not enough.

• Watering. Water the seedlings carefully so you do not wash them away, and you should use a spray bottle or pour water near the base of the plant, but you must not give them too much water.

Making Seedlings Stronger

About one or two weeks before you plant them outside, you should start to make them stronger by taking them outside for an hour, then two hours, and slowly for longer periods of time, and this will help the plants get used to the wind, sun, and changing temperatures so they can grow better in their new place.

First Steps: Planting Easy Crops

To not feel bad at the beginning, you should start with plants that will almost always grow well, because they grow fast, they do not need a lot of work, and they give you a harvest in just a few weeks, and for this, a tool like the AI Plant Finder app can help you find out if a plant is sick.

• Dill. You can plant dill right in the garden as soon as the snow is gone, and the seeds can take a long time to grow, so you can soak them first. 

It does not need a lot of care, and you will have fresh dill all summer long if you plant it again every 2-3 weeks.

• Radish. This plant is very fast, as it goes from a seed to a vegetable in only 20-30 days, and it likes cool and bright weather, so the best time to plant is in the early spring or late summer. 

You can plant radishes in rows with 15-20 cm between them, and after the plants grow, you can make more space between them, about 5-7 cm.

• Lettuce. This is another easy plant for new gardeners, as it grows fast, and you can cut some of the leaves as you need them without taking out the whole plant.

Lettuce likes wet soil and cool weather, and if you plant different types, you will have different shapes and tastes.

Your first actions in the garden:

1. Get the garden bed ready. Dig the soil, make it flat with a rake, and take out all the weeds and stones.

2. Plant the seeds. Make small lines in the soil and plant the seeds, following the instructions on the package; the hole is usually 1-2 cm deep.

3. Water the soil. Carefully water the bed with a watering can with small holes, and the soil should be wet, but not too wet.

Wait and watch. Now all you have to do is wait, watering the garden when needed, making sure the soil does not get too dry, and waiting for the first small plants to grow.