My best gardening advice for beginners

As I mentioned in my previous article, many people I talk to are intimidated by starting out in the garden. So here are my basics. Work with these and you'll be fine!

  1. Feed the soil.

Too often people are so busy worrying about what an individual plant needs, what nutrients it needs, what water it needs, etc. But if you keep your soil well-fed and mulched, it will not get waterlogged or parched. It will not often suffer from mineral deficiencies. The best food for soil is a variety of green or dried organic waste; compost, non-invasive weeds, pond mud, silt, hay, straw, seaweed, twigs, wood chips, sawdust, and in small amounts, nitrogen-rich organic waste such as coffee grounds and animal manure. 

  1. Start small.

Don’t go crazy when you’re just starting out, you will exhaust yourself and won’t be able to maintain it. You’ll then be less motivated to carry on.

  1. Visit often.

Spend time in your garden on a daily or at LEAST weekly basis. Enjoy pottering around in there, even if you only have 5 minutes. You will spot things that need to be attended to before they kill your plants and you will have a much higher success rate. Tuck a few more seeds or seedlings in while you’re there!

  1. Be persistent.


Things go wrong. Celebrate the little victories (and the big ones!) and dwell on those, not the failures that are bound to happen. Remember that every bit of organic matter you add to your soil will build up to create a soil that is better and better each season and each year. You will get better each season and year too!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kids and apologies

I have been thinking lately about kids and apologies. It’s a subject I have given a lot of thought over the years. “Do we make our kids say sorry?” “How do you get a child to mean it?” etc. We had a recent event which I felt was a wonderful picture of success so I thought I might share about it in the hope that it helps some others. We have just had easter, which means the kids are rich with chocolate (for a few days!) My seven-year-old came in to my bedroom and said “Mum, three of my cream eggs are missing!” Then began the investigation into who was the thief. “Did you take the eggs?” starting from the youngest and working our way up, looking for the shifting eyes and the uneasy denial. We found the culprit. After establishing that Miss four did, indeed, take Mr. seven’s eggs, we began our now-usual, long-winded process of helping our child to own her fault, take responsibility, find empathy and create recompense and reconciliation. Because that’s what we’re after, re
Read more

Biting the bullet

My last few posts have been about gardening, but I had a bit of a revelation the other day. I’m writing about gardening not because it is my main passion (though it is definitely high on the list!) but because it feels safer than the other things I would like to blog about. Gulp. God told me at the beginning of this year that one of my words for this year was COURAGE. My awesome husband asked me a challenging question from a blog post he read. “What would you do if you were ten times bolder?” The follow-on from that was If you could answer with anything, then you are letting fear restrict your life, your destiny. My instinctive response was that I would write a blog. I love writing but have felt that insidious whisper of fear “You think you have something to offer?” “You think there isn’t already someone out there who has said it better?” “You think you know more than the people who would read it??” Oh man. Fear sucks! Seriously, doesn’t it??
Read more

What to do when you are Never Enough

I shared a few posts ago that I realised I had been writing many posts on gardening because it was easier than the topics I feel more deeply. Don’t get me wrong, I am passionate about gardening, I love it. It’s my happy place. But it doesn’t leave me vulnerable. It doesn’t dig deep to share my struggles. So, deep breath… I want to write about when you feel like you are never enough. When every night, you go to bed with your head full of the things you did wrong that day. When you keep busy; watch tv, scan facebook, listen to podcasts in your every waking moment because it provides a much-needed reprieve from the voices in your head. When those voices in your head are always finding fault, tearing you down, comparing your life and your actions unfavourably to others. I have to confess I have struggled with this all my life. Always feeling like others have it sorted out more than I do. I share my happy things on facebook and people say to me “Oh wow, you’re so amaz
Read more