It’s sometimes good to get back to the basic principles of gardening.
You may either be gardening for the very first time, or in a completely different style of garden than you are used to.
If your garden needs to be redesigned or is too overgrown, I would recommend that you go back to basics.
What are the most important things every gardener should know? These are the things that I think really matter when it comes to gardening. After the list, I will explain them in greater detail.
The 14 most important gardening tips that you need to be aware of
- Do nothing at first. Sit in different parts of the garden. Sit in different places.
- What you have already is worth assessing. How big is your garden? What’s already in the garden?
- What’s your climate? What is your climate and what’s the weather? Your climate and soil type will both affect the way your garden grows.
- Learn how to recognize weeds. Pay a friend who is knowledgeable about gardening or ask a professional to help you identify the major weeds in your garden several times during the summer. You can take photos to help you identify them when you find them.
- List the things you would like to see in your garden. All year long, beautiful flowers? Where to go for entertainment? Wildlife friendly?
- What is your personal style? What’s your style?
- What is the location of the sun? What areas have shade? The plants will tolerate a lot of shade or sun, but they won’t accept too much.
- Do you want to test your soil? Do not worry if you do not like charts and test tubes. This is an ideal, not a must-have.
- The key to a successful garden is watering. Water your garden regularly and plant according to the rainfall in your area.
- What is your time limit? Focus on perennials, bulbs, trees and shrubs if you are short of time. An annual or bedding plant is more difficult to grow. See the post below for a definition.
- It’s not necessary to have a lot of gardening tools. You can start with the most important garden tools, or the best quality versions.
- Look for reliable sources. Begin with a list of gardening tasks for each month (such as RHS, BBC Gardeners World), and then look up individual tasks via YouTube or blogs. YouTube and blogs are often more detailed or more personalized to you.
- You should visit other gardens in your area. It is likely that if a plant does well a few kilometers away, it’ll do well in your garden.
- Ask. There is no such thing as an “inane question.”
- It’s worth hiring a professional gardener if you can.
Beginners or new gardeners should start with this tip.
A friend or member of the family will often ask, ‘we have a new garden – now what?’
Do nothing. I’m always the one to say it. Take out a few chairs and sit down. Pour yourself a beverage. Watch the sunrise or sunset and its location. Watch how the sun changes with different seasons.
You can start by listing what you have, such as sheds, terraces and trees. It’s expensive to buy new ones, but you might be able adapt your existing structures.
The garden is asleep if you are moving into a house during winter. You should wait until the summer is over before you decide to make any major changes. The gardens will be a mess by July because they grow so fast.
Don’t remove or cut down anything immediately. Learn about the garden before you start. Many people remove a large tree, only to find out that it is now ignored or exposed an obnoxious streetlight! It might have made more sense to prune and shape the tree.
What is your weather?
What happened last week or yesterday is your weather. Climate is your overall weather pattern and it is defined largely by the extreme temperatures you experience. The Gulf Stream is responsible for the UK’s mild climate.
There are USDA Hardiness zones in the USA. As one of the basic principles of gardening, everyone with a yard seems to be familiar with their zone of hardiness. The majority of gardeners are able to tell you whether they fall into Zone 5 or Zone 9.
We are a bit vague in the UK. Knowing your local weather, climate and which plants thrive in your area will make a huge difference to the way you garden.
It’s important to realize that the main factor is how cold it gets during winter. If temperatures remain below a specific level, many plants will die. A USDA Hardiness Zone of 9 means that temperatures rarely drop below minus 6 Celsius (21 Fahrenheit). South East England is roughly equivalent to Zone 9 except in the US, Zone 9 will be hotter in summer.
The important thing to do is know the temperature of your garden in winter. Check if the plants that you are buying can withstand this winter climate. Labels will often include some details. Plants that are grown or sold in your area will be more likely to adapt to the local weather.
Learn about your plants…
It’s true that if you miss a year of weeding, it will result in seven years’ seeding. But don’t be alarmed. You can find weeds seeds in fields, gardens and on highways miles away. It’s impossible to eradicate them completely. The picture won’t change much if you neglect them for a summer.
Two types of weeds exist. The seeds of annual weeds can be dropped on the ground by birds, or carried around in the air. The root system of perennial weeds allows them to spread under the ground. The perennial weeds return year after year.
You can hire a gardener or ask a friend who is knowledgeable to help you identify different types of weeds over the course of the summer. You can take photos of the weeds on your smartphone and pull them out as soon as you spot them.