Any Tips for someone new in gardening?

I have this new interest now and that is caring for the yard. I haven't tried gardening all my life except in school projects. I live in the Northwest Coast and it is spring and I want to put up a garden. I read online that there are kinds of flowers,plants, etc and they fall into categories such as annual, perrenial and others. Wow this is all new to me the language of plants and I want to get down on my knees and start a garden. What plants and flowers and herbs should be easy to grow for starters like me? And does anyone give free seedlings, seeds,plants,flowers to grow? just trying my luck.. Thank you and have a wonderful and lovely springtime..we get rains here though…

Do I ever have some suggestions for you. I do landscape design, amoung other things and always enjoy sharing information.

The very first thing you want to do is buy a 2 cubic foot bag of soil conditioner from Home Depot or a good nursery. It will cost you 6 - 8 dollars and condition a good size garden. Spread the soil conditioner evenly over the surface of the ground. If there is less than 2 inches of compost after spreading, You'll need a second bag.

No one can tell you what plants you can grow without knowing your sun exposure.

The main catagories of plants are

Annuals (they grow this year and don't come back next year. However, your colder climate means some plants which are annuals there, In our warmer climate, become)

Perenials (Perenials are plants that bear foilage year round, Evergreen, if you will. They may bloom at any point throughout the growing season depending on the plant. There is a second type of Perenial called)

Deciduous (Deciduous plants are those Perenials that go into a sort of hibernation for the winter and reapear when the climate warms. Many trees are deciduous. They loose their leaves in the fall and regrow them in the spring)

Conofers (Conifers are the evergreen trees and plants that have needle or needle like leaves such as pine trees)

Succulants (Cactus' are a major member of this catagory. These plants store water for use during dry times).

Bulbs and tuberous (These plants have storage underground for hard times)

So, back to the garden. A mixture of the different types of plants is usually the best solution for a garden. Lets say your garden gets some sun but it is Morning or Late Afternoon sun which lasts 4 hours or less. You should select plants that are labled Part or Partial Sun. In this type of exposure, azaleas are a good choice for the background or random spot planting. They will bloom their little hearts out for you each spring and remain green the year round. You might want to plant some Iris and or Holland bulbs (tulips etc…) for a dramatic effect in late Winter to Spring depending on your selection. These are Desiduous and will return eack year. Taller bulb plants are good planted 4 to 6 inches apart in groups of three, five or seven bulbs. The shorter bulb plants can be used as above or planted in a row as a border.

Monkey grass, Liriope, is a great border Perinial that enjoys partial shade. In fact there are a lot of grasses that work well in a Part sun garden.

I would reserve no more than 1/3 of your garden for annuals. This is the only way you can preserve a "finished" looking garden throughout the year. You would want plants that are labled, Part sun or Part shade. Just go to your garden center once a month and pick up what is blooming. Replace the plants that are spent with the new bloomers within this 1/3 alloted area.

If a plant calls for full sun, it means about 5 hours of sun per day. Due to the length of this answer, I would like to ask you to contact me through my profile and I will add full sun suggestions to this answer.

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Im looking for some great gardening websites. Ones with specific help with flowers. And not hgtv.com, and common ones that are well known. Ones that you may have come across that are real informative on flowers. Thanks!

I'm a gardener and I really like this site: http://davesgarden.com/

For specific plant information click on 'Guides and Information.'

Hope this helps!

I've decided to take gardening as a new hobby, but I know nothing about it. Could anyone give me tips on what "beginner" plants to grow or perhaps what materials should I use. Thanks!

Pick up a book called "Gardening for Dummies''… and no, I'm not being mean, it's a really great help for beginners!!….and my best tips are…

get a soil sample tested at your agriculture/county extension office
find a supplier of compost (landscape supply, likely)

work with your soil FIRST and get it as good as you can get it before you begin planting… cuz once you get those plants in, you cannot do much with your soil after that…. soil first, plants later….

I'm very interested in gardening, yet I'm very young and know NOTHING about it, so I'd really like some advice on how I can start or even recommendations on books that can get me started.

Welcome to the gardening world! I've made a shopping list for you.

*Potting Soil with continuous feeding plant food mixed in.
*A bag of Mulch.
*A gardening Hoe.
*Miracle Grow Liquid Fertilizer - the no mix kind.
*A Watering Can.
*Insect Spray - the kind that says it kills 100 different pests.
*Plants.

First of all, you should go to your local nursery and let them help you pick out plants/flowers that are the easiest to grow and maintain for first-timers. Picking out a difficult plant to grow will only discourage you. Next, prepare your growing area. Make it simple. Pull weeds from the roots, not just what you see above the ground. Otherwise, they'll come right back. After that, get a simple hand-held gardening hoe and a big bag of potting soil that has continuous feeding plant food in it. Get on your hands and knees and get dirty! Mix the potting soil with your dirt, use your hands, start to enjoy the feel of the earth, it'll go right to your soul. Next, make holes big enough to cover all the root of whatever you're planting. When you're planting something you bought from a store and it comes in those little plastic containers, be sure to squeeze the plastic container gently to loosen the dirt or you might pull the top of the plant right off (ahem….i've never done that, of course). If this happens, no worries, just plant the roots anyway. If you have a description tab in the plant and it says "full sun" or "part shade", listen to it. The growers mean what they say. Later in your gardening career you'll learn what plants will flourish with a little placement imagination of your own, but for now, follow those directions! Also, the description tab will have a diagram that shows you how far apart to space the plants when you put them in your freshly dug holes. For instance, you've decided to start with some lovely pink Petunias, the diagram tells you to space each plant 2 feet apart. It seems rather silly to space them that far since the plants are so small, tucked neatly in their tiny containers, right? Well, in about one quick month, those tiny Petunias will be crawling all over one another, fighting for ownership of their space and will eventually choke each other. So again, follow the grower's instructions. Same thing goes when planting seeds. The seed packet will have planting instructions. However, be kind to yourself, don't start with seeds. It's just too easy for seedlings to die from over-watering or under-watering and birds LOVE them. Just because you put plants that someone else started in your own dirt doesn't mean you're not a gardener! Mainenance is what it's all about. So after you've got your plants in the ground, get your bag of mulch and put big handfuls of it anywhere you see bare dirt. This will keep moisture where it belongs, in the ground, and weeds won't grow very well. You'll still have a few pop up so don't worry when you see them. Just reach down and pluck them right out. After mulching, fertilize. There are several great fertilizers, such as Miracle Grow, that don't require any mixing. You just buy, open, and pour! I like to use my watering can to fertilize. Miracle Grow says to pour the fertilizer over the leaves of the plants, then soak soil. You can also get time-released fertilizer pellets that you mix into the soil before you plant. Osmocote is a good brand. They make one for flowers and one for veggies. I usually get some Osmocote and toss some in the dirt whenever I plant, but I still always use my Miracle Grow! So after you've fertilized with the liquid, sit back and ENJOY your hard work. Take pictures! In two months you'll look back and be amazed at the gardener you've become. Remember to water on a regular basis. Not sure how often? Stick your finger in the dirt, close to the base of your plant. Is it dry? Water! Is it moist? Let it go another day and check again. Over anxious beginners LOVE to water their plants because it makes them feel very involved with the growing process. But you'll get yellow leaves and brown flowers or yellow leaves and small fruit. Lack of water will bring you wilted EVERYTHING. Aside from watering and fertilizing, check for insects. Look, there are a million different bugs and worms and they all do different things to different plants. It takes time to learn this stuff, but if you really want to know, do a search on the internet about garden pests. You'll learn plenty!. But as a fresh gardener, the best way to avoid getting overwhelmed with bugs is to stick with what's simple. Purchase a spray that says it kills over 100 garden pests on the label. That'll cover you until you learn more. Read its label. You'll learn some from that as well. Now, don't spray unless you really need to. If you see little holes in the leaves or little bugs on the leaves or ANYTHING that your gut tells you shouldn't be there, then you spray like the label tells you to. AND THAT'S IT! I know I've written alot here, but I read some of the answers to your question and I thought some of them were too vague and some were too complicated. Remember, you'll get different answers from different people. Follow your instincts, even if you're not confident about what you're doing. Humans have been growing things since the beginning of time, it's our nature. You'll make mistakes and kill things and that's the very best way to learn. But remember, all it takes to start is DIRT, A GARDENING HOE, A WATERING CAN, MULCH, FERTILIZER, INSECT SPRAY, & PLANTS. Now go get 'em!

I am planting a garden this year for my first time, can anyone tell me when to plant what to plant and anything else that you find helpful in gardening.
Thanks in advance for all your help

try a mix of veggies and flowers. Do stuff that you like to eat and is not so picky about growing. and if you've got the space try out some kind of melon. Get a bunch of seed catalogs and get excited, check out some garden books from your local library.

Also, don't try to do too much. Start small and really do it well. Next year you can always expand

Some good seed companies - you can look at their catalogs online-
Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
Johnny's Select
The Seed Savers Exchange
High Mowing Seeds
Fedco (get the fedco paper catalog it is totally fabulous!)

Any good books, websites, CD's on gardening which really works.

…………………….. murtyjee go to local book shop ……………. get local knowledge ……………….

Do Big Boy Tomatoes really grow in a 1×1 space? Seems hard to believe…

Yes, but it's a real pain to keep them in the space. The actual growing of the plant works fine, but dealing with such a big plant in such a small space takes a lot of effort. You have to constantly tie it up, and if it is right next to another one, you will find it very difficult to harvest due to the density of the foliage in that confined area.

I find square foot gardening much more useful for any of the salad crops (why plant radishes in a row when you can fill up a tiny little square with them?) and smaller plants up to the size of peppers and eggplants. I grow my tomatoes and my squash in much more spread-out beds.

Years ago I worked in a amateur way in gardening maintenance. I realice that I liked it a lot but I don't have the specific knoledge and experience to start a landscape and gardening design business. I have the feeling that I have the creativity for doing this but of course this is not all. Could someone help me telling me the kind of tools that I would require to start this gradually? Maybe I would requiere to know some landscape design software, etc. In short, what kind of tools would be necesary to have and learn. Maybe the thing would be more complex like doing an Business plan? I'll thank any advice. Chris

mower

bobcat

trimmers

Edger

Gardener: A truck or trailer to carry your equipment and debris (although some enterprising people have even started without this). A lawn mower, rake, broom, and other small hand tools. Buy your equipment used if necessary, but shop carefully.

Landscaper: Basically you need hand tools and a truck or trailer. To start with most other tools you can rent.

Interiorscaper: A car or truck is necessary, watering cans, and assorted small hand tools.

>From the basic requirements to start it would seem that interiorscaping requires the smallest capital outlay. This is correct, but starting an interiorscape business is more difficult in other ways. It requires a better understanding of the trade. Indoor plants are much more difficult to maintain. Also, acquiring accounts is not as easy as in outdoor work. Most, if not all, interiorscape accounts will be commercial, as opposed to the residential work of gardeners.

For gardeners and landscapers a truck or trailer is a must, but as I mentioned earlier it is possible to start without one for some work. If you are doing maintenance you may be able to get accounts that will allow you to use their equipment and not require you to haul away debris. You will be expected to work very inexpensively, though. If you can get a truck do so.

For both gardeners and landscapers another source of income is from clean-ups. This is simply a one-time job of cleaning up an overgrown landscape. These jobs are hard work, but can be quite profitable.

In every business you have to contend with the government. Service businesses are no different. Before you get started investigate what is required in your area. Most likely you will need a business license from your city. The state may require a contractor's license or certification for landscape contractors. Most likely your state will require a pest control license if you intend to apply pesticides. Check out all the city, state, and federal rules before you start.

misc hand tools rakes shovels

dont forget to water them and give them sunlight……putting them outside for a couple of hours is supposed to be good aswell

would like to do light gardening for seniors in the Blacktown or surrounding area

Depending where you live, volunteers belonging to an organization are not able to work on private property due to liability. Check with your city hall and ask if they have volunteer opportunites and does that include gardening. It's really nice that you want to help other out. I'm a volunteer coordinator for a city and have much respect for volunteers.