Find out how to get your garden growing right from scratch, with 9 easy green fingers tips that anybody can master.

Gardening is having a bit of a moment as houseplants are embraced once again, making our indoors green and lush Nurturing our own little pieces of outdoors has also become a priority as a continuation of pandemic activities that kept us all sane.

If you feel a little bit like you don’t have the green fingers everybody else has, don’t worry. You can start a garden from scratch, and create something incredible. These 9 basic gardening tips will help:

1. Prepare The Space You Do Have

Whether you have a patio, a porch, a full garden, or a windowsill, there is always room to grow. You won’t really know about the space you are working with though, until you have cleared the area.

Start by removing any obvious weeds and refrain from trimming any shrubs you can’t identify. For speed, you should also remove any ornaments, pots, old toys and furniture from the garden you know you don’t use or want. Place them in your cheap self storage unit until you have a spare afternoon to sort them out. For now, your priority is this incredible new space you’ve made for gardening.

2. Identify Your Plants

If you have shrubs already growing it is worth using a free app to identify what you have thriving in your garden already. These shrubs might just need a little trim to get going, which is great for you as there’s minimal effort involved in making your outdoor space look better.

3. Check Your Soil

Once you are ready to start growing it is important to check your soil so that you know what will do well in the garden you have. See what is doing well in your neighbours garden, and check if you have clay-heavy, acidic, alkaline, light, sandy or heavy soil. If you are only growing in pots, there is no need to do this.

4. Embrace Growing In Pots

One of the best things you can do when you are new to gardening is grow in containers and pots. It is so easy to literally buy happy, healthy plants already thriving in their pots, all you have to do is find the right spot for them and keep them going.

5. Lean On A Green-Fingered Friend

Nothing can substitute being told gardening tips from people who truly enjoy doing it. Whether it is your grandad, your best friend or one of your kids friends parents – if they love gardening, lean on them for advice. They will love sharing their tips and tricks with you, and probably won’t mind sharing a cutting or two for you to grow either!

6. Think Ahead

In all aspects of gardening you have to think ahead. Do you have time to maintain the plants? Will there be room for the fully grown versions of the baby plants you have now? Are the plants arranged in a way you’ll like all seasons? Think ahead as much as you can. There is always time to adjust but the more you can think ahead, the more hassle you will save yourself down the line.

7. Don’t Go Spending The Earth

If any new interest costs a lot of money it is always a disappointment if it doesn’t pan out and you are out of pocket. For that reason, it is a good idea to keep to a budget and save your money. You don’t need to spend much at all to have a lovely garden. Consider:

• Checking bidding sites and forums for free gardening items going locally
• Asking friends or family if they have anything spare
• Asking for gardening things for gifts if you have an occasion coming up
• Doing plant swaps of spares you grow, to grow your collection
• Buying from local shops and stalls for locally grown plants that are cheaper than at garden centres
• Having a rummage in your cheap self storage unit for items you can use as pots, plant stands and tools

8. Utilise Youtube

Youtube has so many amazing tips and tricks for gardeners that can help you learn a lot in a short space of time. Podcasts, gardening TV programmes and audiobooks are also really handy, free sources of information you can use to quickly gain knowledge. Just make sure they are relevant to your country or location so that the tips apply to your particular gardening environment.

9. Accept That Plants Die

It is easy to get heavily invested in your plants and feel grief when they don’t survive. Please remember that it is the Wild West out there in your garden. Plant genes, weather, insects, diseases and animals can all destroy your efforts. Accept that each plant death is a learning curve and a chance to do better next time – beating yourself up is unkind and undeserved.

Use our 9 tips above and be kind to yourself. Having a beautiful garden is great, but if you can learn to appreciate the process of putting your hands in the earth and being out in nature, you’re already onto a great thing regardless of the results.