Beginner gardening tips

Before you sink your spade into your first garden bed: Relax! "It's just gardening, not rocket science," as one of my favorite gurus likes to say.

I remember my first spring poking around the yard of the older home we had just bought wondering what was coming up - it was 1991.

First came snowdrops and crocuses, followed by tulips and mysterious (to me) little blue flowers that turned out to be forget-me-nots. That's right, when I started, I didn't know what a forget-me-not looked like.

My motivation for gardening was the need to turn a plain-Jane backyard into an inviting garden. I learned by digging in.

What made it easier for me was that I'd had plenty of practice in my mother's vegetable garden while growing up, so while I didn't know much about flower gardening at the time, I did know the basics of planting and weeding.
Beginner gardening - so where do you start?

If you're like most of us, you won't start with a plan. Even I had no grand plan, just raw enthusiasm.

In the first few years, I moved plants around so much that my husband joked that my perennials should have had wheels, not roots.

The fact is that most gardens evolve. It's difficult to draw up a plan on paper (as instructed by garden designers) when you can't tell a daisy from a dianthus.

Once you've learned a few horticultural ropes and have discovered what appeals to you, you'll have a better idea about how you would like your garden to look.
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