Gardening has always been something that has interested me from afar. By that I mean I love looking at immaculately maintained gardens, but I don't like doing the maintaining myself. I realized, though, that my hesitance around gardening wasn't due to any particular dislike of actually doing the work, but because I didn't exactly know where to start.
My mom has always encouraged me to get outside and into the garden, but I never took to it. But a few weeks ago when I was back at home, she practically forced me to do some planting. Of course, I'm always keen to come along with her to the garden centre- if only to take snaps of the pretty flowers. But diggings holes, getting dirty, and even re-seeding/fertilizing the whole yard was completely new to me! When I came back to the U.K. about a week ago, I felt like I was at least semi-equipped to help Ben with his own garden in his new flat in London.
Speaking from my own experience, gardening can be pretty intimidating. You need a bit of know-how when it comes to science to make sure your plants grow. You also need a creative eye to get your garden aesthetic down to a T. I have none of those things. Even so, I wanted to share a few simple steps that will get you on the right track for putting together your own garden this spring if you're a novice like me.
1.) Finding inspiration
From Pinterest, to garden centres, to good old nature itself, there are numerous resources that will inspire you to get gardening. One of my favorite ways to figure out what I like (and equally, don't like) in a garden is by going to a "fancier" garden centre. I think that it's difficult to feel inspired at your average Home Depot or B&Q, what with the masses of flowers and shrubs that are piled into what looks like a parking lot. Instead, places like my local garden centres at home, Volante's and Mahoney's, as well as London-based small garden centres like The Nunhead Gardener serve as that real-life inspiration that can really get those creative juices flowing. Seeing plants in person and in context can help you hone in on what you might want to pick up at a cheaper garden centre later.
2.) Starting small
It's easy to have lofty dreams of a perfect garden coming together over the course of one weekend. But the reality is that you have to start small before you can transform your space entirely. Take this past weekend, for example, when Ben and I decided to tackle his garden. We ticked off one "big job" with weeding the flower beds and one "small job" by filling two big planters with flowers. We knew that we wouldn't be able to re-seed the entire lawn or plant an entire flower bed over the weekend. Setting reasonable goals helped us to shape our expectations toward the reality of our (practically non-existent) gardening skills. A good way to "start small" is to grab a couple of planters, window boxes, or hanging baskets, and test-drive your green thumb before digging holes in the ground. Small changes can make a big difference!
3.) Making informed choices
The majority of my gardening knowledge comes from my mom, with a few of the gaps being filled in by Google. If there's one thing I know about gardening, though, it's that quick-fixes seldom ever work. Putting a layer of topsoil over dead, dry soil isn't going to revive your planting area. But doing the work to de-weed and properly take care of your soil will pay off in the long run. Do you research beforehand so that you aren't tempted by the promises certain products make. Also, make sure you know what you want out of your garden before you go crazy buying plants. Do you want your flowers to grow back next year? Or do you want to start the process all over again next year? This will help you decide how many perennials and annuals you want. You should also spend time getting to know how much sunshine and shade each part of your garden gets so you can make informed choices about what you want to plant where. Luckily, garden centres make it really easy to see what kinds of plants are full sun/full shade/half and half by the labels- or you can always ask someone there!
4.) Understanding that gardening is a process
My mom has always told me that gardening is about trial and error. One spring, you might plant hydrangeas and they just don't take. So maybe your soil isn't exactly the right kind. And perhaps the next planting season you don't put your tulips in a space with enough sunshine. Just remember that you can always move things around and revise your plan. The perfect garden definitely won't come together on your first try (it certainly didn't for my mom). It's certainly a process rather than a "one and done" situation. So if you're not willing to commit to tending to a garden, then you probably won't have the garden of your dreams.
I may not be an expert gardener- in fact, I'd say I was downright intimidated by it at first. But I think that gardening is something that everyone can and should enjoy, without feeling like they need to achieve garden perfection. After all, it's not necessarily about how your garden looks, but the fact that you planted it that really matters!
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