How to plant your seeds

• When to plant your seeds
• What type of soil to use
• Where to plant your seeds
• How to plant your seeds in containers

Composting is key

Composting is another thing a lot of new gardeners don’t know about, but it’s an essential step in any plant-growing journey. It’s also incredibly easy to do. I did it before I knew what compost was, actually! You just take all the fruit and vegetable scraps you have at home (this includes coffee grounds), put them in a bin, cover with soil and water every now and then, and voila: in 3-6 months you’ll have beautiful compost tea to add to your plants.

Other things you can throw into the mix include grass clippings and dried leaves—and yes, before you ask: brown paper bags are fine too! Just make sure that whatever you’re adding isn’t going to get moldy quickly—you want to keep fungus out of the pile if possible.

Composting is great because it helps control weeds and keeps soil moist (which helps with growth), plus it provides natural fertilizer for your plants so they’ll be more disease resistant. All around, it’s an important step if you want your garden to reach its full potential!

Water wisely

When it comes to watering your plants wisely, here are a few tips that will help you save time and water:

• Water in the morning. This is not only more convenient for you; it also gives your plants time to absorb the water before the sun evaporates it. (Exceptions: tomatoes, peppers, eggplants—these need to be watered at the root.)
• Water only the root of the plant, not its leaves. If you’re using a sprinkler or something similar, try to adjust its direction so that it won’t spray all over the place. Though some plants could benefit from being watered on their leaves (tomatoes, peppers), this practice should generally be avoided since overwatering can kill a plant.
• Different plants require different amounts of water and watering times. In many cases, how often each one needs to be watered depends on such factors as soil type and weather conditions. For example, sandy soil tends to dry out faster than clay soil, while hot weather can increase moisture loss more rapidly than cool weather.

Weed regularly

So your garden’s going great, and you’re thinking about ways to take it to the next level? Here’s one simple tip: get rid of any weeds that are trying to take root in your carefully cultivated soil. A good old-fashioned weed puller is what I usually use, but if you’re feeling fancy, maybe you want more of a challenge? Try a hoe or a shovel! And while it might seem like an obvious solution, don’t underestimate the power of a garden rake—I have one handy at all times—especially when I’m pressed for time.

Why is weed control so important? If left unchecked, these pesky plants can steal nutrients from the plants you actually want in your garden (that’s why they’re called weeds). But here’s something else that might surprise you: sometimes weeds can be even more nutritious than their high-maintenance cousins! The kind of weeds I’m talking about are known as “nitrogen fixers,” and they give off nitrates as part of their natural cycle. By allowing nitrogen fixers to grow freely among the leaves in our vegetable beds, we’ve seen measurable improvement in the size and color of our lettuces and other salad greens.

Keep an eye out for common weeds like dandelions and lambsquarters—you’ll know them when you see them—and if any do pop up between rows, just pluck them out by hand! Pro tip: flowers like daisies and milkweed also act as effective ground cover for bare patches between vegetables.

Stake your plants

Stakes come in all shapes and sizes, from bamboo to wood to metal. You can even make your own stakes by recycling old materials. The bottom line is: stakes are used to support plants as they grow, especially when the plant is tall or when it’s heavy with fruit or flowers. Staking a plant will also keep it upright if it’s been damaged in any way.

To stake a plant, you’ll need some string or twine (you can find these at any gardening store). To get started staking your tomato, bean, cucumber, pepper, or other plant clusters:

• Tie one end of the string around the stake near the top; this is called the crown knot.
• Pass the loose end of string down through one of the branches that grows off your main trunk/stem and pull taut so it’s secure.
• Repeat step 2 until you’ve tied up all of your plants’ branches that need support! They should now be held securely in place by your new stakes (aka there should be no more drooping).

You can take your gardening game up a few notches easily!

There are some simple things you can do to get your garden growing better than ever. To begin with, make sure you’re following best practices for preparing your soil before planting. This includes making sure there’s enough fertilizer in the ground—even if it looks like there’s a healthy amount of nutrients in your soil, you should consider adding more fertilizer to give your plants an extra boost. And don’t forget about mulch! Mulch is a great way to prevent weeds from sprouting up and taking over your precious garden space. If done right, you’ll be able to keep a healthy garden without having to worry about weeding every day. The next thing that’s going to help keep your plants at their best is watering them regularly. You’ll want them watered well but not so much that the water pools on top of the soil, because that can cause rot and other problems for the roots of your plants. Finally, staking can really improve growth in certain crops like tomatoes or beans (or any type of vining plant), which will ultimately lead to larger harvests later on down the road!

And voila—you’ve just taken steps toward becoming a master gardener yourself!When I started gardening, I had no idea what I was doing.

I’d always loved plants and flowers, and I knew I wanted to do something beautiful with my yard—but when the time came to actually get down in the dirt and start planting, I felt a little overwhelmed.

I wanted to learn hands-on, but most of my friends didn’t garden or had only started recently themselves. So what did I do then? If you’re reading this, you probably have a similar problem: you want to know HOW to garden, but it seems like there aren’t many resources out there for the complete newbie.

HOWEVER! The more time you spend online looking for resources for new gardeners, the more you find. There are tons of gardening blogs out there that are happy to share their knowledge with you and help you grow into the master gardener you’re meant to be.

And that’s why I decided to start this blog, “How I Went From Gardening Newbie to Master Gardener: a blog about how you can take your gardening game up a notch.” You’ll find lots of blogs out there full of useful tips and tricks—and some not-so-useful tips that don’t really work on your type

When I first started my garden, I had no idea what I was doing. It was a pie-in-the-sky dream of mine, and I couldn’t have been more proud when my landlord gave me the green light to start digging up our backyard.

But then reality set in: I didn’t know what the heck to plant, or how to plant it. I had grand plans for a year-round kale harvest, but I didn’t actually know that kale is planted in the fall, not in the spring. Sigh.

I was pretty disappointed with myself as a newbie gardener! But after some trial and error (and a lot of research!), I got a handle on things and now am able to make informed choices about what to grow and when.

If you’re wondering how you can take your gardening game up a notch, we’ve got some tips for you!

My name is Krystal, and I am a gardening newbie.

I’m sure most of you have heard the old saying, “you don’t know how to appreciate what you’ve got until it’s gone.” Well, that was my experience when I tried to grow a few plants in my own garden.

For as long as I can remember, I have been surrounded by gardens—at family homes and friends’ houses, at parks and community centers. Every time I saw a beautiful garden tended with care and love, I’d say to myself: “One day, I’ll have one of these.” And then I’d go about my life.

But this year, we’ve been spending more time at home than usual—and that’s when it dawned on me: why not now? Why shouldn’t I try to grow my own plants? After all, if there’s one thing this pandemic has taught us all, it’s that we cannot take anything for granted.

So that’s what I did: I just started growing things in my backyard. At first, it seemed like a good idea to get some seeds from the store and scatter them around the yard. But the result wasn’t so great—I had weeds growing everywhere! If you

I never thought of myself as a gardener. I was the kind of girl who inherited her mother’s thumb—the one that is decidedly not green.

But a few years ago, I started working at [company name], and I learned about their mission to help people like me learn how to grow plants. The more I worked with them, the more inspired I got by the power of plants.

It’s amazing what a little bit of care can do for you and your home—whether it’s your actual home or your heart. Now, after years of learning from [company name] and growing my own skills (and plants!), I’m here to share some tips with all of you fellow gardening newbies out there who might also be looking to take their green thumb game up a notch.

It’s funny to think of myself as a gardening expert now, because it wasn’t that long ago that I had no idea what the heck I was doing. I remember my first attempt at growing tomatoes—I looked up “when do you plant tomatoes” and got the answer “March.” And so, in March, I went outside to our garden and planted them.

The next day we got hit with an unseasonably late freeze, and all of my tomato plants died.

I felt like such a failure—but also, it was kind of hilarious. So I started reading up on what I should have been doing instead and getting some advice from a friend who really knew her stuff. And then I got back out there and tried again.

The truth is, starting a garden can be intimidating. You’re not sure who to ask for advice, or where to go for the answers you need… but you’ve seen all these beautiful gardens on Pinterest and Instagram and you just KNOW that if you could get there, it’d be so worth it.

So where do you start? Well, that’s what we’re here for! In this series of posts, we’ll take you through everything from your first ever seedling to creating a full-on bot

I’m not a master gardener. But I have learned a few things from the experience of trying to grow my own plants, and I wanted to share them here in hopes that they might be useful for others!

1. Get the right tools. This is probably obvious to most people, but it was something I had to learn in order to have success with gardening. I started out with a hoe that was too small for me, and I realized pretty quickly that I wasn’t going to get anything done with an inadequate tool for the job. So, I went out and got myself a shovel. It was a little more expensive than the hoe, but it made all the difference when it came time to turn over dirt and dig holes! I also invested in some gloves because my hands were really sore after using just my bare hands. The gloves helped so much!

2. Make sure you’re planting at the right time. For me, it’s important that I plant in early April so that everything has plenty of time to grow before our first frost comes in late October (or even early November). If you plant too late in the season, then there won’t be enough sunlight or warmth for flowers or vegetables to reach maturity before winter hits! You

Like most of you, I didn’t know a thing about gardening when I started. I’d never even planted a flower before. I knew friends who had gardens, and they always looked so fun and relaxing, but it seemed like it was just something people already knew how to do.

The first time I went to the nursery, I was immediately overwhelmed by all of the different kinds of plants and flowers in these big-ass bags. What did they all need? How often should you water them? How often should you fertilize them? What kind of soil do you need for each one?

So I got myself a cactus—you probably know it as the “I’m a dumbass” plant—and put that in my house. And then I got another… and another… until my whole apartment was full of cactuses, and there was nothing else living in my place but me and my stupid plants that required no maintenance whatsoever.

But then last year, when we were all stuck at home because of COVID (or Corona as we called it back then), I decided to try gardening again. Except this time, instead of going to the nursery blindly, I did some research before heading down to the store with my mask on. And now