Gardening for Beginners: How to Start a Garden in 8 Simple Steps
Thinking about starting a garden but aren’t sure where to begin? This post, all about gardening for beginners, is for you — with eight simple steps to help you start your garden.
Does this sound familiar? Looking around my yard, I see weeds, overgrown plants, and a few dried-out pots I tried to grow tomatoes in last year. I think to myself…. “How am I going to grow anything here?” “What do I do first?” “How will I know what to plant?” “If I put time and money into a garden, will it be worth it?”
Read through these steps, and don’t be afraid to start a garden. You can do this!
Step 1: Choose the best location to start your garden
The best spot is where it is convenient for you – someplace you will see and walk by often. The back of the yard behind the shed may get the most sun, but if you don’t see your garden regularly, you might forget about it.
- Ideally, this spot gets morning sun – look for a spot that gets at least 6-8 hours of sun (more is ok). You might need to provide shade in the summer in hot areas like Arizona.
- Check sun exposure using the Sun Seeker app (or similar). It allows you to see the amount of sunlight each area receives.
- There should also be a water source nearby or within a hose distance.
Starting a garden can feel overwhelming. Read this guide to help you avoid new gardeners’ most common mistakes.
Read this post for more information about how to remove Bermuda grass without chemicals.
Gardening for Beginners Step 2: Add a raised bed
Start small – you can always add more. A “4 foot by 8 foot” raised bed is a good starting point. Aim for a depth between 12 and 18 inches. It is easy to construct, and you can grow a lot of food in this size space. It is important that you can reach into the center of the bed without stepping on the soil. Add more raised beds later as your ability and experience grow. This article shares tips for designing raised bed gardens.
I recently added this metal garden bed from Garden in Minutes to my garden. It comes complete with watering grids. This bed is an excellent choice for a first garden or to add to an existing garden. Read this post to see if metal beds heat up more than wooden beds.
Alternatively, use several large pots or half wine barrels for container gardening.
Step 3: Set up a watering system
An automatic watering system and a hose for watering seedlings is best. Automatic watering can be simple, such as a battery-operated timer connected to your hose bib, with either a soaker hose or drip line going to the garden. Using a two-way splitter for a second hose is helpful for hand-watering new plantings and seeds.
This article shares more information about how to water your garden correctly. I use watering grids from Garden in Minutes to water my raised beds.
Gardening for Beginners Step 4: Add soil to your raised bed
One advantage of raised beds is you do not use existing soil. Once you add the perfect mix of ingredients to your raised bed, you are ready to plant. This one-time cost will probably be the most expensive part of beginning a garden.
To fill the bed, mix equal parts of:
- Compost – use several different brands or make your own.
- Peat Moss or Coconut Coir – makes soil lighter; helps with water retention.
- Vermiculite – helps retain water and allows the soil to breathe.
How much soil will you need? The volume of your raised bed or containers determines this. A 4×4 bed that is 1 foot deep will require a total of 16 cubic feet of soil. Each time you plant, add fresh compost to your soil.
This article shares more information about the best soil for raised bed gardens.
After adding the soil, amend the beds with organic fertilizer.
In the future, it’s important to have your soil tested each year. A soil test can determine the health of your soil. This is the soil test kit I use. It’s very simple to use.
Step 5: Find a planting guide written for your area and follow it
Timing is crucial in gardening. Using a planting guide takes the guesswork out of what to plant and when to plant it. Local extension offices and locally-owned nurseries are a great place to begin your search for a planting guide. If you live in the low desert of Arizona, I recommend these planting guides.
Get planting dates for your favorite crops with these visual planting guides for vegetables, herbs, fruits, flowers & vines.
Perpetual Vegetable, Fruit & Herb Calendar shows you when to plant vegetables in the low desert of Arizona and whether to plant seeds or transplants. See it in my shop.
Gardening for Beginners Step 6: Plant what you like to eat
Read about the vegetables you would like to grow on Growinginthegarden.com, so you understand growing requirements, when to plant, and when to harvest.
- Best from seed: root crops (carrots, turnips, radishes, etc.), peas, beans, corn, squash, melons, cucumbers, Swiss chard.
- Best from seedlings: peppers, tomatoes, Brussels sprouts.
- Successful either way: broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, kale, spinach.
Check new seeds and seedlings often – water as necessary to keep the soil moist. If newly planted seeds and seedlings dry out, they will die.
Wondering how to start seeds indoors? This post explains how to start seeds inside.
Step 7: Spend time in your garden each day
Take a walk around your garden each morning – preferably while the watering system is running. Take note of what is growing well (yay!), and observe problems while they are young and easily corrected. When you catch problems (pest, disease, watering issues) while they are small, they are easily managed. Find joy in the successes and learn from the failures.
This post shares exactly what to do in your garden each day.
Step 8: Harvest and eat what you grow
Pick young and pick often – this encourages more production. Use the food you grow in the garden. Try new recipes and incorporate your garden harvest into your family’s food. Soups and smoothies are a great way to use vegetables from the garden.
Questions about how to start a garden? Ask me in the comments.
Not sure if you should start a garden? Here are ten reasons why you should!
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Thank you. I’m so glad it’s helpful.
Hi, I have 2 raises beds on top of a little space of dirt that I have and I want to add another one … but I don’t have any more space expect on top of my brick pathway.. would I just put cardboard boxes on the bottom?? Can I add a raise bed on top of brick??
Hi. As long as the water drains into the brick pathway and doesn’t puddle up you should be fine. You could put cardboard down, but you don’t have to unless there are issues with weeds in the brick area.
Hi Angela where in arizona did you get your soil from? I want to start a big garden but buying by the bag at the store is expensive.
Hi Miriam, I got the compost for my soil from Arizona Worm Farm. Beginning September 1st Arizona Worm Farm will have a “Growing in the Garden” blend – our own Mel’s Mix for Arizona. It will be available by the bag and by the yard. They are mixing it on site.
These are some great things about the gardening for beginners and how to start a garden in 8 simple steps. I really loved it and thank you very much for sharing this with us. You have a great visualization and you have really presented this content in a really good manner.
My mom’s always struggled with starting a garden since she’s always been taking care of me and my siblings. Since my youngest sister started college this year, my mom should finally have time to create a garden where she can grow her vegetables and any other plants she wants. I’m glad that you mention choosing a convenient spot that you can easily see and that also gets the right amount of sun. This would be helpful for her, and maybe it would even help her to find a local garden center to purchase the plants from.
What about gardening in ground without a garden bed?
You absolutely can do that as well. Most of my experience has been in raised beds for growing vegetables. That is the simplest way to begin in many areas without good soil for vegetable gardens.
I live in Mesa, AZ. I am starting my garden in the ground. My “association” doesn’t allow raised beds. I have put in topsoil that is very rich, not from a bag. I will put mulch on top of that. Thank you for your information and help. Good information for this gardening zone is sparse. I’m going through all your information. Thank you for being there.
Sounds like you’re off to a good start. Best of luck to you.
How do we keep critters out of the garden. They eat everything as soon as it comes up.
That’s frustrating! Barrier methods are the most effective. Line them with hardware cloth if they are coming up through the beds. Otherwise, you may need to put some sort of structure/barrier around your garden.
I bought the raised bed mix from Arizona Worm Farm. I haven’t planted anything yet. Do I need to amend the soil with the Plant-Tone Fertilizer you recommend in this article, or is the Raised Garden Mix ready to go from the start?
Adding some fertilizer before the first season is not a bad idea. This helps get things going.
Hello Angela,
Your book, calendar and various articles have inspired my family to turn half of my backyard into a garden. We’ve received a huge chip drop of mulch and have spread it out over the area. We have also purchased a few raised beds from garden in minutes as we love the watering grids. I am also reading Plant Partners to implement companion planting to assist in pest control. My question is: do we put the soil (your mixture from Arizona Worm Farm) on top of the mulch in our beds, or place cardboard on top of the mulch under the soil? I’m not sure if by placing the soil directly on the mulch if we will negatively affect nitrogen levels ( and I am no where near equipped with remediating that situation). Your guidance is greatly appreciated.
Hi Delia, Congrats on all your hard work! You can put the soil directly on the wood chips. It will break down over time. You may need to add a little balanced fertilizer to the soil the first season to help get things going.