Anyone Can Become a Successful Gardener

Our culture has created this myth of something called a "green thumb", and you're either born with or you're not. You're Harry Potter, or you're a muggle. If you have the magic in you, then your plants never die and your harvests are always bountiful, right?

The green thumb myth has us all fooled. Gardening is not a magical ability. It's not inherited like green eyes.

It's simply a skill.

And skills can be learned. Skills can be mastered even if you weren't "born with it."

That being said, I know how overwhelming it can feel when you're just getting started, so I've broken becoming a successful gardener into four steps. To begin, all you have to do is learn how to grow herbs. And you can start right now!

Start with Herbs

The easiest way to start a vegetable garden is with herbs. Herbs are easy to grow and quick to produce. They don't require a ton of sunlight or nutrients to grow, and they'll grow in whatever limited space you give them or stretch out beautifully into a large space. You can harvest again and again from these low-maintenance plants, which means you can make the most of every plant in your garden.

When I was just getting started in the garden, I had my first growing wins with herbs.

Easy Herbs to Get Started With

• basil
• cilantro
• mint
• sage
• chives
• oregano

Get Started Growing Herbs

If you've struggled to grow herbs in the past, it might have been your setup. Too many beginner gardeners try to grow herbs in tiny pots. Try instead growing all your herbs together in one container so you can tend them all at once.

Many herbs are easy plants to grow from seed, though you can also buy mature herbs from the store to enjoy right away. To grow your own herbs from seed, simply pop a few seeds in some soil, water regularly, and enjoy the beautiful and delicious gift that will keep on giving!

Herbs also do great on windowsills and on balconies for small-space growers and beginners alike. Not to mention, they're the perfect thing to grow indoors if you're living in a colder climate.

Here's the ideal setup for growing herbs:

• a raised bed, a large container with drainage holes, or an in-ground bed
• sandy loam soil (a mix of coarse sand, potting soil or topsoil, and compost)
• 4 to 8 hours of sunlight
• a regular water source

Check out these resources from Gardenary to help you set up, plant, and tend your herb garden

• Read our Ultimate Guide to Growing Herbs, a wonderful free online resource to help you find success with your herb garden.
• Download our comprehensive ebook, The Herb Garden Guidebook, which leads you through the step by step so that you know exactly how to grow all the culinary herbs you love right in your very own space. 

If you're craving a more garden-to-table lifestyle, the easiest way to accomplish that is to pot up some herbs or create an herb garden outdoors that you can dash out to, cut some sprigs, and bring them indoors to toss onto whatever you're cooking. I guarantee you, you'll get hooked on growing a little bit of your own food once you've planted your favorite herbs.

Then Grow Your Own Salads

After you've gotten comfortable with your new herbs, the next step to becoming a gardener is by planting greens. Salad greens are one of the most underrated additions to a vegetable garden—and once you've tasted the difference between homegrown greens and greens from the grocery store, you'll never go back.

Easy greens to get started with:

• lettuce plants
• arugula
• spinach
• chard
• kale
• Napa cabbage

Get Started Growing Greens

When you grow one of these leafy greens, you're just growing the plant for its leaves, so you don't have to spend months tending it while waiting for heavy fruit to ripen or give it space to vine and stretch across your entire garden bed. The root systems of greens are small, so they don't need a large garden to thrive; in fact, you can even create your own productive salad garden in containers. Salad greens are mostly "cut and come again", which means you can literally cut from them and then come back again and again the next week.

All you really have to do is set them up in some compost and then make sure to water them. The one issue you might face with growing leafy greens is their attractiveness to pests. Learn how to treat pests organically in the garden now, before you move on to more difficult plants.

Here's the ideal setup for growing greens:

• 4+ hours of sunlight
• a raised bed or container (minimum of 6” tall) 
• sandy loam soil or straight compost
• a consistent water source
• cool temps (35°F to 65°F)

Check out these resources from Gardenary to help you grow your own salads

• Learn our best salad garden tips to maximize your production.
• Download our ebook, Salad Garden Guide, to learn how to set up your own salad garden in a container or raised bed and grow leafy greens for at least six months of the year.

Once you've grown your own leaves, you'll find it hard to go back to the wilting grocery store stuff again. Leafy greens are easy to grow but will give you so many delicious harvests. You'll feel like a gardener for sure when you're eating a bowl of completely homegrown leaves.

Next Grow Root Crops

By now, you should feel confident in the garden! You've enjoyed fresh herbs and greens in your kitchen, and you're ready to take it to the next level: root vegetables.

Easy roots to get started with:

• French breakfast radishes
• carrots
• beets

Get Started Growing Root Crops

The easiest (and quickest!) place to start is with radishes. Plant a few seeds in your vegetable garden and just watch the magic happen. In just five weeks, you'll have grown your very first root vegetable!

Roots only require more skill to grow than leafy greens because it's more important to get the spacing right when you're planting out the seeds. Really, the hardest thing about growing these vegetables is that you can't see what's happening down below in the soil! Other than that, you'll apply all the skills you've learned growing leaves to help you grow strong and healthy roots.

Here's the ideal setup for growing roots:

• 6+ hours of sunlight
• a container or raised bed at least 12" tall
• sandy loam soil
• cool temps (45 to 75°F)
• natural sources of potassium
• a regular water source

Check out these resources from Gardenary to help you set up, plant, and tend your root crops

• Read our Complete Guide to Growing Roots.
• Download our Complete Guide to Gardenary Raised Bed ebook to get step-by-step directions to build your own raised beds in which to grow all your root crops.
• Download the Gardenary Way Guide to learn how to plant herbs, leafy greens, root crops, and fruiting plants in the same raised bed.
• Enroll in Kitchen Garden Academy, our most popular gardening course online, to help you set up, plant, and tend your own kitchen garden space.

There are few things more satisfying than tugging a fully formed carrot or radish from the soil after weeks of waiting and wondering what's happening below.

Finally Grow Fruit

Herbs, greens, and root vegetables, oh my! You're a garden pro by now, and you're ready to tackle the final step in the vegetable garden process: growing fruit!

Fruiting plants will give you some of the most delicious harvests to enjoy. You're now ready to fertilize and prune these larger, needier plants with confidence.

Easy fruits to get started with:

• tomatoes
• beans
• cucumbers
• peppers
• eggplant
• peas

Get Started Growing Fruiting Plants

Fruiting plants need more than your herbs, leafy greens, and root crops—more sunlight, more space, more tending, and more time to produce. That's why I save them for last.

If you haven't already set up a raised bed for your vegetable garden, now's the time. And if you'd like to grow vining plants like cherry tomatoes and pole beans, you'll need some type of trellis. (You can see how the setup becomes a little more elaborate as you continue following the steps to become a gardener, right?)

Here's the ideal setup for growing fruiting plants:

• 8 to 10+ hours of sunlight
• a raised garden bed at least 12" tall
• sandy loam soil
• some kind of support structure for vining plants
• an automated or simple watering system like drip irrigation
• warm weather (65 to 85°F)

Check out these resources from Gardenary to grow your own fruiting plants

• Shop our raised garden bed kits and trellises.
• Learn all our tips and tricks for growing tomatoes in our Complete Guide to Growing Organic Tomatoes.
• Grab your copy of Kitchen Garden Revival to learn how to plan out your garden with plants from different plant families every season.

You now have the skills and know-how to grow just about any plant you'd like to in the garden.

What's the Real Green Thumb Meaning Anyway?

The idea of a green thumb goes all the way back to when King Edward the First ruled England. The story is that he loved peas so much he hired 12 servants to do nothing but constantly shell peas for him when they were in season. Whichever servant had the greenest thumb at the end of the season won a prize from the king.

So, how did that morph into this supernatural talent that you're either born with or not? We took something that was attainable for all—I mean, anyone can shell some peas, right?—and we turned it into something no longer accessible to everyone.

So let's change that! If you follow these four steps, you'll soon know everything you need to grow all of your favorite veggies in your garden. People less-informed than you, people who don't know that you've worked your way up through a proven system, might even start telling you that you must have been born with a green thumb.

You're a Gardener Now

There you have it! The four easiest steps to go from beginner gardener to confident pro. I hope you've mastered growing something delicious at each of the four stops along the way.

Here's more good news. Studies have shown that when we put our hands in dirt, we not only feel amazing, but we actually can live longer, happier lives—all thanks to being connected to plants and to soil.

Maybe instead of being so attached to this idea of the green thumb, we should focus more on encouraging every single person to get outside and grow one little thing they like to eat. Even if it feels a little overwhelming to get started, we should all try. It's not just about growing plants. It's about growing our selves.

My hope is that over the next ten years, I'll hear fewer and fewer people tell me the excuse that they weren't born with a green thumb. Instead, they'll come up to me and say, “You know, I don't have a green thumb, but I'm getting one!”