Tips for First-Time Gardeners

About seven years ago, I started my first gardening business called Rooted Garden. Based in Houston, Texas, my company goes in and helps clients create their own raised-bed kitchen gardens.

After helping so many clients and learning what it really takes to help someone learn how to garden from the ground up, I started Gardenary in 2017. Gardenary is committed one hundred percent to helping beginner gardeners grow to experienced gardeners in their own spaces. Gardenary does this through ebooks, online courses, and garden coaching.

So if you're here to learn how to become a better gardener, you're in the right place. After helping so many gardeners take their gardening skills to the next level, I narrowed it down to four tips for success in the garden. I want to share those tips with you here and tell you how you can find more resources to achieve your own success in the garden.

Herbs Are the Easiest Plants to Grow

If you're wondering what should a beginner gardener plant, the answer is herbs. You can grow a ton of herbs, even in a small space, even indoors. Herbs are super forgiving, you can cut from them again and again, and they really are the best way to get started in your kitchen garden. My first real experience growing my own food was keeping a pot of chives my mom gave me alive. Every time I snipped some greens for an omelette or a baked potato, I felt like Ina Garten.

If you're a beginner gardener who's killed your fair share of plants and are convinced you'll never have a green thumb, herbs are the way to go.

If you're an experienced gardener but you've never really given herbs a shot, you gotta try growing your own year-round supply of organic herbs.

Leafy Greens Are the Fastest Plants to Grow

Leafy greens like lettuce plants, spinach, and arugula were the first plants that gave me loads of success in the kitchen garden, and I see the same with clients and students who grow plants for their leaves first. The reason they're so fast is because leaves are one of the first plant parts that form. You don't have to wait around for flowers and fruit to develop. Less waiting time equals fewer things that can go wrong.

You can grow microgreens in a matter of days and with very little setup. These little guys can grow indoors and give you loads of nutrients in every bit.

If you're a salad lover, start a salad garden at home. Baby leaves taste delicious, and you only have to wait about 30 days to harvest your first spinach or arugula leaves. I love growing salad greens because almost all of them are cut and come again. You know what that means? You can cut them, and they'll come back again. And then you can cut them again and again—it's pretty amazing.

Most of you can grow six months of garden salad from your own space. If you're in a warm climate, you're going to be doing this in the colder parts of the year, from, say, October to March, and if you're in a cooler climate, you're going to do this in the warmer parts of the year, from say March to October.

No matter where you live, there is a way to grow tons of greens in your own space.

Build Raised Beds

There are few things that can kill your enthusiasm for gardening faster than spending money on plants only for them to die. Plants often die because we don't give them the conditions they want to grow in. We stick them in a too-small pot where they can't dig down for more resources. We overwater them. We put them in the ground where there's too much clay and not enough nutrients.

Raised beds filled with nutrient-rich soil give plants room for their roots to dig down deep. The added height also means better drainage, so your plants won't rot in a tub of water.

Raised beds are totally our thing at Gardenary. I love raised beds so much I wrote a whole book about them. It's called Kitchen Garden Revival.

Herbs and leafy greens don't mind being grown in containers, but once you have a raised bed, you can grow so much more! You can include root crops because your raised bed gives those crops lots of space to form juicy taproots, and you can grow fruiting crops like cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and pole beans. The raised bed is the key to success with these crops.

Find directions to build your own raised bed for a little over $100—no carpentry skills required. Or learn more about setting up your own raised beds right with online video lessons and support from real gardening experts in Kitchen Garden Academy.

Work with a Garden Coach Near You

Most people think they have a black thumb because they kill plants. The real problem is not the people buying the plants. It's the plant store. Big box stores are so focused on products that they sell you plants that aren't right for your climate and then lots of synthetic sprays to use to try to keep that plant alive. What they really need to sell is knowledge.

We're here to connect people who want more gardening knowledge with people who are experts at growing in their climate. Over the years, we've trained hundreds of experienced gardeners all over the country in our methods to help beginner gardeners find success. Search our business directory to find a garden coach near you. Ask them to give you some one-on-one coaching, attend their workshops, or simply follow them on social media to find out what they plant when in your area.

Learn How to Grow with Gardenary

Welcome to Gardenary. Whether you're a total beginner or a somewhat-experienced gardener, we've set up Gardenary to bring you to the next level in your garden journey. 

I'm so excited you're here. My passion is to see a generation of gardeners all over the world who are finding the pure and simple joy of picking a little bit of food from their own backyard daily. 

So thanks for joining Gardenary. 

Let's get started!