Starting a Garden

Beginning your Gardening Journey

Yeah, you might be thinking, how do I do that? I want it all, and I want it now.

So, decide what features you might want in your garden immediately. Do you want a garden pond or water feature? Or a small container garden?

Make your Landscaping plans in order of priority so you can at least get started. You won’t be very happy with your new garden if it just ends up a big weed patch, although weeds can be very useful.

Here are a few things you can do right now so that you can have some success, without becoming frustrated and giving up in disgust.

• Use lasagna gardening and sheet composting to start new beds. Have all the ingredients on hand when you start your garden, and this will give you almost instant results.

• Start composting, or vermicomposting. This can be an ongoing activity, as you need lots of compost when starting a garden.
  
  
  
• Landscape design ideas such as building a patio or seating area can be included in your plan, but using a temporary weed barrier such as cardboard or newspaper covered in sawdust or gravel can give you the impression of a more established area.

  Then you can decide if you like it, or ways to change it, without going through all the work of renovating a brick or stone walkway or paved area.

• Use the same technique to make new garden beds - you can plant established potted plants right through the mulch, or leave it and dig it in the following year to improve the soil.

Starting a garden can seem an overwhelming task, but start small, build on your success and pretty soon, you’ll have the garden of your dreams.

go to Drought Smart Plants home page

Landscape Design Ideas