Your First Garden, helpful tips to keep it fun and easy.

Gardening is fun, great exercise and a pleasant way to spend time outdoors. It can also be work and a little challenging. But with a little knowledge and planning you can have a successful gardening experience . Here are a few ideas to make you garden flourish.

• Grow mostly flowers and herbs your first year. They are easier to grow with less insect problems and watering needs. You can mix a few vegetables in your flowers or wait until next year. Beans, lettuce and onions are very easy to grow.
• Keep your garden small. If your learning how to garden you will enjoy the experience more if it’s not too challenging or overwhelming.
• Container gardening makes a perfect first garden. You can set up your garden close to your house where it is easy to tend to. If you can look out the door and see your garden you are more likely to take a few minutes to water or weed it.
• Use mulch on top of the soil. Mulch helps to control weeds and it helps keep in moisture so that you will not have to water the garden as much.
• Soil is one of you most important considerations in a garden. It must be workable and have the proper nutrients for plants to grow well. Soil testing kits are available in most gardening centers and easy to use.
• Read a gardening book or contact your local extension office for free information on gardening.
• Keep your garden weed free and remove ailing plants. Weeds and sick plants encourage insects, which cause plant disease.
• The right amount of water is very important to your garden. Water you plants when the soil is dry and water the soil until it is damp several inches into the ground. A light watering encourages shallow roots. Your plants will require more water in the long run due to the sun drying up the moisture.
• Use fertilizer in your garden when flowers begin to form or vegetable plants blossom.
• Your garden will need at least six to eight hours of sunlight. Vegetables need more.

The most important point to keep in mind when gardening is to keep the garden experience fun.  A small garden, fun plants, and using garden tools to cut down on the “work” will help you to enjoy your garden.