Gardening Tips for Beginners

The primary requirements of the plants or trees are light, water and soil. With these, some other factors for growing plants need to be looked after. With time and experience one can become better at gardening and grow various types of plants.

Planning
Choose a location for gardening, where there is plenty of sunlight and the soil is well drained. It is also important that you select a garden patch, which doesn't have any trees around it. When you are planting certain plants next to each other, check if they are compatible together and don't interfere with each others' growth. You can form group of plants which have similar light, water and soil requirements.

Buying Plants & Tools
You can buy plants or seeds of the specific variety that you wish to grow, from the plant nursery or online. You can also buy garden tools and pots from the nursery or online. Make sure you choose healthy plants or seeds and select the varieties which are resistant to pets. If you are buying the plants or seeds in the bulk, you can always bargain at the nursery for lowering the prices.

Soil Mixture
The soil requirements for individual plants differ. Cactus do well in moist soils and well drained soils. Most vegetable gardens require soil which is rich in compost. So study the individual requirements of each plants before using the soil mixture. Perlite is easily available and can be added to the soil mixture for good drainage. You can also sterilize the soil before using it, in an oven.

Light Requirements
Most plants require a minimum 6 hours of sunlight. Light is an important factor for the plant health and you must make sure that you tend properly to the individual plant needs accordingly. Certain varieties of plant start bending towards a particular direction, for example when indoor gardening, barrel cactus starts leaning in one direction after some time. Such plants need to be rotated after specific time intervals.

Watering Tips
Water is one of the important and basic needs of the plant. Some plants might needs a lot of watering, and some like cactus might need watering once in a month. There are also problems associated with over and under watering. So, study individual plant watering needs and supply the water accordingly.

When watering cacti, insert a wooden rod or pencil in the soil and check if the soil is dry. If the soil is moist do not water it, for you should supply water only if the soil is dry. I have a rose plant and used to water it regularly, but after some time the roots started getting exposed and the leaves went dry and started to fall off. Later on I found out from a gardener, that this happens if you pour water directly over the base stem. So, you can always ask the gardeners or knowledgeable friends for advice on watering and other plant needs.

Fertilizer Needs
Certain plants require certain type of nutrition, however on the other hand some plants don't need to be fertilized at all. You can buy the fertilizer from the nursery, when buying the plants. Or you can instead, add compost to the soil mix, and use it as a fertilizer.

Pest Control
The key to pest control is to maintain a healthy plant. If you tend properly to the primary needs of the plant, there will be no need to use any pesticides. You can buy the commercial pesticides if you face the problem of pests or make a pesticide mix at home. To make a pesticide at home, in a spray bottle add 1 teaspoon of dish liquid soap and a cup of vegetable oil, shake it well and add 1 cup of water to it. Again shake it well, and use it after every week on the plants to get rid of the common pests.

Additional Tips for Gardening
Pruning is required for maintaining the plant shape and health. It is important that you don't trim the tree branches during growing season. Prune out the diseased and damaged branches and between each cut, you should apply some oral mouthwash to prevent any infection. Mulching around trees or plants is a great way to provide nutrition to the plants. It also prevents the running of any lawn equipment over the plant. Put clay plates below the containers, to ensure proper drainage and humidity. If you wish to get flowers from your plants, follow these flower gardening tips. Do not overexpose the plants to the sun, and make sure that you maintain the soil and watering needs of the plant during the spring.

All this information might seem overwhelming and a lot of hard work, but you can always start with 'easy to look after' plants. After you gain more confidence, you can start growing other plants too. So, start with a small garden patch, follow the above mentioned tips and grow happy-healthy plants!