Beginner Garden Help Here

5 Comments
Beginner Garden

My garden here in Toronto is currently chilling on ice and will be for some time yet; however, in other parts of the world a brand new growing season has already begun. Questions about how to start a garden from scratch have already been pouring in and I’ve realized it is high time that I collected, into one convenient place, the 15 years of articles on the topic that have been published to this site.

Click over to see the Beginner Gardening Guide 101 page and don’t forget the other gardening resource guides that I have compiled over the last few years including: Seed starting, tomatoes, peppers, herbs and edible flowers, lettuce and salad greens, and more…

If you’re looking for the most comprehensive and detailed instruction that will guide you more directly from planning and planting all the way to care, harvest, and cooking (in the case of edible gardens), my books are the most efficient way to go: General growing (You Grow Girl), edible crops (Grow Great Grub: Organic Food from Small Spaces), and herbs and edible flowers (Easy Growing: Organic Herbs and Edible Flowers from Small Spaces).

Good Growing! – Gayla

Gayla Trail
Gayla is a writer, photographer, and former graphic designer with a background in the Fine Arts, cultural criticism, and ecology. She is the author, photographer, and designer of best-selling books on gardening, cooking, and preserving.

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5 thoughts on “Beginner Garden Help Here”

  1. I love that picture, Gayla. Fun sign. Looks like tulips are struggling to get through some godawful earth someone piled up there.

    Reminds me of one of my beginner mistakes: digging up a new garden at front of house I was renting, and tossing out MANY scilla bulbs I found while digging. Didn’t know what the heck they were. Duh.

  2. Ahoy Gayla-

    I loved reading the details at your Beginning Gardening Guide about unusual things you could compost. I would like to add shrimp shells and lobster shells to that list. They disappear quickly. When adding potentially “aromatic” items to my bins, I always spread the layer thinly and cover it well with leaves or compost “siftings”, something dense enough to contain the odor. The rate at which I am adding to the [balanced] piles makes odors a non-issue. I keep a stash of chipped leaves on hand at all times for assistance with inserting kitchen waste into the bins. December was mild enough to give me an opportunity to turn 2 huge bins just prior to them freezing solid, always a good workout. One pile achieved a steaming 90 degrees when the air temp was in the 30’s. I will be one step ahead in March when these piles thaw.

    Your “craptastic” bin is great! An ideal recycle project… to enable further recycling!

    I also have Lemon “Bomb” in my garden. : >)

  3. I think this could be my new go to site as I’m definitely a beginner. If I start reading now in the height of summer in Sydney I might have an idea of what to do by spring!

  4. Thank you for this! Gardening is as they say therapeutic but starting a garden project can be hard, especially if you are just a beginner. So, these that you have compiled are very helpful. Thumbs up!

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