Gardening for beginners - a quick guide

1. What do you want to do with your garden? A playground for the kids, a kitchen garden or a sea of flowers?
It’s hard to combine all your wishes and desires. So limit yourself, at least for starters. It’ll take some time to create your own personal Eden. Consider which functions you would like in your garden – seating areas, playing areas, flowerbeds – before setting to work.

Start slowly...
If you’re the new owner of a house or an apartment with a garden or plantations you’d do well taking it slow the first season. Below the black earth you might discover the previous owner’s garden dreams. Many plants are perennial and will flower year after year. Other areas might have to be dug up and revived.

4. What are the climate conditions where you live?
There can be many different types of hardiness zones in one single country. A good start is to ask your local garden centre or plant nursery for advice. They know everything there is to know about vegetation, climate and soil. Randomly buying plants without checking first can turn out to be an expensive venture.

5. Height, time and colour.
There are three simple things to keep in mind when planting a flowerbed: height, time and colour. Make sure to pick species with flowering periods that overlap, and thus extend the season. Combine colours that fit together. Make sure tall plants don’t obscure lower ones.

7. Share with friends and neighbours
Every person in the neighbourhood doesn’t need his or her own lawnmower or cultivator. Borrow from your neighbours or get together and share the costs when making bigger investments (and buy products of high quality!). You can share and exchange plants and bulbs with your friends and your neighbours, exchange tips and strategies and help each other out when you need to lift heavy things. Don’t forget to invite them to a garden party as a thank you!