Advice for a gardening beginner?

Vickie Townley
by Vickie Townley
Beginner gardener here. I want a small vegetable garden and a few flower beds. I live in northeast texas. What do i need to do first?
  8 answers
  • Janet Pizaro Janet Pizaro on Jan 18, 2017

    northtexasvegetablegardeners.com/blog/2011/05/29/vegetable-gardening.101/ www.gardeningchannel.com/gardening-in-dallas-fortworth-arlington-north-texas/

  • Annie Annie on Jan 19, 2017

    Start with a good gardening book tailored to your area. Plan to dig, dig, dig! The biggest failures come from not amending your soil. It's much cheaper to have topsoil delivered by the cubic yard than to buy it by the bag. If you can, try to set up a simple watering system. My best luck was with drip hoses connected to the spigot with a timer. Keep track of how much rain you're getting With a calibrated rain gauge. Also, you might consider using raised beds (Home Depot and Gardeners Supply sell nice ones) Keep a diary so you can remember your successes and failures from year to year.

    Have fun! Gardening is addictive. You make something beautiful, get some good exercise, and lots of satisfaction.

  • Karen Karen on Jan 19, 2017

    Gardening is so much fun and it really is addictive! County extension programs are wonderful learning experiences but also check out your local garden club. The club I belong to is supportive of all our trials and errors and we celebrate our many success stories! Good luck and happy planting!!


  • Kauai Breeze Kauai Breeze on Jan 19, 2017

    I've made easy (and cheap) raised beds from cedar fence planks. Lumber yards and home centers usually have these in stock. Each bed takes 3 planks (less than $3 each). The planks are usually 6 ft long and about 5 inches wide. I use 2 whole planks for sides and cut one in half for the 4 ends. I use the sheet metal corner support brackets on the corners to keep them stable. So for about $12 in materials you can quickly build a 3' x 6' bed. Pick a sunny spot in your yard. Lay about 8 to 10 layers of newspapers over the grass under the box before filling it with topsoil and manure. This will help kill the grass under it, and decay quickly helping build up your soil. Start small with one bed. You will soon find you want to build more as you gain confidence in growing. If you don't like weeding, save your grass clippings and place them around the plants on the dirt in a layer about 5 inches thick. They keep weeds from getting light to germinate and help cool the soil and hold moisture. The clippings will decompose amending the soil and feeding the plants too.

  • LittleLady LittleLady on Jan 22, 2017

    (1) Visit your local home improvement center magazine section and purchase gardening magazines/books with an eye toward seeing what is possible. Tear out pictures that appeal to you along with a description of the plants shown. Keep in a folder for future reference.

    (2) Pay close attention to how sunlight moves across your land every day. Will your garden area get morning sun, afternoon sun or little/no sun? You will need to know this in order to know what type of plants/vegetables to purchase.

    (3) Think about doing a combination of ground and container plantings.

    (4) Take pictures of your garden area before you start and after you finish every year. Print out and keep them in #5 ...

    (5) Start a three ring binder organized according to plantings, gardening supplies, before and after pictures of the garden, patio furniture and accessories purchased, if you amended the soil, what and how much you used. etc. Keeping good records and copies of all the receipts, at the start of your gardening will make it easier to replicate successes, and avoid repeating mistakes.

    • Moira Moira on Jan 23, 2017

      All New Square Foot Gardening - Mel Bartholomew Grow more in less space. Best gardening book in America. Have used it for years, and I have sand in my yard!!! Zero nutrients in this soil of Central Fla. Zip!Nada! And it looks great.

      MM. Homosassa , Fl.

  • Dfm Dfm on Jan 24, 2017

    ah the garden bug has bit! my fathers family is from the texarkana area, uncle Lester Ray had a seriously huge truck garden "millers pea patch". evaluate what veggies/fruiting vines you and yours actually eat. are you wanting to home can the produce? then you would want determinate varieties - determined to get ripe all at once that is. indeterminate varieties are wishy - washy, they will ripen when they want to, but will keep fruiting until frost. good time for fried green tomatoes and a bite of fried okra.

    the square foot gardening method is a good place to start, but if i remember correctly mel does raised beds with a certain soil mix. have the area you are wanting the garden in checked for soil ph, water retention/ drainage and average hours of sunlight. correct any issues, or go with raised beds. kits and kit parts are available these days. i use my compost tumbler to mix the potting mix- Janet's recipe- she' listed above, you can ask her for it.. using raised beds and potting mix can keep the weeds down.

    if there are no adverse issues with your proposed garden location, I've used black mulch film 4 ft wide by 25 or 50 ft ft. and used the spacing of the square foot garden by slicing "x"s and then making a hole in ground with a bulb planter, and stuffed the tomato/ pepper plant/egg plant/ kale/ cauliflower/ zuke into it's new home. the vine veggies get the plastic sliced at the base of their trellis, seeds planted. the roots get water from the soil under the plastic, the plastic hold down evaporation. after the tomatoes/ peppers /other transplants have set new leaves, then i add supports, and set up irrigation.

    irrigation can be as simple as a clean milk jug with a hole punched in the bottom and the tightness of the cap regulating the drip rate. one at each plant. soaker hoses work well, run one between the rows, and keep it on a timer.

  • Betsy Wilson Betsy Wilson on Feb 02, 2017

    Save your back! Google lasagna gardening!