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Garden Advice

13 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I Started Gardening

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I’m a firm believer that having a good, productive garden is a lot more about hard work than having a green thumb. That being said, there are some things I’ve learned along the way that I wish someone had told me from the start.

Use supplemental light when starting seeds.

Popping your seed trays into a sunny window just won’t cut it. You’ll end up with weak, leggy seedling straining for more light. Use supplemental light and keep it a couple of inches above your plants. You don’t need fancy grow lights; old shop lights will do! Need more advice? Here are 8 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Starting Seeds. 

Make room for flowers.

When I started my first garden, I didn’t plant any flowers. After all, why waste space and effort on something you can’t eat? I like to think gardening has helped me grow a bit wiser, and now I always make room for at least a few. Flowers are beautiful, and they help attract beneficial insects which pollinate plants and kill pests! Plus, if you want to maximize their utility, you can plant edible flowers.

Those little tomato cages they sell at the store are useless.

Your tomatoes will outgrow and topple those dinky little wire cages, I promise. Save yourself some money and disappointment and use a different trellising method. You can use fencing to create your own larger, sturdier cages or use a tried and true method like the Florida weave. Check out our post, Vertical Gardening: The Beginner’s Guide to Trellising Plants for more ideas and advice.

There’s a difference between open-pollinated, heirloom, hybrid, and GMO.

When you’re new to gardening, all the seed-related jargon can be a bit confusing. At Southern Exposure, we carry, almost exclusively, open-pollinated varieties. Open-pollinated means that a variety will “breed true” and produce a reliable seed crop year after year so long as it isn’t crossed with another variety. At SESE, we believe that all gardeners and farmers should be able to save seed if they so desire.

At Southern Exposure, we define heirlooms as open-pollinated varieties that date to 1940 or before. These varieties have withstood the test of time and have been selected over years and years for incredible flavor, disease and drought resistance, and other helpful features.

Hybrid seeds are the careful cross between two specific varieties. This process has to be completed each year. While hybrids aren’t our favorite because they don’t allow growers to reliably save seed, having a few in your garden isn’t the end of the world either. We carry hybrid sweet corn because many market growers prefer it for its uniform size and maturity.

GMO seed is seed that has been genetically modified in a lab. The use of GMO seed in the United States is widespread among large industrial farms growing corn and soy though other crops are grown as well.

Get a soil test.

You’ll save yourself a lot of trouble by having your soil tested. You can purchase home test kits at most garden supply shops, which do a decent job. You can also send your soil in to be tested. Check with your county or state extension agency or a local college with agricultural programs. Most offer affordable, if not free, testing.

Once you’ve had your soil tested, you’ll know what amendments you need to add. Check out our post Understanding Soil Tests.

You’ll save a lot of money starting your own seeds.

Buying transplants gets expensive quickly. If you have a good-sized garden, hope to preserve food, or are growing for a family, it’s worth starting your own tomato, pepper, eggplant, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and more indoors.

Always put up a garden fence.

Even if you’ve never seen so much as a squirrel in your yard, the local wildlife will find your garden. You’ll wake up one morning to what was carefully tended rows of carrots, beans, and cabbages mowed off by the local animals.

Preserving vegetables isn’t complicated or dangerous.

I was anxious that my homemade pickles could kill someone. I also worried that I would be spending hours in the kitchen over a hot stove. Thankfully, safely freezing, canning, drying, and even fermenting vegetables can all be done safely and easily. You also don’t have to can 100 pounds of tomatoes because your grandmother did (unless you want to and then go for it). You can do all kinds of preserving in small manageable batches.

If you’ve got extra produce, give it a try. You’ll find a few recipes here on the blog, or the Ball Fresh Preserving site is an excellent resource.

Buy canning supplies ahead of time.

Especially during the pandemic, canning jars and other supplies like vinegar, lids, and rings can be in short supply during the height of the season. If you’re hoping to do a lot of canning, it’s prudent to buy supplies ahead of time.

Gardening will make you a vegetable snob.

This sounds bad, but it probably isn’t. Even if you’re new to gardening, you’ve probably heard someone talk about just how amazing a homegrown, sun-ripened tomato is compared to the watery, mealy store-bought ones. What I quickly learned is that that is true with all vegetables. From beets and carrots to lettuce and collards, once you’ve had the homegrown version, what’s available at your local supermarket will never taste as good.

Perennials are your best friend.

Perennials are those plants that come back every year without you having to replant them. They’re often some of a garden’s earliest producers too. Crops like rhubarb, asparagus, and lavender are a joy to have in the garden and often require less effort once established.

You can learn a lot about what will do well in your garden and when to plant by understanding your hardiness zone.

We have a whole post about this, but basically, each area of the United States has a different hardiness zone depending on its climate. Each hardiness zone has different first and last frost dates and typical summer temperature highs and winter temperature lows. Your hardiness zone will determine what perennials you can overwinter, when you should start seeds, when you should transplant out, and when you should expect to pull your last crops before the fall frosts.

Ask the locals.

Find out what people are growing in your area and what they struggle with. If everyone on your road has excellent luck with a particular type of tomato, it can be a great starting point, even if there are other varieties you’d like to try too. Other local gardeners will be able to help make your first garden successful by recommending varieties that work well in your area.

Some of these 13 points were tough lessons for me in my first year or two of gardening. Hopefully, keeping these in mind can help you have a happy and successful season.

Garden Advice

8 Common New Gardener Mistakes

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Gardening isn’t all about having a green thumb. In fact, a lot of gardening is more about the effort you put in. However, it certainly does get a bit easier with experience. If you’re new to gardening avoid these mistakes for a better 2021 growing season.

Not giving plants enough space.

It can be tempting to jam as many different plants into your garden as possible. After all, there are tons of incredible varieties to choose from! However, your garden will be much more productive if you provide your plants with adequate spacing and thin as needed. Thinning is especially important with root crops, many will not bulb up if they’re crowded.

Proper spacing also allows plants to get the nutrients and light they need to thrive. Plus, it’s key to providing maximum air circulation around plants which can help prevent fungal diseases in crops like tomatoes.

Failing to provide seedlings with optimum conditions.

Starting seeds is one of the great joys of gardening. Long before it’s spring outside you get to see the start of your crops popping up in little containers or trays inside. While starting seeds indoors isn’t difficult there are a few simple mistakes you’ll want to avoid.

The first is not providing supplemental light. It’s almost guaranteed that your seedlings won’t get enough light indoors just from a window and will grow tall and leggy. Supplemental light in the form of a simple garage or shop light can really help with this.

Two other common problems are not using proper potting soil and over or under-watering. Potting soil drains better than regular garden soil. It’s easy to over or under water when dealing with plants in such small containers. You want the soil to be damp but not soggy. 

For more common seed starting mistakes check out our full article on this subject, 8 Common Mistakes When Starting Seeds.

Not succession planting.

Succession planting is a method of spacing out your plantings so that you’re harvesting crops over a longer period of time rather than all at once. An example of this is adding a few rows of sweet corn every two weeks so it ripens after different times. 

Pam Dawling wrote an excellent article on succession planting for the SESE blog, Summer Succession Crop Planting: Avoid Gluts and Shortages.

Not having proper tools.

While gardening with almost nothing is certainly possible it isn’t always the most fun or efficient. Having the proper equipment can make a huge difference in your gardening experience.

One great tool is a stirrup hoe. You slide them back and forth across the soil to cut small weeds off below the surface. They can really help you keep up with the weeds. Proper watering tools like a hose and sprinkler or drip system can also make a huge difference in the amount of time you have to spend caring for your garden. Consider investing in a few quality tools to make the most of your timeand effort.

Not testing your soil.

While you may have success just rototilling any free spot in your backyard and adding some seeds, you’re much more likely to get a good harvest if you invest in your soil a bit. Step one is to test your soil. They sell or home test kits or most extension agencies offer affordable soil tests.

From there you make the choices on soil amendments and then consider taking steps like mulching, going no-till, and planting cover crops.

Learn more about what your soil test results mean with our post, Understanding Soil Tests.

Planting too much.

A well-cared for tiny garden can actually be more productive than a large neglected one. Starting with a small plot and focusing only on a few crops is key to a great harvest.

A small garden will allow you to give tasks like weeding, harvesting, and watering the time they require. It may also cost you less in terms of soil amendments, seeds, and tools. Start small your first year and slowly add on.

Not fencing your garden.

Any gardener in the Southeast will probably tell you all about the time a deer ate a perfect row of prized vegetables. Even if you think your yard is free from woodchucks, rabbits, and deer odds are they will find your garden. Having a good fence in place before planting can help you avoid some serious gardener heartbreak.

Not keeping some form of a garden journal.

No, you don’t have to write a diary about how your garden is progressing but you should aim to keep some basic notes. Do a quick sketch of your garden layout so you can easily rotate your crops the following year. Jot down which varieties your family loved and which suffered disease or pest issues. Take note of planting dates so you know when to plant another succession. A few notes can save you time and stress in the long run.

Keeping these 8 things in mind can help you have a more enjoyable and successful gardening experience.

Garden Advice

10 Tips for Beginner Gardeners

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Starting your first garden can be overwhelming. There are so many decisions to make like location, varieties, and even what tools to purchase. There’s plenty to learn and do. Any gardening book will dive into planting dates, pests, garden amenments and more. Starting with these 10 tips can help get you on track for a great first season.

Have your soil tested.

Learning as much about your soil as possible can help ensure your garden is a success. You’ll be able to add appropriate amendments and avoid wasting time and money. It can also help you select varieties. For example, carrot varieties like Chatenay Red Core Carrots perform better in heavy clay soils because they are short and have blunt ends.

Understanding Soil Tests

Amend your soil as needed.

Once you’ve tested your soil and had a look at your results it’s time to amend your soil. Certain amendments like lime or fertilizer should only be added if your soil test indicates a real need. Lime is used raise the soil’s pH. Raising it too much can make certain nutrients inaccessible to plants. Adding too much fertilizer can also be detrimental and can run off causing toxic algal blooms in your local watershed. A safe place to start is adding organic matter in the form of good quality compost. It can provide a variety of nutirents, help sandy soils hold moisture, and help heavy clay soils drain better. If you’re on a tight budget check out our post for free amendment ideas.

Choose a gardening style that works best for you.

In a recent post, we discussed the pros and cons of raised beds. While they’ve become very popular they may not be the best choice for everyone. The same goes for no-till gardening, hugelkultur beds, container gardening, and other gardening styles. Start with what’s easiest for you and experiement from there.

Start composting.

Every home should have a compost bin! Composting creates free soil for your garden and helps reduce waste. Apartment dwellers should check out vermicomposting as a small space alternative to an outdoor compost pile.

Use mulch.

Mulch helps to hold moisture, supress weeds, add organic matter, creates habitat for beneficial insects, and can even help prevent certain plant diseases. We have a number of articles about different types of mulch on the blog.

Learn about crop rotation and cover crops.

Crop rotation is key to a healthy garden. Never plant the same type of plants in the same place two years in a row. Cover crops can be used with crop rotation to decrease pest and disease pressure, reduce erosion, and add nutrients to your soil.

Start small.

It’s common advice and worth heading. You’ll get more from a well maintained small garden than a poorly cared for larger one. It can be really tough to narrow down which varieties to choose but it’s worth it. Add one or two varieties and increase your garden size a bit each year.

Consider your water source.

Lugging watering cans around is time consuming and exhausting. Put your garden as close to a water source as possible. If you can, invest in some hoses and a sprinkler or drip irrigation.

Choose varieties appropriate to your area.

When selecting your seeds and plants be sure to read carefully. For example, folks that live in zones farther north should look for varieties that mature quickly and folks in the far south should consider more heat tolerant varieties.

Knowing your hardiness zone can help you select appropriate varieties. For information about hardiness zones visit our post, Everything You Need to Know About Plant Hardiness Zones to learn more.

Start your own transplants from seed.

Starting your own transplants ensures you get the varieties you want and those that are well-suited to your area. It’s not as hard as you think. Check out Pam Dawling’s advice for starting seeds here on the blog.

Starting a garden is an incredibly rewarding experience but it can be tough. Use these tips for your first garden to make sure your garden is a success.