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“How to start a garden from scratch” was the first thing I typed in the Google search bar after we moved from Brooklyn to a tiny home in Upstate New York.
I spent hours researching – it felt overwhelming. There’s so much information out there. If you’re wondering how to make a garden and whether it’s right for you, this post will help.
I’ll share top lessons we learned from our first vegetable gardening experience (as total beginners!), and share DO’s and DON’Ts that I will be taking into account for the next gardening season.
But first, here is a peek into our harvest. We planted lettuce, kale, radishes, cucumbers, jalapeños, basil, spinach, nasturtium flowers, tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, and dill.
The only crops that didn’t make it are spinach, dill and zucchini.
Before and after our first garden:
First, I’ll share the initial lessons we learned within one week after planting our first garden, and then I’ll look back and share all lessons from our very first gardening season.
1 Week After Starting Our First Garden
5 First Time Gardener Lessons
- Creating a garden from scratch is not cheap. We spent about $350 on tools, compost soil, seeds and plants for a 10×10 Sq.F. garden, plus $75 for getting it tilled with a tractor. Budget tip: save money on gardening tools by shopping at garage sales.
- Digging and weeding is hard labor. It took the two of us 6 hours of work, and my forearm hurt so much that I could barely move it (CBD salve is what saved me).
- YouTube has the answer. I had very little experience with gardening – it was limited to helping my mom with our small garden at our country house when I was a kid. I avoided it at all cost back then 😬 If I didn’t, maybe I wouldn’t have had to watch hours of YouTube videos on starting a garden. Also, ask people around you with more experience for help!
- It’s important to plant seeds early in the season, but because it’s been a rainy year Upstate, we still have a very high chance at a healthy garden even though we planted in mid-July. (*I was right!)
- Garden nose nozzle with 6 modes is my new best friend. It’s so fun to use! Gardening technology has come a long way since I was a kid.
Some of the meals I made with veggies from our first garden:
8 Weeks After Starting Our First Garden
MAIN TAKEAWAY:
Our purely monetary ROI was nothing to brag about, as we spent a good amount on setting up the garden and buying all the tools. That said, the fulfillment of going to my backyard to pick juicy vegetables for lunch and eating them right away is priceless.
We also saved time that it would have taken to drive to a store to buy veggies. Having made our mistakes and learned out lessons (see below!), I can confidently say that next year we will have a terrific ROI and save money on buying produce because our garden structure is already set up!
5 Do’s and Don’ts For First Time Gardeners
DON’T:
1. Don’t rely on everything you see on YouTube. There are many ways to garden, and the outcome will be highly influenced by your specific location.
2. Don’t spend $$$ on complex watering systems.
3. Don’t expect the setup to be easy. The tilling, weeding and setting up the garden is hard labor – my whole body ached the day after.
4. Don’t think that a garden is a bit time commitment – I only focused on weeding in the beginning, and once plants got strong, I barely touched it.
5. Don’t think it’s too complicated. You can figure it out and the more you observe what works and what doesn’t, the better gardener you become.
DO:
1. Talk to your neighbors and people at your local garden store. You’ll get more practical advice in 10 mins of human interaction than in 1 hour of Googling.
2. Get a hose with various settings. If you live in a good amount of rain, you can even forego watering your garden. I was told by a local expert gardener that watering it from time to time helps the roots grow stronger. When we traveled and left the garden on its own for 2 weeks, we can back to the most luscious garden, as there’s been a lot of thunderstorms in The Catskills.
3. Don’t give up before you start! The two days we spent setting up the garden paid off with two months of harvest.
4. Make watering your garden a fun ritual. When we just planted everything, I’d wake up, put my Muck Boots on (thanks to everyone who recommended them), and catch the first rays of sunshine while watering the garden and inspecting the progress. Watching seeds turn into plants is MAGIC!
5. Do ask for help. Invite your friends to be part of the process! Know that in the end, it’s all worth it.
Other first time gardener lessons I learned:
1. Plant zucchini and cucumbers far away enough from each other.
2. Remember to pluck the suckers on tomato plants.
3. Have the right setup for tomato plants to be supported (we used cages).
4. Be prepared for animals and birds who might show interest in your garden. We used this repellent, and I also sprinkled some red chili flakes around the perimeter of the garden. Even though we have a slew of squirrels, groundhogs and deer, our garden stayed untouched by them the whole season!
