How to Start a Garden
You have one chance to start a garden and get it right from the beginning. Hindsight is always 20/20, but you can take advantage of that one opportunity to get it right in the beginning. It’s been said that planning is essential, but plans are useless. We’ll keep that saying in mind as we take a look at how to start a new garden from scratch, because the operative working principle is flexibility in the plan.
Before you plan the garden…
Before you even consider a location for your new garden, make sure that you’re not going to disturb underground electrical, cable, water or gas lines. Many municipalities have a department that will come to your house free of charge to assess whether or not it’s safe to dig. If you can’t find a listing or don’t know what the department is called, you can call or e-mail your local Extension service.
Garden location, location, location
After determining where it’s safe to install a new garden, you need to decide where to locate it. Location plays an important role in which plants are suitable for the garden. Do you want a shade garden or a garden filled with sun-loving plants? Do you want a tree garden, a rock garden or a woodland garden? Sometimes the answer to those questions will determine your location, and other times the location will determine what you plant. When you pick a location, considerations include the types of plants that will thrive in the light and soil conditions and whether you’ll need to install irrigation.
Soil condition
Once you have a general idea where to plant your new garden, you’re almost home free on that decision… but not quite. Now it’s time to assess the soil conditions. Is there any reason that your selected location could impede plants from thriving or make your life difficult? Is there rock hidden just beneath the surface? How about a system of large tree roots? Is the area overgrown with any highly invasive vegetation such as strawberries or bermudagrass? Does the soil drain properly? Is the soil compacted? Consider taking a few soil samples from various areas within the proposed garden borders to determine which, if any, amendments you’ll need to add to the soil. You can work with your local Extension office or use a DIY soil sample kit. Altering the pH of garden soil is generally a long-term prospect, not something that you can accomplish by amending the soil on a one-time basis. It’s much easier to suit the plants to the soil rather than amending the soil to suit the plants.
Garden shape
Now that the preliminaries are nailed down, this next suggestion is going to push your, “well, DUH,” button after you hear it, but you may never have thought of it (like I hadn’t until I read it somewhere). Use a garden hose to outline the design of your garden. Play with the outline by moving the hose until you’re happy with it. From a design perspective, you never want a completely straight border, unless you’re installing a formal garden—that’s about the only hard and fast rule in designing the shape of a garden. If you’re designing your new garden in the dead of winter, you can work with graph paper to determine the location and overall look and feel of the garden. It may be low-tech, but there’s nothing like graph paper, a set of colored pencils and a stack of garden catalogs to plan a new garden and while away the sub-zero-temperature season. As you peruse the garden catalogs looking for possible plants, try to include varying textures and sizes as well as colors to add visual interest. Finally, make a dream list of plants and garden art and hardscapes for your new garden.
Dig, baby, dig
Now it’s time to wave your magic wand and transform dirt into soil. Remove surface debris such as rocks and tree limbs before you dig. Dig to a depth of at least 6-12 inches, separate the grass and weeds along with its roots from the dirt and toss them. Next, add amendments and garden soil if you want to build up the bed and/or organic soil if you’re planting vegetables and herbs, and work the soil to a depth of at least 12 inches. If you don’t have a tiller, pick up a hand tiller at the garden center or the hardware store. You’ve probably seen them on late-night TV, and they make quick work of breaking up hard dirt and incorporating amendments into the dirt. Later, you can use them to loosen large areas of weeds, should you run into that problem. You can also use a garden fork to break apart the dirt. Organic matter needs to be able to breathe in order to decompose, so add it last, and work it into the top few inches of the soil.
Giving the garden bones
If you’ve decided to install an irrigation system in your new garden, now is the time. If you’re going to use a simple irrigation hose, you can install that after you plant so that you’re watering plants instead of dead space. Next, place structural hardware such as arbors, trellises, bird baths, etc., in the garden. These items supply the bones of a new garden, around which you’ll place your plants.
The moment you’ve waited for—planting the new garden
Here comes the planning is essential and plans are useless part. If you’ve drawn out plans and made a list of plants for your new garden, there is a good chance that there will be at least one plant on the list that you can’t find. It may be a new variety, or it may have already sold out. So, make a substitution and a note to order the plant from a mail-order source next year.
Note: You’ve got a vast expanse of open space, and the urge to fill it will be overwhelming. It’s difficult to visualize those tiny plants all grown up, but they do grow, so leave adequate space for growth between your plants.
Start by planting large plants, small trees or shrubs first, because they add additional structure to your garden and they will help you to visualize the overall look and feel. You’ll also want to plant partial shade or shade plants rather than sun-lovers under the tree, so you need to have the tree in place first. Next, place plant containers around the garden to get an idea of the overall look and feel. Loosen the roots a little after removing the plant from its container if the plant has become pot bound, with masses of roots taking up most every available inch of space in the container. After the larger plants are in place, work from the back of the garden toward the border. After walking on one area of the garden, loosen the compacted soil made by your footsteps.
If you’ve adding garden steps, place them last, and secure them by leveling the soil and adding a little sand underneath the steps for a tight fit. Finally, add a top layer of mulch, leaving a little breathing room near the plant base, and give that new garden a healthy drink o’ water to christen its completion.
Now that you’ve started a new garden with tender loving care, you should spend the remainder of the season high on enjoyment and low on maintenance. And, that’s every gardener’s dream.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MJ Plaster has been a professional writer for more than two decades, originally an instructional designer and trainer, more recently specializing in lifestyle topics. She also serves as managing editor of the Florida Turf Digest. A former master gardener, when she’s not writing, she’s practicing alchemy in her gardens or helping friends to design and plant their gardens.
