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Beginners garden

A beginners guide to veggie gardening. By following some of these guidelines you can harvest home-grown produce in no time!

RYOBI TEAM Fri, 09/08/2023 - 10:16

Are you dreaming of a lush veggie garden, brimming with produce and colour but don’t know where to begin? Starting a garden from scratch can be an intimidating prospect for a beginner gardener but it doesn’t need to be complicated.

Encourage biodiversity

Plant flowering herbs such as rosemary, lavender, nasturtium, dill and chives to attract pollinators and beneficial insects. The insects will pollinate your plants and protect your garden from pest attacks … and you can eat the herbs, too. Aim for an inter-planted style with a mix of different crops rather than neat rows, this helps to confuse pests and looks really pretty!

Woman in yellow jumper holding a tray of seedlings

Choose what to grow

Beginners are often advised to grow what they like to eat but it can be quite misleading. You might like carrots for example, however, realistically they are hard to grow and you could feel disheartened early on in your gardening journey. Instead, start with easy plants such as herbs and salad greens. Not only are these easy to grow but are also quite inexpensive to buy and much better fresh from the garden.

Grow what's in season

Find out which climate zone you are gardening in. Check what you can plant in your garden and when is the best time to sow or plant. Just because the garden centre sells broccoli seedlings in summer doesn’t mean they will grow well in your garden.

Person holding notebook with pen in hand and blurred bushed behind

Diarise

Finally, keep a record of what you are doing, a grower’s diary if you like. It will help you learn about what worked for you and how to make improvements. Above all, have fun and enjoy the process!