The Ultimate Guide For How To Start A Garden From Scratch (2024)

1. Choose Your Garden Type

Before you so much as break the soil, you should decide what kind of garden you want to grow. Will it be a bed for low-care native ornamentals? Is it a vegetable garden that will need a lot of nutrients to support food-producing plants? This will determine what kind of soil you need, whether or not that soil should be in containers, in an above-ground planter or straight from the ground and what kind of sun exposure your future plants need.

2. Pick Your Garden Spot

Knowing what kind of garden you’re after makes it much easier to choose a spot for it in your landscaping, or whether you want some plants on your balcony or on your patio. You’ll need to make sure there’s plenty of space for the plants you want to grow, as well as access to water, so you aren’t lugging water to plants far from a hose as the summer drags on.

3. Test Your Soil

There’s no point in planting anything until you know if the soil you have is suitable. Soil testing isn’t always necessary for container gardens, especially if they’re brand new, but it’s very important for existing raised beds and all in-ground gardens. You can DIY this one or call your university extension to help test your soil for you.

4. Amend Your Soil

Using the results of your soil test, it’s time to get to work amending your soil so it’s suitable for the garden that you have in mind. For example, you may need to add certain nutrients or work to raise or lower the pH to create the optimal growing environment for your plants.

5. Determine a Weed Strategy

Weed protection comes in many forms. Some people are lucky enough to only need to pluck the occasional weed, while others mount yearly weed battles and still feel like they’re losing. Geotextiles, sometimes known as “weed cloth” or “weed barrier fabrics,” can be helpful in some areas, as is mulch applied straight to the surface of the garden. You’ll need to decide now, since things like geotextiles need to go down before plants go in

6. Consider Your Sunlight

Some plants thrive best with a full day of direct sun, while others prefer the shadier side. Take careful note of how much—and when—sunlight hits your garden so you can determine whether you need plants for full sun, part shade or even full shade. As you plan your garden, consult plant tags and research online for plants that will perform well in your unique space.

7. Plant Your Plot

Depending on the size of your garden, you may need to do additional planning. A small six-foot-by-three-foot bed is easy to plot out in your head, but more complicated gardens may require graphing your plot. Make sure to include walkways that will provide access to all parts of the garden for watering, and rows that are no more than four feet wide so you can reach everything in the row.

Planning the timing of when your plants will go in is also important if you’re growing plants that are time-sensitive. For example, in a vegetable garden, you will almost certainly start your lettuce first, since it tends to do poorly in warm weather, then your tomatoes will go in much later, since they’re warm-weather lovers, just make sure you leave enough room to dig holes for the new plants.

8. Buy Your Plants

Although you can start your garden from seeds the first year, you’re already going to have a lot to learn a lot this first year, so we generally recommend buying your plants from a reputable nursery for year one.

When choosing new plants, look for ones that are strong, green and appear lush. Leaves and stems should be solid, but not rigid, and definitely not floppy. Any leaf discoloration that’s not normal for that variety should definitely be taken as a warning sign. If they’re flowering, the flowers should have a consistent look to them.

9. Harden Off Your Plants

Now that you have selected and purchased all of your plants, hardening off is the next step. Since greenhouse and nursery conditions are much different from being out in nature, hardening off helps to ensure that the plants are prepared for this change by slowing weaning them off of their normal care regime, and preparing them for life outdoors.

The process of hardening off can take anywhere from seven to 10 days. Start by placing all of your new plants outside in the shade on a cloudy day for just a few hours (start with two to three), and then at the end of that time, bring them back inside. Over the next week or so, repeat this process but each day, increase the amount of time the plants are spending outside, and decrease how often you’re watering them (without allowing them to wilt). After a few days of doing well in 10 to 12 hours outside, let your plants spend a few 24 hour days outside. If they make it through that successfully, they’re ready to be planted.

10. Plant Your Plants

This is the best part. Time to stick those plants in the ground. Using the tags that came with them, spread the plants across your garden in their pots to determine where their final spot is, then once you’ve figured the spacing out, dig holes to bury them. Some plants, like tomatoes, do best when buried as deeply as possible, and others should be buried very close to the soil’s surface. Read up on your selections to learn which is which.

11. Water and Mulch

The last step to starting a garden from scratch is to water your plants well to help the soil settle and ensure that everything is well saturated, and then mulch thoroughly. Most plants prefer two to four inches of an organic mulch, like shredded bark.

Not only does this help keep roots cooler in the hot summer, it also helps hold moisture in during hot days, so don’t skip your mulch. Organic mulches also break down through the year, adding nutrients back to the soil.

Optional: Build Trellis

If your garden includes plants that grow vertically, or you intend to do vertical growing with plants that tend to spread, you’ll also need to install your trellises as soon as the mulch settles. Don’t wait more than a week or two to get these in the ground, as you’ll be needing to train your plants up their trellises as soon as they start growing, or you’ll have a mess.