5 things I wish i’d known with my first garden
When I was in high school, I was always annoyed & overwhelmed at the yard work we would do as family so I used to tell my mom I was going to have plastic plants and astro turf when I owned my own home.
What I realized once we bought our first house was that it wasn’t that I hated gardening, it was that I hadn’t had my OWN garden. I wasn’t invested. And 𝗮 𝗴𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁!
Gardens are often afterthoughts when house hunting, especially for first time home buyers.
I see buyers that are indifferent, often for the exact same reason- they haven’t had skin in the dirt game yet! And sometimes without a little help or motivation, they won’t. It’s a literal lifetime of learning and that’s so overwhelming!
Here’s a few tips that would have changed the game when we were just getting started:
1- Amend the soil
Has the dirt been neglected or loved? Is it rock solid or silty? Are there one million weeds? Either way, lasagna gardening is the way. Layering cardboard and organic material will prep the dirt. Google it!
2- Follow the sun
Make a sun map- rough sketch the garden and go out every hour or so to see where the sun lays. This will be crucial for picking plants that will love where you put ‘em.
3-Wait onE year
If you’re so lucky to inherit an established garden but it’s not your vibe, give it a year to cycle through the seasons. This will give you an idea of what lives where & what thrives, survives or dies in each section of the garden. You may even find you love some of the things that came with the house and find a way to keep them!
4- Be fearless
Rip shit up, move things around, ASK FOR HELP, just literally dig in. We did most of our learning from fucking around and finding out. You’ll learn by doing, I promise.
5-Embrace Change
Know that things will die, things wont work in a space, you’ll change your mind and so will the weather. It is the most true in gardening that the only constant is change.
