If you are on my monthly email list, you know my husband and I just moved to a new apartment complex. This means a new gardening space, which is much bigger than our last place! Today I want to discuss with you how to start a new garden.
Starting a new garden is very similar to starting a garden from scratch. I’m going to approach this assuming you already know the basics of gardening.
If you have never started a garden and want to learn how, I have plenty of beginner gardening articles for you to read. Check them out below.
- Gardening Tips for Beginners
- Annuals vs Perennials
- Places to Buy Seeds
- How to Start a Garden from Scratch
- Budget Planning for Your Garden
- Most Frequently Asked Gardening Questions
Ground Cover
A great place to start is to study the new space you have to work with. Like I said above, our new outdoor space is a little over twice as large as our previous gardening space. Another difference is that there is room to grow plants in the ground along the outdoor edge of the patio.
This means I will get to try my hand at ground gardening, which I don’t have much experience with. But I’m definitely up for the challenge!
Knowing what you have to work with will let you plan out your new garden for the next few months and year.
What is the Soil Like?
The next thing to consider is, what is the dirt like in your new space? Is it dense? Easy or hard to grow plants in?
Living in Southern California and attending several gardening classes, I hear that we have the hardest soil to work with, despite our ideal weather conditions. I’m sure it will take some trial and error to figure out what can and can’t grow in this new space.
You don’t want to use just what is in the ground for your plants to thrive in. There is gardening soil you can add to the dirt in the ground, as well as mulch for plants that need it.
How Much Sun is There?
Something else to consider is how much sun your new space will get. We lived at our previous place long enough for me to know the patterns of sunlight throughout the year. This will just be another learning curve that will take some time to learn.
Where Should I Plant My Plants?
This counts on how much space you have. I will be keeping most of my plants in containers since our new patio has a bunch of cement and brick. The edge will have a variety of annuals that I can change out throughout the year.
You can also check out neighbors to see what they grow in their garden for ideas. The possibilities are endless!
What Should I Plant?
You can do what I do and buy seeds and plants that you hope will thrive, or plan out what you think will grow.
All of my plants are in pots and I plan on keeping them in their containers on our patio. I have a bunch of annual and perrenial seeds that I can grow along the edge throughout the year.
The fun thing about plants is you can always change what you grow based on what time of year it is. And if something doesn’t grow in your new space, you can always replace it with another plant.
Maintaining Your New Garden
Give yourself plenty of room for trial and error in maintaining your new garden. Over time, you will find out what works and what doesn’t in your new gardening space. Have fun with the process!
Growing a New Garden
Starting a brand new garden can be an exciting time, especially if you plan on growing new plants in your brand new space.
What are you planning on growing in your new garden? What would you do differently next time? Let me know in the comments section below!
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