Gardening for beginners: how to care for your garden

There’s a lot more to gardening than planting plants. As a gardener, you need to care for your plants once they’re in the soil, making sure they’re well watered and fed, given adequate support and are not growing in competition with other plants or weeds. Caring for you garden as a whole involves caring for plants individually – what works for one will not necessarily work for another.

7/20/2021 2 min read

1. Garden Care Begins at Ground Level. Mulch the garden bed soon after planting. Use a 2-inch layer of wood chips, straw or pine straw in flower or vegetable gardens. Use a plastic mulch in warm-season vegetable beds. Mulch prevents weeds and helps keep moisture in the soil.

2. Water Your Garden Regularly. The Master Class website recommends that you water the garden regularly, providing the amount of water necessary for the specific plant varieties. Most vegetables and some flowers require approximately 1 inch of water from irrigation or rainfall per week. Good garden care requires that you check soil moisture at least twice weekly and water most plants when the top inch of soil begins to dry, so that the top 6 inches of soil remains moist but not soggy.

3. Keep the Leaves Dry. Keep plant foliage and flowers dry when irrigating the garden. Wet foliage is more prone to foliar diseases, including fungal problems. Avoid overhead watering and instead water near the base of the plants when possible.

4. Keep Your Garden Free of Weeds. Weed the bed weekly, or whenever young weeds manage to breach the mulch layer. According to Gardeners' World, prompt weed removal prevents the plants from establishing in the garden, where they rob moisture and nutrients from your garden plants while also providing a haven for pests and disease.

5. Feed Your Plants as Needed. Fertilize plants as necessary for the specific plant variety, but avoid fertilizing when plants are undergoing drought or other stress. Apply fertilizer to the soil about 6 inches from the base of the plants because fertilizer in direct contact with plant leaves or roots can cause burning. Water after fertilizing to dilute the nutrients in the soil.

6. Remove Spent BloomsDeadhead flowering plants weekly, removing the old spent flowers to improve the garden's appearance and encourage further blossoms. Harvest mature vegetables often to encourage further production. Prune plants as necessary for the particular plant variety.

7. Watch Out for Pests and DiseasesCheck plants weekly for symptoms of disease or pest problems. Treat the plants promptly with an appropriate pesticide, such as insecticidal soap for aphids or fungicide for fungal diseases. Destroy badly infected plants to prevent the spread of disease to healthy plants.