When you were a child you probably played in the dirt as often as you could. You dug up the dirt, built homes, and drove little cars around makeshift roads. The sandbox and other patches of dirt your parents allowed you to play in may have been like another world to you, where you imagined yourself taking make believe adventures and journeys. As a grown up, it is harder to find time for playing in the dirt. Therefore, many adults will spend countless hours perfecting their garden. As a gardener, you will now have an excuse to get down in the dirt and play as often or as little as you want. If you have been thinking about planting your own garden and want it to thrive, here are some things you should do.

Black thumbs do not exist. Keep reading to find helpful hints and instructions that will guide you as you grow your garden.

Look at your current space with a critical eye. If your space is limited and you don’t have enough room outdoors for any sort of garden you will be limited to the types of plants you can easily grow inside until you move to somewhere more accommodating. If your home has yard space you will have to decide how much of that space should be dedicated to your garden. The amount of space you have for your new garden will help you decide exactly what you can grow and how extensive your brand new garden will eventually be. For example: a small garden kept inside is not going to be a good place to grow vegetables, fruit or anything that grows on a vine. Most of gardening is nothing more than sticking to a schedule. As time goes on you’ll figure out a routine and you’ll just know what you need to do in your garden each day. You will learn when to do the weeding, how to check to make sure the garden is not drying out, when to add nutrients and when to add compost to your garden. Put together a schedule of your own and then follow it. Lots of beginning gardeners have gardens that die because they don’t realize how much work is actually involved in keeping a garden alive and thriving (or they simply stop caring).

The easiest plants to grow, especially if you are new to creating your own garden, are the following: sunflowers, marigolds, geraniums, pansies, day lilies, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers. You might also have great luck with cosmos, zinnias, Russian sage, black eyed Susan’s, phlox, coneflowers and lamb’s ears.

Prepare the ground before you begin planting. You might not believe this but your garden probably won’t grow if all you do is put some seeds in the dirt and hope that they grow. Before you do any planting you need to prepare the ground in your garden. You want to get rid of all of the rocks and clutter. Till the soil so that there is oxygen moving through it. Container and indoor gardens will also need some preparation work before planting can be done. Anybody can have a garden. The trick to having a thriving garden is to take steps to ensure that you approach your new hobby the right way. Advance planning and research is imperative if you want to make sure that your future garden is successful. Once you figure out how to keep your garden healthy and have figured out what kind of routine you want to follow for your work outside, doing your daily gardening chores will feel far more enjoyable. It could come to be that you like working in your garden every day!