Gardening tips for beginners - part one

More and more people are getting inspired by gardening and whilst it is always great to learn as you go (or even as you grow!) there are certainly some basics gardening tips that you can utilise to give you that extra help when undertaking a gardening project for the first time.

Tools of the trade

Depending on what your gardening objectives are, you will need to buy some gardening equipment, such as tools and plant pots. This can be achieved cheaply if you opt for pre-owned equipment and look for bulk deals on plant pots.

Why not use websites like Freecycle where items are donated by freecycle members, or visit your local charity shops. You can also find bits and pieces at car boot sales, get there early to really try and find all the best bargains!

You might want to try and use old equipment like old Belfast sinks that can be filled with beautiful plants, this is a quirky but innovative way to house plants or even store equipment. You could even use an old tyre as a planter too!

Sowing the seeds

One of the most essential items that you need to buy is compost, you can either buy this cheaply from a garden centre or you can have a go at making some yourself. To make good compost, you need to have equal mixes of materials that are rich in both carbon and nitrogen. Putting It more simply, for every pot of green material such as grass clippings, nettle leaves, fruit and vegetable peelings, you need to add the same quantity of brown material for the ‘carbon’ – this can be prunings. hedge trimmings, scrunched up paper or cardboard, woody stems and similar. Don’t forget to shred the stems of wood before you add them to your mixture.

A typical problem that people experience with compost is that it has too much nitrogen and this can result in your compost mixture becoming too sludgy)

To make your own compost, it is recommended that you stand your compost bin directly on the soil, you may want to add chicken wire to the base of the compost bin, to try and keep rodents out.

Ensure that you have an equal measure of both green and brown (carbon and nitrogen) and mix well. You can increase the speed of the process by using a garden fork to turn the combined mixture to aerate it. Don’t forget to cover the mixture to keep the rain out

When the compost mixture starts to turn crumbly and brown, the compost is ready to be used. It can take around six months to complete, but in some instances, it can take longer.

In the next part of this series of articles, we look at what plants you can look to buy!

Part 2 coming soon!

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