What do you wish you'd known before you started gardening?

[ImprobablePuffin]

Just that really, I couldn't find a recent similar thread so thought I'd start one. I'm still such a novice and feel proud if I remember the correct name for any plants! It feels a bit overwhelming at times with each plants different needs and I've def lost a few plants to ignorance.
So what do you wish you'd known as a novice that would have helped no end? Picture just for fun because I love my allium 😂

I would add, join local groups on facebook, gardening specific if possible. I share seedlings and seeds on there and have received as many, if not more, than I have sent. It's also great to be able to ask others with the same weather as you how their plants are faring etc

Test your soil ph
Understand your sunny and shady spots
Choose plants for their light and soil requirements and think about their size and resulting shade they will cast
Buy good tools rather than cheap ones (stainless steel if you can)
Keep small tools readily accessible (hand fork, secateurs, gloves) so it is easier to do a few minutes than having to find the shed key, go to the shed, get tools out, start gardening, and then put it all away again.
Don’t waste time or money on half hardy annuals
Plan a succession of flowers and also consider foliage shapes and colours and have contrast

@MeadowLines

I would add, join local groups on facebook, gardening specific if possible. I share seedlings and seeds on there and have received as many, if not more, than I have sent. It's also great to be able to ask others with the same weather as you how their plants are faring etc

That's a great idea - I'll take a look. Swapping seeds etc sounds like a fantastic idea. Thanks

It doesnt have to be on social media, try and connect with other gardeners in your area if you have a community garden, or Ive even seen people set up a wee table at the end of their drive and give away seedlings etc for free or charity donation

The right plant in the right place is key.
You are wasting time and money otherwise.

@HarryBoa

Group same plants together. Don't dot them around the garden. It will annoy you and then you'll see it planted as a group in another garden and kick yourself.

Agree with this - buy at least 3 and group them! Also, if you have an empty border, it is worth planning it out loosely in advance rather then just buying things you like the look of and plonking them in. It’s better to buy at a garden centre than online for most things in my experience - I now only go online for specialist plants eg ornamental grasses. Definitely see if you can befriend neighbours/local gardeners and when they/you divide perennials or take cuttings you can share. The plants tend to grow really well because they’re used to the soil and conditions. When buying plants, keep an eye on what’s growing well in neighbours gardens and buy similar. Work with your existing garden rather than fighting against it - if you gets loads of slugs, choose plants they won’t eat, if it’s hot and dry choose Mediterranean plants. It saves a lot of frustration! I’m still a gardening newbie and have made most of these mistakes in the last couple of years

Oh and take it easy with digging, especially if you aren’t very fit - very easy to hurt your back!

Consider grasses, they are so easy and look great summer / autumn. Very low maintenance and easy to divide to create more plants. Plant in drifts, 3 minimum ideally 5.
Also stick to a nice colour palate of a few colours rather than random plants with random colours dotted everywhere

Get the plants that you love, it's easy to be swayed 'must have' plants and fashionable colours, but if you love it at first sight, chances are you always will.

My advice probably goes against the grain of other more detailed advice here, (and im very much still a beginner so take it with a pinch of salt!)

But my advice is not to overthink it! I soent so long researching what to plant, looking up detailed info about soil types etc etc etc and got so bogged down with it all. So when i finally planted something, i stressed about it the whole time (planted 3 lavendar, 2 died, one survived which left me gutted)

So i took a step back, bought some cheap bedding plants and put them in the ground to see what happens. And they are flowering and growing!

Sometimes too much knowledge can make you too scared to actually do anything.

Some plants grow bigger than others. Who knew?! Don’t do what I did and whack everything in without thinking about how big it would get. I ended up with small things at the back and big things at the front which looks stupid. Plan ahead!

Not to plant too much! When we first bought a house and started planting etc., we grossly underestimated how large things would grow. First year, we bought quite a few shrubs and planted them around the borders, taking care to plant them far enough apart (as per label giving sizes etc). Second year, it looked sparse, so we bought another load of shrubs to plant between the first years' ones. Third year, still looked sparse, so we planted some perennials between the shrubs. You know what's coming! Fourth year, the whole lot exploded and it was a right mess. We trimmed it all back and got some shape back into it all, rather than it being a huge blob. But fifth year, it was even worse. Then it was just completely out of control. We had to do some serious hacking to make any sense of it and had to completely remove about a half of it all. Even 20 years later, we still have far too many shrubs around the garden, and need to do 2 or 3 "hacking days" every year to keep them under control.

If we were starting afresh, we'd plant a lot more sparsely and rely on annuals if it looked empty. We definitely wouldn't plant more than 1 shrub for every 10 feet or so as most grow (and grow, and grow).

Be bold and make changes to the shape of your lawn and beds - if you don't need the lawn for kids to play on for instance, cut some new bads, changes the shape of your lawn to extend in to what was the lawn or put some raised beds in.

By some young trees - I love all the trees I put in my garden and wished I had thought about adding them years before I did. I have put an acer, 2 different amelanchias, 3 different silver birch, one rowan (my least favourite), 3 magnolias - an Elizabeth (yellow - one of the best trees in the garden) , a Susan (purple) and a white stellata (shrub) and a rowan (not too impressed by that)

Move things if they are not flourishing - some things do take a couple of years to get started - my camillia has been in 3 years and not flowered yet but looks healthy. The acer struggled in the front (north facing) for about 7 years and wasn't happy - I put it in the back garden with more shade and within 18 months it was a completely different tree - it's an absolute joy now.

I have had 4 tones of soil improver delivered over the last 10 years - honestly - it goes nowhere - when you heap it up you wonder how you are going to disperse it all but somehow it gets absorbed. I also had a couple of tons of tops soil for some raised beds.

You can never have enough water butts - I have 4 and prefer to water things early in the morning when it's going to be hot - conventionally I think most people water in the evening which is a nice relaxing thing to do.

Not all shrubs and trees last forever - if they look past their best don't have any qualms about taking things out - I quite like it when my wife points to something and asks me to take it out - it's a bit of exercise, you have to be patient - a mattock is essential but you can't use brute force to get a big established plant out - you have to be smart and feel for all the roots that need cutting, especially the tap root - usually right under the trunk going straight down - they are wire-y adversaries.

I always look for bee friendly plants - I love being around bees.

We have a lot of climbers - honeysuckle, clematis, jasmine and roses. It's rewarding watching your plants grow and do well. I love wilder looking things like foxgloves and I let poppies self seed all over the place.

Also - walk around your local area to see what grows well on the assumption that they have the same soil type. Take photos and use google lens to identify them.

You will need to look up when things need pruning - be brutal - my Cornus (dogwood) looks great in the winter - bright orange stems - does better the harder I cut it back in the spring. Witch Hazel also looks great in winter when the garden looks dead and colourless.

Just enjoy it. Be bold.

@Kazzyhoward I think there's three stages to a garden

Phase 1: plant densely, use a lot of vigorous varieties (Clematis montana, Kiftsgate or Rambling Rector roses)

Phase 2: Everything's getting a bit crowded, so you have to prune hard to make sure everything gets a look in

Phase 3: Hard choices - which of these two much loved shrubs are you going to get rid of completely? And repeat, over the whole garden.

That plants from Morrison's are just as good as those from the garden centre, but about a quarter of the price, you just have to keep going as there's no saying what they'll have in and when.

I'm talking perennials 2 for £3, clematis for £2, fuchsias for £1, and trays of bedding plants for £1 - £3. And much more - my garden is stuffed with their plants, and I've only ever had a couple of failures.

I agree with quality of Morrison's plants- the perennials I've had from them are brilliant

Dont be afraid of the shelf of death, whether its in Tescos or B&Q, normally a new pot and a good soak and theyre as right as rain!

Don't go mad and buy everything perennial in one go at the beginning of summer (end of spring) or you will have loads that flowers first thing then nothing thereafter 🥰😂

I always regret not keeping better notes and/ or labelling things.

Always have a look in the plant hospital section in the garden centre and ask staff where it is as they’ll often move it. I’ve got some bargains from there over the years, some for as little as 50p.

Ditto car boot sale sellers. A tray of 24 summer bedding plants for £10 and an acer sapling for £2 which is now glorious and 11 feet tall.

Don’t plant too close to fences/walls, think about the spread of the plant.

Choose your partner carefully for their tolerance to having every windowsill in the house covered with seedlings for weeks in Spring - months this year due to the very long cold spell.

Every time you go outside, pull a few weeds. Makes it less of a task.

The old saying "One year's seeding means seven years' weeding" is very true.

Most perennials are tough, you can divide them, move them, plonk them in a pot forget about them for months and then plant them. Just water generously every time you mess about with them.

Feed pots.

Feed the soil - mulch is the enemy of weeds.

Better to water deeply once a week than a bit every day.

Water in new plants and keep an eye on them in the first year.

If you've got lots of little pots water them by standing them in a tray full of water.

Don't feel you need to plant everything you sow, or take every plant offered.

Take time to sit and enjoy your garden. I sit out on a bench with the best view in the sun most mornings with a cup of tea.

Little and often is best - have secateurs on hand to deadhead, or do a little light weeding every time you are out there.

Buy a pack of nigella seeds and sow them on some bare earth.

Plants grow, but most take well to a good pruning and will come back better.

Not to plant mint in my flowerbed!

Buy garish, brightly coloured gardening tools. I know, I know, they don’t fit into the ‘’Monty’ aesthetic but when you leave them outside, you won’t be cursing the garden gods trying to find them.

Don’t plant box. I’ve recently dug up 12.5m of hedging and various v large balls / pyramids etc…. 14 years of lovely, lovely hedging. Fucking blight! Also, dog pee scorches and shrivels it as well.
There are better alternatives.