Can you help me with where to start?

[Lilacmintgreen]

My dad was a really keen gardener, and I would love to get into it but have never lived anywhere with a proper garden.

Can I ask some stupid questions about where to start? So I’m hoping for a beautiful garden filled with seasonal flowers … when do I need to start and what should I buy?

You can start anytime outside of winter! Just go into garden centre or b&q and buy any plants you like that are perennials. They'll sell whatever is in bloom at the time you go.

If you're creating a garden from scratch, you just aim to have a mixture of heights and eventually aim to have not much bare soil showing (unless you don't mind weeding loads).

If I'd never gardened in my life and had nothing, I would get:
A few Ornamental grasses
Perennial flowers
Some shrubs
Big bag of compost
Hand trowel
Fork
Gardening gloves
Plant food (powdered seaweed has worked best for me)

I am just starting myself after killing lots of plants. The one thing I learned was to read read and read. Read the labels on the plants.

I would always plant something and it died. I was planting them in the wrong place. So watch ur garden to see where the sun lies during the day. And if the label or book says full sun. Plant it in full sun.

I check and double things before I plant them. I wanted lavender. And two weeks later I knew which was the best one and how to plant it.

did I mention read? I went through gardening beginners on social media for weeks. So many people helped me so much.

You're hoping for a beautiful garden filled with seasonal flowers, but what do you have right now?

Start by getting to know your plot: the size, soil, the aspect, where the sun shines and where it doesn't. Once you've figured that out, start looking for plants which will do well there.

get a few garden books from your local bookshop - I always choose the ones with the best pictures. get a few cheap pots and plants from your local hardware store or supermarket to try things out. Also, visit NGS gardens (google them) and see what plants you like the look of.

then think about the longer term for your garden. what space do you have? what is in it at the moment? do you have (or want) trees or shrubs? if you have a 'cottage garden' full of flowers in the summer it will look very dull in the winter.

If you have a big budget, crocus.co.uk will sell you a whole bed full of plants that work well together. but that is more expensive than getting things gradually. Also look at Beth Chatto Gardens website and Sarah Raven.

Try the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) website. Lots of stuff for beginners there, they’re really focussed on getting new people into gardening.

Look round nurseries and gardens to see what you like, then look up the plants in books or on the internet to see what conditions they need. Growing plants you like will always be more rewarding. Don’t be afraid to get rid of plants to make way for others. Just because you’ve grown something for a couple of years doesn’t mean you always have to grow it

Treat the garden as an experiment, observe what’s happening. Don’t be nervous! Plants on the whole want to grow.

I agree with Mere and parietal, but do browse the book section of your local charity shop, there are frequently good gardening books to be bought cheaply.
I’d also use the winter dormant stage to tidy up any structures and or build structures such as arches. Also, keep an eye out for weeds that start growing and in early spring feed the soil with a layer of well rotted manure, obtained in a bag from the garden centre.