Starting a Garden From Nothing: A First-Year Plan

The usual way a first garden goes wrong is buying plants before understanding the site. Plants are the last decision, not the first, and reversing that order is what produces a shed of unused equipment and a bed of things that died.

Before buying anything: learn the site

Two facts determine most of what will grow, and both are free to establish.

• How much sun each area gets. Watch across a day and note which parts get full sun, which get a few hours, and which never do. Plant labels are written in these terms, and getting it wrong is the most common cause of failure.
• What the soil is like. Dig a hole. Sandy soil crumbles and drains fast; clay holds together and stays wet; loam is somewhere between. A cheap pH test kit adds the other half of the picture and costs very little.

Also watch where water sits after heavy rain. A corner that stays waterlogged will kill most things planted in it, and that is a drainage problem rather than a plant problem.

Spring: soil first

The first spending that pays back is on soil, not plants. Compost improves both sandy and clay soil, and improving a small area properly beats spreading a thin layer over everything. Work out how much you need by volume — area times depth — and price it per litre, because bulk delivery is much cheaper per litre than bags if you have somewhere to put it.

This is also the season for the tools you will use constantly: a spade, a fork, a trowel, secateurs. Buy those four properly and add the rest as specific jobs come up.

Early summer: plant, then water

Buy plants suited to the light and soil you established, not the ones that looked best in the garden centre. Perennials cost more per plant and come back each year; annuals are cheap and are finished by autumn. A first garden usually wants a backbone of perennials with annuals filling gaps while things establish.

Watering is where new gardens fail in their first summer. Newly planted things need consistent water for the first season while roots establish, which is more than established plants need and more than rainfall usually provides. A watering can you can carry full, or a hose that reaches, is not optional.

Late summer: the buying window opens

Garden retail collapses after midsummer, and stock has to move before winter. Plants reduced at this point are often perfectly healthy and simply past their flowering display — perennials in particular do not mind being planted late, and autumn planting gives roots time to establish before the next season.

This is also when tools and hard goods are discounted, which is the cheapest time to buy for next spring.

Autumn and winter: the unglamorous part

Autumn is for planting bulbs, dividing perennials, and adding compost to beds so it works in over winter. Winter is for cutting back, for cleaning and oiling tools, and for planning. Neither produces anything to photograph, which is why both get skipped and why gardens go backwards in their second year.

Mistakes that cost money

• Buying plants on impulse without knowing where they will go or whether the light suits them.
• Buying a full tool set instead of four good tools.
• Skipping soil improvement and buying replacement plants instead — the more expensive route by a wide margin.
• Planting too close together. The label spacing assumes the mature size, and the mature size arrives.
• Buying at peak season when everyone else is, then repeating it next spring.

Before you order

For anything heavy — compost, pots, paving — check delivery cost and whether the retailer delivers to your area at all, since pallet goods often have restrictions. For living plants, check what condition guarantee the seller offers on arrival, because that varies far more between sellers than price does. And check the plant's mature size on the label before you buy, not after you have planted it.