In case you didn’t notice yet… I am an avid gardener.
I absolutely love anything that has to do with the garden and getting my hands dirty. It is so healing and magical. It can be pretty daunting starting out and realising your garden fantasies though, and this blogpost is to get you as a future avid gardener going on your journey.
We reached out to farmer and urban gardener, Mosa Seshoene, to walk us through the ABCs of getting your own garden started.
“A garden can be achieved from almost any living spaces such as balcony, windowsill and any backyard spaces,” says Mosa, “A garden can be quite simple from just growing herbs or having houseplants or can be a bit complicated depending on how much you want to grow such as having a mini farm in your own backyard.”
Before we can start gardening, let us go through tools and equipment you will need in your gardening journey:
- Gardening gloves: gloves are good to protect your hands from irritable plants
- Containers for plants: If you are growing your garden on your balcony or prefer container gardening then you will need containers to house your plants.
Your plant container should have drainage holes to allow excess water to escape and to stop potting soil from getting waterlogged.
- Watering equipment: These includes watering can which is used when watering large plant containers and watering spray for all the small plants such as herbs planted in small containers and lastly watering hose which is easily used when you have an in-ground garden.
- Soil: For all the container gardening, please make use of potting soil and compost. You can easily purchase it from garden centres. Don’t use ground garden soil as it might not be good to ensure that your plants grow well.
- Plant food: Fertilizers are food for the plant and most plants need to be fed. When giving your garden plants fertilizer, please the instructions on the packaging carefully.
- Seeds, seedlings, and plants of choice.
The good news is that there are beautiful plants that can grow in almost every condition possible. The trick is to know if your desired garden can grow in your environment space so kindly evaluate your space before starting your garden.
Let us go through some key evaluation points to look at before starting
- Space: You can have your garden within any space either small or big. If you have small spaces, you can have a small herb garden.
- Sunlight: Plants need sunlight for growth. Different plants require different sunlight conditions. Most plants need an average of 6 hours of sunlight a day. So, consider your space, if your spaces are exposure to more sunlight then grow plants which need more sunlight e.g., lettuce will not thrive in too much sunlight, so they need more shade.
- Water: Plants need water so make sure that you keep your plants moist. Kindly note that some plants will require less water such as thyme herb.
Side note: Garden according to how you live. How much care are you willing to give your garden?
If you will spend more time in your garden, then get plants which will require more feeding and watering and if you won’t spend a lot of time in your garden then get plants which are draught tolerate.
Starting my own flower garden on my balcony through using a wooden planter to house my flowers.
| We will need: PlanterPotting soilSeedlings of flowersWaterPlant food/fertilizer |
Step 1: Fill the planter with potting soil
Step 2: Remove the flowers from the seed trays and put them into the potting soil which is in the planter
Step 3: Make holes in the soil then insert the seedlings into the soil.
Step 4: Make sure that the roots of the flowers are fully covered by the potting soil.
Step 5: Water the flowers in the planter
Step 6: Apply plant food or fertilizer
Step 7: Place the planter where flowers are exposure to enough sunlight.
Will you be spending some time in the garden this weekend? So go ahead and give it a try. Plant something.
Let us know what you’ll be planting below.
About Mosa Seshoene:
Mosa is both a farmer and an urban gardener.
She comes from a generation of farmers and holds a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture. She is currently finishing up her agricultural engineering degree.
She started Farminist, a platform dedicated to everything gardening and agriculture, in 2020.
Farminist has recently started a plant consultation whereby they help aspiring gardeners get started.