There are a few gardening tips that have worked for me in the past that I am going to share with you because when starting your own garden there is no reason to head in with your eyes closed. There is plenty of information about gardening in your arsenal. The Internet, gardening clubs, books, magazines and the help of your local nursery are all great caches of gardening tips. The main thing that I have noticed is that planning your garden on paper is a must. You will then need to decide on the place and size to make it perfect for the amount of area available. You will also need to figure out how much sun this plot will be getting during the day. Then you will get tip on fertilizer, mulch and the type of soil. Also the tools necessary will have to be decided including what kind of tiller you need plus the type of watering system.
Tip1: Pull out the paper and start planning your garden. The time this will save will be huge. Grab a friend and head on out to the place you are thinking about and have a long look at the area. Having a friend there for advice and as a soundboard and then having the area in front of you will really get the brainstorm started. Make sure to take into consideration the views to the place, how far the hose is from it, if there and any sprinklers around, and anything else you can think of.
Tip 2: The preparation of the soil is a major piece of the garden puzzle and has huge effects on the success of your garden. Different types of plants prefer different types of soil so make sure you take that into consideration. Also make sure that if it is going to be a veggie or an herb garden you try and use organic fertilizer because it will not effect that flavor of the food. A good compost or even wood chip mulch is preferred over the ordinary fertilizer. I recommend using a good tiller to mix it all together it is much easier to do it that way then by hand.
You might think that having a backyard compost heap something of an impossibility but it will be worth its weight in gild once it start giving you the goods. Fresh home brew compost is an excellent source of nutrients for your veggie or herb garden but sometimes its totally unrealistic. Mulch is a good substitute for a home compost mixture. Make sure to use the softer woods like redwood or pine because the faster it breaks down the better. Whether you use mulch or compost or fertilizer make sure to mix it all up very thoroughly.
Tip 3: when you have the soil all prepared it is very smart to lay out the plants on top of the soil before planting them to get a good look at out its going to turn out just in case you need to make any last minute changes. I firmly believe it is wise to plant plants together that have similar characteristics. Large plants with a big radius for instance should all be grouped together. Also have the taller plants in the back and the shorter ones in the front to maximize space. This also makes it easy to see everything.
Tip 4: Watering your garden is very important. Keeping up with it can be a big job depending on how big your house is. I advise using an automatic watering system because that almost makes gardens grow themselves. These auto systems can be anything from big sprinkler systems to a timer on a hose sprinkler.
Gardening is one of the most rewarding hobbies you can have. It gives you shade beauty and more often then not food! As your skills increase so will the reward so with the tips above hopefully you have a great starting point you go a head and turn your thumb green!