Last Updated on March 13, 2025 by Homegrown Florida
Starting your first garden is an exciting adventure, but it can also feel overwhelming. There’s a lot to learn about soil, watering, fertilizing, and dealing with pests. The good news is that gardening doesn’t have to be complicated—especially if you follow some key gardening beginner tips.
If you’re new to gardening, these gardening beginner tips will help set you up for success and make sure you get a healthy, productive harvest.
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Table of Contents
1. Understand Your Growing Seasons
One of the biggest mistakes new gardeners make is planting crops at the wrong time of year. Every vegetable has a preferred growing season, and planting outside of that season can result in slow growth, poor yields, or plants that don’t survive.
Vegetables fall into three main categories based on their preferred growing temperatures:
- Cool-season crops – These plants thrive in cooler temperatures and include lettuce, peas, carrots, and broccoli. They should be planted in early spring or fall, depending on your climate.
- Warm-season crops – These plants grow best in moderate temperatures and include tomatoes, peppers, beans, and cucumbers. They are usually planted in spring or early summer.
- Hot-season crops – Some vegetables love intense summer heat, such as sweet potatoes, okra, and certain peppers and can be grown in the middle of summer.
In warmer climates like Florida, cool-season crops grow best in the winter, warm-season crops thrive in spring and fall, and hot-season crops take over during the peak summer months.
Tip: Always check the seed packet or look up the best planting time for your specific area. This simple step can make a huge difference in your success! For Florida planting schedules, click here.
2. Direct Seeding vs. Transplants: Know What to Start With
Not all vegetables should be started the same way. Some plants grow best when you directly seed them into the garden, while others do better as transplants.
- Best plants to direct seed: Beans, peas, lettuce, carrots, radishes, beets, and squash.
- Best plants to start as transplants: Tomatoes, peppers, onions, eggplants, herbs, and many flowers.
Some seeds, like carrots and radishes, do not transplant well. They grow best when sown directly into the soil. Others, like tomatoes and peppers, take a long time to mature, so starting them indoors or buying transplants from a nursery is a better option.
3. Gardening Beginner Tips: Grow What You Like to Eat
It can be tempting to grow everything when you start gardening, but it’s best to focus on vegetables you actually enjoy eating.
For example, if you don’t like radishes, there’s no reason to grow them—even if they’re easy. Instead, plant crops that you’ll be excited to harvest and use in your meals.
That being said, growing your own vegetables can completely change the way they taste. Many store-bought vegetables—especially peas, tomatoes, and lettuce—taste completely different when fresh from the garden. If you’ve never liked a certain vegetable before, consider growing it yourself and giving it a second chance.
Tip: If you’re limited on space, focus on high-yield crops like tomatoes, beans, and herbs, which give you a lot of produce for a small amount of space.
4. Start Small to Avoid Overwhelm
One of the biggest beginner mistakes is trying to plant too much at once. It’s easy to get excited and overestimate how many plants you can handle, but a smaller, well-maintained garden is better than a large, neglected one.
Start with just a few easy-to-grow vegetables, such as lettuce, green beans, or cherry tomatoes. As you gain confidence and experience, you can expand your garden and try growing more plants.
Even experienced gardeners sometimes struggle with this—it’s easy to get carried away! It’s better to grow a few crops successfully than to take on too much and feel overwhelmed.
5. Don’t Be Afraid to Buy Plant Starts
There’s a common misconception that “real” gardeners only grow from seed. That’s simply not true!
Some plants—especially herbs, tomatoes, and peppers—can be difficult to start from seed, and buying young plants (starts) from a nursery can make gardening much easier and increase your odds of success.
When to buy starts instead of growing from seed:
- If you’re short on time or getting a late start in the season.
- If a plant is difficult to germinate (like some herbs and peppers).
- If you want a head start on the growing season.
- If you are brand new to gardening and want to gain confidence.
Herbs, in particular, are much easier to start from nursery plants. Many herbs like oregano, rosemary, and thyme are perennials, meaning they grow for years. A one-time purchase of a plant can supply you with fresh herbs indefinitely. This makes them a great choice for starts rather than starting from seed.
As a beginner gardener, starts allow you to get experience with growing a plant without the added stress of seed starting. Once you have a handle on growing a plant to maturity, try giving seed starting a chance. Learn in stages to avoid becoming overwhelmed.
And last but not least, have fun. Happy Gardening!