10 Simple and Clever Garden Tips for Beginners

Starting out a garden as a beginner can seem like a daunting task.   One needs to keep on top of a lot of information – soil types, how hearty a plant is, the right rotation schedule for a plot of land just a few items off the top of my head.  It can be overwhelming at times.

Take a deep breath – we are here to help.  Always keep in mind gardening is supposed to be fun – so it’s OK if you don’t know everything right off the bat.  Keep with it and it will get easier.  Remember- everyone was a beginner at one time.

In that spirit, here are a few gardening tips that can save you time, aggravation or money.  You probably won’t use all of them but hopefully you’ll find a few that can help you out.

1. Make Planters out of Toilet Paper Rolls

We all are faced with looking at the brown tp tube and thinking “there’s got to be something I can do with this?”  Well now that you have been bit by the gardening bug, there is – use them for planters.

Toilet paper or paper towel rolls are made from a heavy paper stock.  This is great because you can tear two or more apart and connect them all together eaisly.  They may be held together with a bit of moisture.  Take apart as many as you need to fit the size of your plant and eventual pot.  Place a paper towel underneath to form the bottom.

Once your plants have grown a bit, you can transfer them to a real pot or the ground.  The tube walls will eventually decompose naturally into the soil – so if you don’t move them to a permanent location you’ll eventually need to redo the steps above.

2. Moss Graffiti

Moss graffiti is quite a lot of fun to build in your garden. The first time you try it you’ll notice that planting and sticking moss graffiti to a wall is exciting.  People can help you and use the moss to create words or pictures on the wall. Moss is often available for free in your yard, or you can purchase some for a good price from your local garden store.

The moss may be cut in any shape you like.  Moss will continue to grow for as long as you keep it watered well. Moss loves moisture!  This means you need to be careful when using a blower to clear leaves from the areas your moss inhabits.  The rushing air can hurt the moss.

This is a fun thing to create in your garden that you may place on any brick wall, or you may cut out moss on the ground if you like. Most people will enjoy building these beautiful moss art pieces, and they may become a hallmark of your garden that others wish to emulate.

3. Put Seedlings in Lemon Rinds or Egg Shells

You may place your seedlings in the rinds of your lemons or old egg shells. Drop them in the shell or rind with a bit of soil, and then place them in egg containers or drink holders to set. They are a great location to store seedlings while you wait for a place to them in your garden. They will be protected from the errant lawn mower or weed wacker operator.

It’s not difficult to do, but make sure that your egg shells are clean before using them.  Yolk or other egg can eventually start to smell if you aren’t careful – so be careful!

4. Turn Milk Jugs into Shovels

Turning a milk jug into a shovel is a quite simple hack to save money in the garden. Just cut off the bottom to fit your needs and use it to move soil from one location to another.

The milk jugs you are cutting out may be turned into planters as well.  You can set them outside when you are planting on your deck or in random places in your garden. Many gardeners start plants in a milk jug before deciding to transfer them to another part of the garden.  Gardens are dynamic places, so having the ability to change your mind on plant locations are a great feature.

5. Shower Caddies Make Lovely Hanging Gardens

Create unique hanging gardens using shower caddies – they are customizable enough to easily give you the right amount of space you personally need.  The garden you hang over a door or on the wall may have many small pots placed in the levels of the shower caddy.  The caddy is quite easy to paint, and you may use any color scheme you want. Your home will improve in style and color when you create a better hanging garden with your shower caddy.

The great thing is, shower caddies are relatively cheap to purchase. Most caddies will hang easily for many years to come. They were created for moist environments to resist rust so they are perfect for the outdoors.  Eventually you will see them stay in place for so long that you forget what they once looked like.

The shower caddy you have chosen may come with a hanging hook you may use anywhere in your garden, or you may use a shower caddy that has the multiple levels to plant your herbs on. Each hanging garden may be a bit different, and you may use something larger when needed.

6. The Paper Towel Trick

The paper towel trick is a great one to try in your garden when you are going to leave town for a little while.   This is especially helpful if you don’t have someone reliable to come over and water while you are gone.  You may use paper towels to water your plants in a simple manner. This is a bit like setting the wick on a candle or a fuse.

You will wrap together a long string of paper towels that you will stick in the soil of your plants. The other end of the paper towel is placed in a basin of water, and the water will seep through the paper towel in the pot. This is a simple way to ensure that you have water going into a plant, and you will find that the plant has water without anyone tending it for you.

The paper towel trick will work on any plant, but you must use a paper towel that is the right circumference for your plant. Thinner strands of paper towels are right for small plants, and you must wrap a thick paper towel rope when you are watering a large plant. The paper towel will not drip, and you must place the water basin near the plant. The plant will take on the water without any help, and the water basin will be much lower when you return from your holiday.

You may enrich the water in the basin if you must add enrichments to the soil, and you will find it quite simple to include all additives that are needed for your plants. Someone who is watering their plants over a holiday may do so using nothing more than a few paper towels.

7. Use Leftover Coffee Grounds

Leftover coffee grounds can be an excellent enrichment for your soil.  If you grind and brew your own coffee beans you’ll have some lying around every day.  Otherwise you may pick up coffee grounds from the local coffee shop.

This is a simple mixture to create -just sprinkle the grounds in your garden. It’s important to make sure your soil isn’t too akaline to begin with – only use this tip if you need to raise the alkalinity of your soil.   Otherwise you can damage your plants.  Blueberries love alkalinity so they are a great choice for such enrichment.

Leftover coffee grounds are only one step in enriching your garden, but it’s a pretty easy one. This is a way to recycle a resource, and it is a natural product that will make your garden look beautiful all through the year.

8. Use Coffee Filters To Prevent Leakage

Coffee is the inspiration for a number of garden enhancements, and here’s another one: use coffee filters in your planters for convince and plant health. The filters will prevent leakage.  They will stop the water from coming out of the planter. You will not need to water your plants as much.

The water you are pouring into a small planter will pool in the bottom of the pot, and the plant will have more time to soak up the water you have given it. The plant will continue to grow because it is taking on all the water you are pouring in, and you will feel as though your work is not wasted. You will avoid the pools of water around your pots, and you will water a bit less because you know the water will go into the plant.

9. Store Tools in Sand

Storing your tools in dry builder’s sand is one I had not heard of before I began researching for this article.  You’ll often find that garden tools will get wet – either from morning dew, moist plants or just being outside in the weather.  The builders sand will wick away the water on the tools, and if stored over time in the sand they will completely dry. No more rusted tools as a nasty surprise when you use a hoe or shovel for the first time in a month or two.

The sand may be placed in a large pot – a large planter will give you more than enough room to place your tools. You may not need space for every tool at once but if you do have the available work area – go for it.  A pot can be perfect because a clay pot will absorb moisture itself, and you will notice that the sand and pot work together to help keep the space dry. You may place everything from your hoe to a pair of clippers in the pot. The pot becomes the simplest way to store your tools, and you need not purchase a special rack to hang them.

You are saving money by using a leftover post and a patch of sand. You may pour the sand in the pot any time you like, and you may replace it when you need. The sand will become quite wet simply because you have stored your tools in the pot for long periods of time, so you will need to change out the sand on a periodic basis.

10. Freeze Herbs in Ice Cubes

Freezing herbs in ice cubs is one of the simplest ways to save them for the future. You may drop any leaf from an herb in an ice tray, and you will have them ready to use any time you are cooking. The cubes will melt when you place them in a dish that is heated, and you will find that the cubs look beautiful when you are storing them in the ice tray.

The ice tray is easy to fill with water, and you will find that the herbs may be frozen and stored quickly. You may remove them, bag them and move on to move herbs. It is quite simple to use ice trays to preserve the herbs you have grown. You may have quite a few herbs on your kitchen windowsill, and you may pluck them for the ice tray at any time. Freezing them does not take much time, and you will have something beautiful to look at when you peer into the freezer.

There are many people who grow herbs that they believe they must use immediately, and you will avoid wasting your herbs when you are growing them around the garden. You may need to use them instantly for your cooking, and you will find that they may held in a casing that looks good in drinks. You may pull out the ice cubs at any time to access your herbs, and you will have an herb ready for anything you are cooking. You will add beautiful flavor to your dishes, and your dishes will be easier to prepare because dropping in an ice cube is quite simple.

Final Verdict

You may try any of the ten things in this list when you are tending your garden. The garden that you have built around your home is quite a lot of fun to play with, and you may use any of these tips as you work on your garden. The garden is fun to play with as you experiment with new ideas, and you will notice that your garden is growing far more than it would have otherwise. You will have more things growing in your garden that you put in the sun quickly, and you will add more beautiful things to the garden that you will quite enjoy. You need not have a green thumb to do each of these ten things, and you will find that you may become a better gardener. You are creating a better garden using the simplest items around your home, and your gardening will be impressive to all your guests.