How did you start your first garden? I recently bought a home and want to give it a go this summer but I know very little. Any tips or advice would be helpful! I’m in NYC, if that informs your advice. Thank you 
@Zach
Thank you! By container gardening, do you mean indoors or raised beds?
@Zach
Makes sense, thank you!
First things first: Find out what climate/growing zone you’re in (you can easily find this online with your zip code). Also, assess the conditions in your space. Sun? Part sun? Shade most of the day? Poor drainage or good drainage? Will you use containers or build raised beds? Things like that will affect the kinds of plants you can grow.
Next, figure out what appeals to you: vegetables? Flowers? Plants that attract butterflies? Native plants? Something else?
Once you understand your growing conditions and what you find interesting, you can start looking for plants that suit both your interests and your conditions. I highly recommend having a compost pile or bin if you have space for one. It’s not mandatory, but having a source of cheap compost is very helpful for gardening. If you want to grow vegetables, try to mostly plant ones you actually want to eat.
@Harlow
Thank you! Great tips!
I started with the square foot gardening book from Mel Bartholomew. I know how exciting it is, and I couldn’t wait a whole year before starting. Maybe not with something major or permanent, but knowing myself, I would start this year. I recommend raised beds. It’s easy to move them next year if necessary. Understanding how the sun moves is key—make notes on where gets morning sun versus 8+ hours of sunlight. Good luck and have fun!
Make sure to use good quality potting soil, especially in containers or raised beds. It makes a world of difference—you get what you pay for. I use Fox Farm because it’s cheaper than some high-end soils. If you can buy it at a big box store, it’s probably not great. I made the mistake of buying organic Kellogg’s at Home Depot and had to spend years fixing it. I grew peppers last year in 7-gal pots with Fox Farm Happy Frog and Ocean Forest, and they did amazing. There are other good soils, but that has worked for me—better than store brands and Miracle-Gro. I have raised beds but also grow potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and herbs in pots this year.
When growing in containers, the nutrients need to be replenished frequently for most plants. I usually use Espoma’s Garden Tone, but this year I bought some Fox Farm liquid and will probably use a combo of both. I always plant tomatoes with Garden Tone, bone meal, and a little blood meal because they are heavy feeders. Then I feed them monthly with another 1/3 cup of Garden Tone around the base.
Also, have solutions on hand for when problems arise—like neem oil, BT, and diatomaceous earth for pest control. Bugs can invade fast, so act quickly. I try to grow organically, but feel free to use whatever you prefer.
Look for a local planting calendar online so you know what to plant and when. Check with your local university or extension office. I saw another comment about tracking the sun; this is very important. One of my beds is in a terrible spot, and I regret rushing to put it there.
Most importantly, don’t set expectations too high. You will make mistakes, and you must learn your way through it.
@Avery
SOIL IS EVERYTHING!! Gotta keep that biology actively feeding…
I started with container gardening out of necessity. I learned a lot from experimenting with that and applied it once I had a yard. Half the fun of gardening is experimenting! If you ask five different experts how to do something, you’ll get five different answers. Don’t be afraid to fail—sometimes plants won’t succeed due to reasons within or outside your control (weather, pests, etc.). The important thing is to learn from it. Also, start with some easy wins. Grow radishes, tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash, or cucumbers—things that are relatively easy, prolific, and hardy. Don’t start with artichokes your first year and get discouraged. I follow a handful of YouTube gardening channels; it’s an easy way to start learning without getting too overwhelmed. I really like James Prigioni’s channel; he’s upbeat and does videos on everything from tomatoes to fruit trees, and he’s in NJ, so you should be able to grow anything he’s growing. Here’s a link if you’re interested: James Prigioni’s YouTube Channel.
@Val
Will check him out, thank you!
There are great podcasts and videos available (e.g., Joe the Gardener, Garden Answers). If you decide to build beds, browse online and on this forum for many great ideas!
It might help if you posted a couple of pictures of the space (indicating directions) and more details about what you envision your future garden accomplishing (food for a specific number of people, flowers, fruit trees, etc.). Do you want a raised bed-centric garden or in-ground rows (farm-style)? Do you need grass for kids/pets to play on? (If so, don’t treat it with chemicals, as the cuttings make prime mulch.)
For example, in our yard, we needed a decent patch of grass for our golden doodle, so we cut out a rectangular section roughly 16’x26’ and built raised beds with thick wood chips for rows between them. We trellis everything, trying to produce a lot of food from this small space—it looks a bit hectic, not super aesthetically pleasing (as you can see in my profile posts…lol)…but it produces a ton of food. We also tuck in crops wherever we can on all four sides of the house. I even grow high-yielding raspberries literally under the north and west eaves of my house and have a bed of brassicas and blueberry bushes in my front yard (neighbors love it when the artichokes bloom). You’d be surprised at what you can grow where…
Consider grouping plants by similar water needs; it makes planning an irrigation system easier if like plants can be in the same zones (assuming you use a timed drip irrigation system). Here’s a cut-and-paste of a comment I wrote on similar posts, in case it helps. Sorry, but it’s long-winded (that’s how I roll!)…
High-Level Garden Design Considerations:
Consistent soil level irrigation (drip), trellis everything you can so it doesn’t lay on the ground (airflow is vital), and feed your soil as organically as possible throughout the year (not just during the season) so that nutrients and minerals can break down over time and be available when the plants call for them. Here’s more specifics:
Leave an aisle between beds and fences…getting to the back of a bed can be challenging, especially if growing crops on a trellis; leave sufficient width for aisles; consider narrower beds, particularly if you are trellising (we narrowed our beds from 4’ to 3’ this year, making access easier). Cover pathways with a thick layer of wood chips and add to it each season. Wood chips will break down, feeding the microbial and fungal life in the soil, helping earthworms thrive and create pathways for fungal hyphae (making your pathways a contributing part of your living soil).
Drip irrigation (timed if possible)…consistent watering is everything! Our initial seasons of hand-watering yielded underwhelming results compared to what we achieved with a timed drip system. Set up each raised bed with its own valve and group beds with similar watering needs by zones (e.g., tomatoes/peppers/eggplant need less frequent but deeper watering than greens/beans/peas/cucumbers). If you can afford one, look into a timer. Here is a post I did noting what we use if it helps: Drip Irrigation Timer Post.
Trellising: As mentioned, airflow is critical. We use trellises, and rarely do we not trellis our crops in some manner. Many we trellis differently. I’ll edit with a link to a post showing various trellises. You can see most in various posts on my profile; the ones most off the wall use horizontal netting for tomatillos, determinate tomatoes, peppers, etc…extremely effective: Trellising Post.
Soil: We amend as organically as possible (it takes time for microbial life in the soil to break down and make nutrients available) at the end of the season, before mulching heavily to prepare for winter. If you are really into it, consider building a small worm tea brewer; it made a huge difference in my opinion. I’ve applied it a couple of times this year and will start early next spring. I’ll share details on what we amend with and what we mix into our worm tea. You can see the results in the appearance of our plants. Not going into the organic vs. inorganic debate; that’s personal choice, and both can grow plants.
Most Important: Don’t be afraid to experiment! We push the envelope with whatever we try and have tested many ideas . I’ll share links from my IG page that started last year to demonstrate what we learned and how our experiments went. It’s been a way to help others avoid similar mistakes and address issues that arose while learning. Good luck!
Start small with something you already enjoy. I started with pots of herbs and tomatoes on my back porch and gradually added more each year until I had a big vegetable garden. Then I moved to a completely different climate and went back to some pots of herbs and tomatoes until I got a feel for my new space and climate.
If you like tomatoes, grow them this year. It’s totally worth it. Buy plants anywhere, but don’t pay more than $2 for one.
In general, grow what you eat, what costs a lot at the store (like lettuce mixes or herbs), and what’s easy to preserve (winter squash that can be stored in a garage or shed, bell peppers that can be easily frozen).
Get a soil test this year before making any major changes to your soil so you’ll know if you can grow in-ground without any amendments. Check your county’s extension service.
You already have a lot of great advice that I completely agree with from the other responses! I’ll add that when I started gardening, I quickly became overwhelmed by everything there is to learn—plant varieties, pruning, companion planting, soil quality, fertilizers, pest control, etc. My approach has been to focus on one new skill each year to keep it manageable. Sure, that means my early gardens had more issues, but I used those experiences to guide future efforts. For instance, year 1, I had many leafy plants but little produce, prompting me to learn about pruning for year 2, which made a huge difference! Year 3, I faced many bug losses, so year 4 was all about identifying good versus bad bugs and learning pest control. Finally, in year 5, I started my own seedlings for the first time. This approach has made things manageable, and it’s exciting to see improvements each year!