by Pat Merewether

Created on: February 21, 2011   Last Updated: February 23, 2011

Starting your first garden is exciting, but can also be a bit overwhelming. By taking a few crucial steps early on, you are more likely to have a positive experience. It's a good idea to start with a garden journal, which can be as simple as a school composition book or a complex professional garden journal sold specifically for this purpose.

Here are some questions to ask yourself. Just jot down quick, simple answers at first and leave a few empty pages between questions so you'll have room to add ideas and notes as you progress. It's also helpful to keep a list of plants you choose, the date you planted them and notes about their success (or demise). Experience is one of the best gardening teachers and a journal will prevent you making the same mistakes over and over.

What kind of garden do you want to plant?

Vegetable, flowers, herbs or a combination?

What kind of soil do you have?

This is very important to know whether you have sandy, clay or a combination. If you'd like to skip this step altogether, plant a raised bed buy building sides using wood, metal, or even old wine bottles and fill the bed with good composted manure, compost and garden soil. There are many ways to build raised beds on line and in gardening books and magazines.

What garden zone or climate to you live in?

The coldest climates are the lowest number. Zone 1 would be the aortic and zone 10 is the warmest or tropical climates. Knowing this will help you choose plants that will grow best in your area.

Do you have access to water?

This may sound like a silly question, but if you have city water, you know it's expensive, so you will probably want choose plants that require little water other than what comes in the form of rain. Or you may want to invest in a couple of rain barrels and collect run-off from your roof and use this to water your garden in times of drought.

How much sunlight do you have per day?

Most plants, especially vegetables and herbs, require at least six hours of direct sunlight per day. There are plants that do best in partial shade or shade, so don't lose heart if you have a shady garden.

How large is your garden space?

You may have just moved to a rural area and have acres of land, or maybe you have only an apartment balcony or small patio. Even if you do have acres and acres, it's best to start small and work outward. This is another reason raised beds or container gardening is great for beginners.

How much time do you have to spend gardening?

Planning and planting the garden is time consuming, but weeding, watering and tending a garden can be extremely time consuming. Knowing the amount of time you have for gardening is very important when it comes to selecting garden size and plants. Salad greens and herbs require very little time or effort. Tomatoes and other vining plants require staking and other time-consuming attention.

The fun part comes after you've answered the questions and have an idea about what kind of soil, water, sunlight and space your garden will contain. Start a list of plants you'd like to grow and then research them to be sure they fit your criteria.

Make sure you know which are annuals (live only one gardening season) or perennials (which means they come back year after year).

You need not stick with just one kind of plant. Many vegetables, flowers and herbs make great companions and help each other. This is known as 'companion planting' and will allow you to try a variety of plants in a small area.

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