1Remember plants are living things.
If you neglect them, don’t feed them, don’t care for them, force them to live in the dark when they need light or in the hot sun when they need shade, they will experience stress. They will either live out their life weak and failing, or get sick and die. First rule of good gardening: make sure your soil is fertile and well-drained. This will give your plants every chance to live healthy lives. You can have a garden full of the most wonderful plants, but if they are sick and stressed, the garden will lose its intrinsic beauty
2Know your garden.
Take time to figure out where the warm spots are in your garden and where the frost pockets are. You don’t need a detailed scaled plan, you can just make some mental notes about such things as where the shady areas are and where the damp, boggy spots are. You learn this by walking in the garden in all weather and at all hours of the day. Don’t weary yourself with this, but take time to walk around your garden and get to know the different microclimates, the places where the sun shines, where the rain falls hardest, where the ground drains quickly, where the shadows linger, and where the ice and frost linger. This knowledge makes all the difference.
3Get the right plant in the right place.
The key to successful gardening is to get a great plant in the right location next to other right plants in right places. The most common error is to put shade-loving plants in sunny spots and sun-loving plants in cool, damp places. You would be amazed how often it happens. And it is almost always because the gardener has not taken the time to get in touch with the garden at soil level. Don’t push a plant into the ground without first doing all the necessary soil preparation. Plants need at least 18 inches (45 cm) of decent, fertile, well-drained soil. If you can’t give a plant that, it shouldn’t go in ground.
4Think about the borrowed landscape.
This means being conscious of the world around your garden – what you can get from it and what you can contribute to it. For instance, is your garden made prettier by all the lovely trees growing in the neighbour’s yard? Do you enjoy impressive views of the mountains or ocean, distant lake, sunny hilltop or little wood? Is there a beautiful flowering shrub or scrambling vine that tumbles into your yard and gives you a wonderful show or fills the air with intoxicating fragrance? The borrowed landscape is what you get for free.
5Share what you grow.
All expert gardeners know the best way to ensure that you have a plant forever is to give it away. That way, if your plant suddenly dies, you can always get a replacement back. The Victoria Horticulture Society has a marvellous motto: “Show what you grow, share what you know.” A great way to encourage and inspire others is to open your garden and let others see what you are doing
6Don’t let the fun go down.
A sad thing that happens to new gardeners is that they get so serious they forget that gardening is supposed to be fun. It’s all about playing with plants. Make a decision that if ever gardening stops being fun, you’ll stop and do something else. Don’t let gardening become a pain in the neck. If you make a mistake, and it does badly in one spot, lift it and replant somewhere else. Don’t be afraid to keep switching things around until you’re happy. It’s how many of the world’s best gardens were built.
