Top 5 tips for starting a successful garden in 2025

I have been gardening in a variety of spaces, from containers, to raised beds, to in ground since 2006. I now have a food forest homestead in a tiny urban lot where we grow a wide variety of food in about 1000 sq/ft. These are just some of the beginner tips that I wish I would have known when I first started gardening.

If you take nothing but one thing from this blog post I hope that it’s this very first tip.

Tip 1: Know your Heat Zone and USDA Zone

Everyone always mentions USDA zones which are great for knowing when your frost dates are. However heat zones will have the biggest impact on how successful your garden is. For example my USDA zone is 9b. That’s similar to Phoenix, Arizona and other parts of the South. However my heat zone is a 1 or a 2 which means that we hardly get more than 10 days above 86 degrees during the year. This makes it difficult to grow plants which thrive in hot weather like certain peppers, tomatoes, or others like okra which I can only grow in a greenhouse.

USDA zones are measured by your frost start and end dates. Below is a map that you can use to find yours along with a link to see exactly where you fall.

Click on the map to be taken to the website to figure out your exact USDA zone

Heat zones on the other hand are measured by the number of days per year over 86 degrees. This is actually something that I keep track of annually so I can see how we do from year to year. For heat zones there is no one set zone because as the world changes so will the heat’s impact on your garden. Below is the map from the American Horticultural Society. This map is a fantastic starting off point, but I will also recommend that you keep a journal or garden log monitoring the heat. This will not only help you plan your garden better from season to season but it will also give you a better idea of how different crops handle the weather and whether you will need to make any adjustments in the following seasons.

Click on the image to learn more details about heat zones.

Tip 2: Don’t stress out about where to grow food

This tip may seem obvious but it’s so easy to fall into the trap of social media and self-doubt. As always go with what you can afford! Containers and raised beds will be some of the easiest ways to grow food but they have a big upfront cost from the materials to the soil that you will need. If you have some available soil space for planting in ground this is by far the cheapest option.

Growing up money was very very tight and food insecurity was something we struggled with. We couldn’t afford to buy anything for the garden so we just took wood that was discarded by others and built some makeshift raised beds. Remember when it comes to gardening and growing food the goal is to grow the food not spend a ton of money.

A big cost saving gardening tip if you plan to grow in ground is to find anyone with rabbits or horses (or even look into stables) and ask if you can take some of their manure. Some places will ask that you go and collect it yourself but if you have some buckets this is a great way to add nutrients into your soil and support your plants. Unlike chicken manure, which needs time to break down and heats up, horse and rabbit manure can be added straight into the garden.

If you are in more of an urban area and all you have is a concrete slab or a patio, you will have to purchase soil and supplies. Again, go with what you can afford. Don’t worry if you saw someone online saying not to buy a certain brand. Like I said earlier the goal is to grow food. When I started on my own I could only afford a couple pots and we purchased the cheapest bagged potting soil that was available because, well, we had to make rent payments too.

There are also groups that can help or even community gardens depending on your areas so don’t be afraid to google your area and ask around. Many local gardeners would probably be more than happy to give you pots they no longer need (and believe me when I say that gardeners have a lot of excess containers).

The biggest bonus tip when growing is to mulch! I can’t emphasize this enough. Straw mulch is wonderful. I like rice straw which is the byproduct from rice processing. Another favorite of mine is alfalfa—it’s a bit more expensive but great for mulch and add nutrients to your soil as it breaks down with time. If you can, buy straw by the bale instead of bagged straw. It’s much more affordable and it will last you a long time.

Tip 3: Grow what you eat

I know I know this sounds obvious! But it’s easy to fall into the trap of growing what everyone else is. Over the years I have spent so much space in growing things that we didn’t particularly like or dedicating more space than we needed for it. Along with this grow an amount that you can use or give away. Your average zucchini plant produces a lot of zucchini. If you aren’t a fan of it stick with just one variety or maybe skip it.

When I decide what to grow I think of what I like to eat the most fresh, what I like to cook with and what I can preserve to eat during the year. If I want cucumbers then I’ll grow some for fresh eating and grow others for pickles. Thinking of what you will eat will help you pick things that will help you and will minimize waste.

Tip 4: Don’t forget to grow flowers and herbs with your veggies

These will help increase the success of your vegetable patch by repelling pests, aiding the soil, helping boost flavor or to attract pollinators.

Here are 3 great flowers for beginners that serve several purposes and are super easy to grow from seed.

Nasturtiums are a trap crop for aphids, the leaves and flowers are edible and peppery, the seeds can be pickled and used like capers. These flowers are easy to sprout and can reseed easily so be sure to collect the seeds if you don’t want them all over your garden.

Calendula, like nasturtiums, are a trap crop and great at attracting aphids and also all of the predators like ladybugs who will eat the aphids. Calendulas are also great for attracting pollinators. It’s a fantastic medicinal plant, and delicious in pasta salads or salads in general. It’s also wonderful to use the dried flowers in a chicken broth and it’s a great immune booster.

Marigold is another fantastic flower. This one comes in a variety of forms. Marigolds are great for pollinators, fight against soil root knot nematodes, also the petals are delicious in salads and medicinal. If you ever have root knot nematodes, marigolds also work as a wonderful cover crop! They produce a chemical called alpha-terthienyl which helps kill root knot nematodes as well as aiding in other soil issues.

I absolutely love incorporating herbs and flowers in the garden not only in my vegetable beds but also around trees as well (more to come on this later)

Tip 5: Know What You Are Planting

This is like an obvious one right! But it’s really important to know the basic needs of the plants. What are its soil, sun and water needs. What if a plant is a sun loving plant like tomato and they get placed in a cool shady area. That plant won’t thrive compared to out in a sunny location. When starting out it’s easy to just throw plants everywhere and see what happens but in order to really have a successful garden I believe that it’s essential to understand the plants a little bit.

When I first started I had a blueberry bush in a part shade spot in regular soil. It never produced fruit and it was surviving but not thriving. It didn’t start growing and producing an abundance of fruit until I moved it into full sun and into an acidic soil.

Bonus Tip: Start A Compost Pile

A compost pile is one of the best things you can have in your garden! It not only helps reduce your food waste but once broken down the compost will help feed your garden. If you have an urban garden without many predators around like hawks or owls the best kind of composting solution would be a closed bin system. I would discourage against compost tumblers because these can get the compost to clump and tend to be a pain. Easiest is a box that you can make out of pallets with a lid. This is also something you can buy and even local municipalities may provide you with a compost bin to help reduce the city’s waste. So before you buy a compost bin check with your local government to see if you can get one for free!

I hope these tips were helpful for you and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask!

Plant what brings you joy,

Ale

This video is the companion to this blog