Gardening is not just a popular hobby for those who own property, but a family activity and even a profession for some. As with any endeavor, gardening is a lot easier if you know a few things before you get started. Read on to learn some pieces of advice sure to make your thumb a little greener.

If you are new to gardening, be sure to keep it simple. Overplanting at first can lead to stress and a backyard that's a mess rather than a beautiful garden. Also, larger gardens are more prone to weeds. Keep it small at first, and you will have a better experience.

If you have enough space pick one row in your garden to contain an assortment of different vegetables. Try semillas carnival or unusual crops that you wouldn't want in abundance, but that can liven up a meal that you prepare using your usual crops. Plant crops in this row over time so that you'll always have a selection of vegetables to try.

A key element to having a great garden is to fence it in. In many areas the wildlife will consume the fruits and vegetables as soon as they sprout, yielding little or no harvest. A good fence will not only keep out the wildlife, but it will keep out the neighborhood children from playing ball and pets from digging.

Not only is gardening a great way to grow your own food, but you can also grow your own drink. You can grow apple mint to make a delicious tea or rhubarb stalk to make a tart alternative to lemonade. You should also can or freeze your berries and fruits to make them into soda, hard cider, or wines.

Consult the pros. If you are starting a garden for the first time, it's a good idea to look for professional help. This doesn't necessarily mean going to the trouble of hiring a landscape architect. You can find plenty of great advice online, in gardening books, magazines and tv shows. A good idea is to look for regional resources, such as a website devoted to gardening in your area, or a local garden center. Whatever method you choose, don't be afraid to make mistakes, and above all - have fun designing your new garden!

When lifting heavy things in your garden it is important to protect your back. You should always lift with your knees when you are lifting anything in the garden. If something is very heavy you should ask someone to help you lift it so that you do not cause damage to your back or knees.

Why buy new garden covers when you can use your old blankets to cover plants in the winter time? If you don't have any old blankets you can buy used ones at thrift stores cheaply. Use tomato cages to support the blankets over your plants. Individual bricks or garden rocks can be used to hold the blankets and down and insure good coverage for your plants.

Attract positive bugs to your garden. Bugs like lady-bugs actually hunt natural predators to your plants; aphids and caterpillars are just some of the nasty critters that can go through a garden and eat the leaves of the plants. Lady bugs are the natural predators to such pests and help the growth of a good healthy garden by consuming pests.

Composting is a great way to fuel your garden. You can add pretty much anything, like grass clippings, shredded paper, coffee grounds, and much more. Basically, you can use anything that was living at one time (but try to avoid animal products). If you buy some worms and keep the compost bin in a warm, sunny place it will turn into perfectly dark and rich soil in no time.

Here is a tip for organic gardening! Use a rain gauge. Most plants require about an inch of water per week. To know how much you need to water, it is important to know how much water the plants received from rain. As rainfall can vary greatly within a city, don't depend on your weather report; instead use a rain gauge to determine the amount that fell at your location.

When planting your organic garden, wear a carpenter's tool belt around your waist and fill all the pockets with your gardening gloves and tools. Not only will this keep your tools organized and handy for use, it will also minimize trips back and forth to your shed to retrieve tools you have forgotten to carry with you.

If you are wanting to start your own organic garden, you should always have a plan before beginning. This will assist you in determining where your plants should be located, which will give you a head-start when you are outside planting your plants. If you have plants that have a short life-span, planning ahead what you want to plant in their place is very important.

Do you have any issues with those little aphids in your garden? If so, try spraying any infested leaves, stems, and buds with a very diluted solution of soapy water, and then rinsing the area down with clear water. This technique will work on even the heaviest of aphid infestations.

Have biodiversity in your organic garden. Wildlife will be attracted by different varieties of plants, so make sure you have a wide choice for them. You want to have a diver garden so do your best to plant a bunch of different plants. If you are able to achieve this, you will have a garden that is a pleasant place to be around and relax, and also you get great satisfaction from knowing you did your part for the environment.

You were told in the opening of this piece that if you read on, you would learn a few things about planting and growing. Hopefully, that has taken place and you are ready to go out in the yard and plant some seeds. Keep in mind what you have learned, and you'll have fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers in no time.