Easy Gardening for Beginners: A Stupid Simple Start

Subscribe: RSS

A Farmish Kind of Life is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. You can view our full affiliate disclosure here.

So you want to grow your own food, but every time you search “how to start a garden,” you end up buried under 47 tabs of advice that makes it sound like you need a degree, a greenhouse, and three years of soil samples before you can put a tomato plant in the ground. Can’t we just find out about easy gardening… for actual beginners?

Let’s take a breath.

This is Stupid Simple Gardening—for real people who want to grow real food without losing their minds.

Yes, there’s a lot you could learn about gardening. (And you will, as you go.) But if you’re the kind of person where too much information leaves you stuck in planning paralysis, you really aren’t helped by another 100-item checklist. You need the bare minimum to get started—without shame, stress, or Pinterest-worthy perfection. That is how beginners start gardening!

Whether you’ve got five acres or one cracked tote on a porch, this series will help you grow something. We’ll cover:

How to start a garden without overthinking it
What to plant in your garden (hint: not kale, unless you like kale)
How much space you actually need
What to do if (okay, when) you mess it up
Basic garden care tips so you don’t panic halfway through the season
Or get it all as a podcast episode by pressing the play bar at the top of this post! (Main topic starts at 6:26)

And if you mess your garden up? Guess what. You’re officially a gardener now. Welcome to the club.

Gardening isn’t about doing it perfectly. It’s about showing up, getting your hands dirty, and learning what works (and what doesn’t) one season at a time. You don’t need to know everything today—you just need to plant something. So take a breath, grab a shovel, and let this be the year you grow something real.

Whether you’re planting one tomato plant in a five gallon pail by your garage or filling a backyard with rows, this gardening series for beginners is here to help you start where you are—with what you have—and remind you that good food doesn’t require a perfect plan.