You Planted It. Now What? (Garden Care Basics)

You’ve planted the seeds. The garden is ready to do its thing—in the ground, in containers, in random pots you found. But… now what? Before you fall down a deep rabbit hole of charts, rules, and expert advice, let’s take a breath. Because garden care basics aren’t complicated.

You don’t need to know everything right now, and you definitely don’t need a checklist of 47 daily tasks to keep things alive. This is about paying attention, showing up, and learning as you go. So here’s what actually matters in this phase—and what you can stop worrying about.

Garden Care Basics for Brand New Gardeners

You’re new to this, and while lots of people are going to tell you lots of things you need to know, I’m going to try and narrow it down to a few basics to get you going on garden care.

1. Water the thing, but don’t drown it.

• If it hasn’t rained in a while and your soil feels like a dry brownie edge? Water.
• If it just rained and your plants are still squishy? They don’t need another drink. (Really, they don’t.)
• Not all plants like or need the same amount of water. Watering is not about a strict, one size fits all schedule—it’s about paying attention. You’ll get the hang of it.

Bonus tip: Plants in containers dry out faster than those that have been planted in ground. It’s science.

2. Walk Through Your Garden Once a Day Like You Mean It

• Glance at leaves.
• See if anything looks munched, wilted, sad, or thrilled.
• Smell it. Touch it. Check under the leaves.
• Get familiar with what’s “normal” for your garden.
• Are there holes in the leaves? Are weeds taking over?
• Did something disappear entirely? (Looking at you, rabbits.)
• Are there bugs hanging out? (Some are friends, some… not so much.)

You don’t have to hover over your plants like some kind of helicopter homesteader, but do a quick walk-through every day (if you can). You’ll learn a lot just by noticing what’s going on. Like, hey, oh my gosh, the garlic is coming up!

3. Don’t be afraid to yank it out and move on.

If all your seeds came up, but now everything is packed in like some kind of vegetable mosh pit, it’s perfectly okay to thin them out. I know it feels mean—I still mutter “sorry” under my breath every time I do it—but giving your plants space helps them grow. It’s not betrayal, it’s strategy.

And if something’s clearly struggling and not bouncing back? Pull it. Compost it. Feed it to the chickens. Plant something else in its place. You didn’t fail—you just learned what doesn’t work this time. It’s fine.

Sometimes the smartest, boldest gardening move is shrugging your shoulders and saying, “Welp. Let’s try something different.”

4. Garden Care Basics: Pick the Stuff Already

• When something looks ready, harvest it. Don’t wait for Instagram perfect.
• Lettuce goes bitter, zucchinis become baseball bats, cucumbers get weirdly fat and yellow if you wait too long. Bigger is not always better, friends.
• It’s okay if it’s not “exactly right”—it still counts.
• Not sure how to know something is ready to pick? Check out these tips on when to harvest common crops.

Bonus tip: Many veggie plants will keep producing the more you pick them. For instance, some folks will let green beans hang on the plant because they’re afraid to use them all. As in, they think they won’t get anymore if they pick them and that makes them sad. But get this… if you pick the beans, the plant makes more beans for you. If you stop picking, the plant thinks you’re sick of beans, and it slows down on producing. So go ahead and pick them!

5. Take Care of the Gardener, Too

• Water yourself. Stay hydrated.
• Wear a hat. Protect yourself.
• Don’t crouch in full sun at 2pm for 45 minutes unless you want to feel like a baked squash.
• It’s not lazy to work early morning or evening—it’s smart.

I know garden care basics are supposed to be about the actual garden, but working outside on this new thing you love can have you forgetting how much time you’ve actually been out there. Be mindful of the sun and your hydration. I also feel the need to tell you to maybe even stretch before you go out there. Being “not 20 anymore”, I will absolutely admit that I have tweaked by back by standing up wrong after bending to pick a tomato. So, you know. Take that as you will.

6. Use your instincts

Trust what you’re observing. Trust what your plants are telling you. You’ll learn more from one season in the dirt than from 400 hours on YouTube. Every time you show up for the plants you’re taking care of, you’re learning!

But isn’t there more to learn about garden care basics?

Sure. A lot more! But not right now.

The basics of garden care is the starting line, not the final exam. You don’t need to learn companion planting, crop rotation, double digging, pest ID, and soil pH before you water your beans. If you’re the kind of person who shuts down from too much info, give yourself permission to not go there yet.

Getting started with gardening is just like…

• Driving a car: No one expects a new driver to understand how to merge on the freeway and change a tire and drive a stick shift and know international road signs on day one. You learn to make the car go down the road first. The rest comes later.
• Cooking: You don’t have to be a gourmet chef to make dinner. You start by not burning the grilled cheese. Nobody hands you a soufflé recipe your first day in the kitchen.
• Home repair: You wouldn’t delay fixing a leaky faucet because you don’t yet know how to rewire a breaker box. You fix the thing that needs fixing. You learn what you need as you go.
• Parenting: People become parents every day without knowing every stage of child development or how to handle a teenager. (Honestly, nobody does know how to handle a teenager.) You figure it out one day, one diaper, one meltdown at a time.

Getting started with a garden isn’t about knowing everything right now and doing it perfectly. It’s about doing it—with whatever space you’ve got, with whatever time you can spare, and with as much joy and curiosity as you can squeeze into the process.

You planted something. You’re keeping it alive. You’re feeding yourself with something you grew. That’s incredible! Don’t let anyone tell you it doesn’t count because it wasn’t done a certain way. Don’t let perfection get in the way of progress.

Water it. Watch it. Harvest it. Enjoy it. Repeat. And if something dies?
Try again next year.

Thanks for hanging out with me for the Stupid Simple Gardening series. Check out the other posts:

• How to Start a Garden Without Overthinking It,
• What to Plant in Your Garden: A Realistic Beginner’s Guide,
• How Much Space Do I Need to Grow a Garden?
• Afraid to Mess Up Your Garden? Read this First.

Got ideas for a follow-up topic? Something you’re still confused about? Drop it in the comments—I’d love to know where your brain is headed next!