Any advice into getting into gardening?

Briansteen50

I've been advised by my doctor to make take up a light hobby and i am wondering if gardening is for me. 

This may be a bit silly but i don't know where to even start. We have a smallish garden 4m x 5m and is grass. 

Do any of you maybe have recommendations for youtubers who help with older people starting gardening? MAybe with tips. e.t.c.

Newbie_John

There are three types of plants
- those you plant every year and harvest once a year*
- those you plant once and harvest once a year*
- those you plant once and harvest throughout the year, even winter

*once, or short period of 1-2 months

I really like the third category that even now I can see green growing and go and pick some for dinner, more useful info about all year round veggies:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6397928/winter-crops-kale-etc/p1

elsien

Also depends if you’re just want a pretty garden or you want to grow things to eat.
What has your garden got in the way of flower beds, etc? Aside from the doctors recommendation, are you actually interested in gardening and what way? 

Is the suggestion for a hobby for mental health reasons or physical health reasons? 

My advice would be to start small. because if you decide you hate gardening, you don’t want to end up with a garden that requires a lot of maintenance. Maybe start with doing a few pots in the spring and seeing how you get on.

Briansteen50

Newbie_John said:

There are three types of plants
- those you plant every year and harvest once a year*
- those you plant once and harvest once a year*
- those you plant once and harvest throughout the year, even winter

*once, or short period of 1-2 months

I really like the third category that even now I can see green growing and go and pick some for dinner, more useful info about all year round veggies:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6397928/winter-crops-kale-etc/p1

I hadn't thought about planting Veg to be honest. Would that be okay for beginners though? Sorry to sound silly. 

elsien

Some veg is really easy to grow. Generally the advice  that it’s not worth trying to grow stuff you can buy cheap in the supermarket. 

twopenny

All these questions eh 😏

But it's a broad question you ask.
I guess from your post that you have no plants or flower beds so the start is to decide what you want from your garden. 
My beginning for a new garden from scratch was to walk around the neighborhood and see what other people had done, which bits did I like and which not.

Next during winter is to browse internet images for small gardens. Again see what appealed. Couldn't do the whole of them but there were bits I wanted.
I made a folder and copied them in.

I didn't use them in the end as they were too difficult but it gave me ideas for what I could make.

Farway

Briansteen50 said:

I've been advised by my doctor to make take up a light hobby and i am wondering if gardening is for me. 

This may be a bit silly but i don't know where to even start. We have a smallish garden 4m x 5m and is grass. 

Do any of you maybe have recommendations for youtubers who help with older people starting gardening? MAybe with tips. e.t.c.

gardening would be ideal, you can make do it at your own pace, no need to go mad and dig up all your grass

Do you have walls or fences around the garden? that will give you easily reachable growing space, and not need much attention

You could also consider using raised beds, to ease bending & lifting

Starting is easy, first do want decorative,fruitful or bit of both?

Now is a good time to start because soon the supermarkets will be full of young plants, seeds, fruit tree, bushes etc, some good, some not.

This forum is also a great starting place, not only for tips & years of experience, but honesty as well, our plants suddenly die no matter what we do.

You asked for You Tube, I don't know a beginner one,, but do have a look at Emma, if nothing else she will cheer you up, and her plants also die

https://www.youtube.com/@emmasallotmentdiaries

and this bloke, handy wiht hints & tips plus humour

https://www.youtube.com/@walkingtalkinggardeners

And, tips and enthusiasm

https://www.youtube.com/@GrowVeg

Bit more advanced, but has items on specific plats if you fancy something, like growing roses,, or onions, or wahtever

https://www.youtube.com/@PotsTrowels

This chap is just starting out, more veg than flowers, but does have a Where to start

https://www.youtube.com/@downtoearthwithjim

No doubt there are many more that others will advise.

KajiKita

Slightly different slant on the question …
Are there any local community gardens you could volunteer at for a while - you’d still get the exercise, meet people and learn the basics of gardening from people that know 😊

KK

wort

When you’ve decided what you want ,keep it simple for now. As Farway says raised beds or pots if you have issues bending getting up from the ground if kneeling. Most of us do as we age.
If you get on with neighbours they may be able to give you cuttings or spare seeds, or family/ friends.
Shrubs are good for height and width, but will need maintaining by cutting back to required easy to manage height.

Plants tend to be annuals / bedding which grow for one year then you replace unless they are self seeders ,which seed before they die off. Or perennials which come up every year. 

Carol Klein is a tv gardener that can show you how easy it is to take cuttings or sow seeds. I assume she’s on you tube or instagram.
Good luck , you may find it addictive . 

Rhyddid2026

I love watching gardeners on YouTube. I'm not sure if these are the type of people you're looking for but I enjoy them (they're not beginners but they're lovely to watch and I've learned a lot).

Liz Zorab
https://youtube.com/@lizzorab?si=G1c27glJfDwlxDpA

Charles Dowding 
https://youtube.com/@charlesdowding1nodig?si=JUgrtIZYp1RE6jJq

Huw Richards 
https://youtube.com/@huwrichards?si=wYxvOIzY3B4hagkF

They are mostly about growing vegetables, but maybe just watch a load of different UK gardeners and see who you like? 

Emmia

Have you ever watched Gardener's, world on the BBC (sorry you will need a TV licence). I have a smallish patio and whilst I can't do lots of the things they show I do find it inspiring what people can do even with just pots or in small spaces. 

If you're just experimenting I'd probably avoid seeds etc that you need to germinate, and just buy the seedlings/small plants when they come into the shops 

My preferred gardening approach is not fruit/veg (although I have grown cucumelons, and I'm considering blueberries) I tend to grow plants which are scented - so I've got a couple of star jasmine (one pink one white) a lot of Salvia (I recommend "hot lips" or "royal bumble") as they grow well in London have scented leaves and loads of flowers (and are pretty accommodating to my occasionalyl haphazard watering) a couple of roses in pots, and some scented pelargoniums - my favourite is "cola bottles" which smells exactly like the sweet, but is a bit temperamental in terms of hardiness... "Sweet Mimosa" on the other hand smells lovely, and seems as tough as old boots - very vigorous and hardy. 

Also think about your watering if you're going for pots - most of my pots are ones with built in water reservoirs, which helps to ensure in hot weather my plants have access to water if I'm away for a couple of days or can't water them routinely.