What are some easy and cheap tips for good gardening?

No matter how you look at it, gardening takes time and a certain amount of money. All gardens need constant work all year. Spring means getting the plot and soil ready. Late spring, after frost, means planting. Growing season means constant vigil against weeds and insects, fertilizing at the right time, harvesting at the right time, and then getting your bed ready for winter.

The first thing you need to do is to decide where your garden will be. If it's vegetables you want to grow, then you will need as much sun as you can get in the area. If it's a perennial bed, then some plants can take some shade.

Before you do anything you should decide what you want to plant. You can go to your local owned garden center and ask the educated professionals what you hope to do. They can give you the best information for your area.

I am a retired horticulturist and helped hundreds with their garden questions every day all year for almost 20 years.

There are a 'million' books on gardening but only those written for your area will help you decide what to plant. Most of those beautiful pictures are of some area with perfect growing conditions and years of maintenance.

If you like woody plants, design a four-season shrub border.

Always water in the early morning; 
it reduces loss to evaporation 
and foliage dries off more quickly

Walk through your garden to scout for insects and diseases at least once per week; caught early, problems are easier to treat.

Try to get a plant in the right place the first time around. Given the proper conditions, the plant will be happy and you’ll save yourself a lot of transplanting work.


Never plant trees that will become large with age too close to your 
house.

Light in a garden is a quarter of the battle. Another quarter is the soil of the garden. A third quarter is the skill and care of the gardener. The fourth quarter is luck. Indeed, one might 
say that these were the four Ls of gardening, in the following order of importance: Loam, Light, Love and Luck

Clean, sharp tools are 
easier to work with, and they do a better job.

Feed your soil (compost, composted manure, shredded leaves, seaweed)—it’s the foundation of every successful garden.

Plant trees, shrubs and flowers that encourage wildlife in your garden to keep nature in balance.

Know the ultimate size of any plant and allow it space so you don’t end up fighting it, moving it or removing it.

For your front flower beds in front of your house, I would us azaleas, they are cheap and beautiful. Gardening isnt cheap in the begining. You have to love it and want beautiful stuff, bc it's a lot of work or money. You can get cutting from family or friends that helps with the cost.

Make your own compost with all your vegetable kitchen waste, weeds etc. but not food as it encourages vermin.

Collect your own seeds.

Have a water butt.

Keep the weeds down with bark mulch or grass cuttings.

Make your own fertiliser from soaking nettle leaves in water for a nitrogen rich feed for growth of green leaves. Use potash from wood burning as a potassium feed when plants such as tomatoes are fruiting.

Check your soil type and ph level so you grow the right plant in the right place and have more chance of success. For example you would not grow Azaleas in alkaline soil as they are acid lovers. Some plants like sun and some like shade so check the light in your garden.

There are literally yards and yards of books about gardening at your local library. Talk to the librarian about good books for your area.

Many tips you got on the internet.