Do you need to be an expert?

Is gardening difficult? Do you need to know it all before you start? One gardening myth is that "gardening is difficult and you need to know a lot".

One of the reasons for Paul starting the GAMCOD project was to try and dispell some of these myths surrounding home gardening. There was quite a bit of discussion on it in the recent GAMCOD smackdown.


source

Here's some other threads that give beginner gardeners some directions:

advice for beginners: https://permies.com/t/211995/genuine-novice-gardener-yield-produce
not knowing how to start: https://permies.com/t/240701/permaculture/moves-learning-garden-learn-learn
information overload: https://permies.com/t/232049/information-dangerous
learning from doing: https://permies.com/t/224145/don-succeed
teaching beginner gardeners : https://permies.com/t/177205/Beginning-gardening-class-teach
learning from failures: https://permies.com/t/38316/Learning-failures

So how much of an expert do you need to be? Is it possible to start gardening knowing nothing about it and still get good results quickly? What are the basics that you do need to know?

Isn't it great that we now have the internet and can go searching for what we need to know?   I started watching what my folks did (although my Dad was pretty fond of digging out the bean seeds to see why they hadn't sprouted . . . leaving that one alone). Then once on my own, got books to help with what to plant when, since I'd changed hemispheres.  Now I just ask - no dumb questions if they get the answer, and having found Permies, there is always someone who knows!  Thanks Guys and Guyesses.

Ha! I love it:
Gardening is like Parcheesi:  Take Minutes to Learn and a Lifetime to Master.
Just start with the idea of having fun growing something. I started as a kid, with peas, beans and radishes for my little fingers: when I was 5 or 6, my coordination wasn't good enough to handle tiny carrots seeds, plus, I didn't have the patience! And the weeds!
Big seeds that will grow fast and are pretty much a "sure thing". And then just build on your success. Buy only as many seeds as you have the patience to deal with. It's much better to start small than to think "I'm going to plant these 2 acres and feed my whole family and my neighbors!". The enthusiasm of the neophyte can be a real killer for the neophyte!
And Jill is absolutely correct: It is so nice to have the internet. I find myself asking Mr. Google all sorts of questions. And he is never too busy to answer. Sometimes, you have to sort things out because you get too many answers, but still. It's so helpful.
And never get tired of asking questions: there is so much to learn!
Socrates said :" All I know is that I know nothing."

Nancy Reading wrote:Is gardening difficult? Do you need to know it all before you start? One gardening myth is that "gardening is difficult and you need to know a lot".
...

Even if you (think you) know all about gardening, when you start gardening 'in real life' you start to really learn about it. You will never really 'know gardening' if you don't do it.

I thought I knew 'gardening', because I had a garden, and because I was educated by my parentsabout plants in nature . But when I started growing vegetables I found out I did not really know 'how to'! Now it's a few years (about 10) and I am still learning by doing.

A few thoughts to make gardening easier.

Only grow things you would want to eat.
Not to say don't experiment to see if you might like something.

Know what grows which season.

Beware of some of the advice on google ( AI slop with incorrect info) and some Youtube "influencers."

Papers from universities are usually a safe bet for how to.

Find out what is fairly bulletproof to grow in your area. If you're in the gulf coast/southeast this may help:

https://permies.com/t/273727/starter-seeds-pack-gardeners#2863960

It's a lot of work to get the ground ready. Perhaps consider starting out with a very basic Kratky hydroponic setup.
This can even be done in the city under grow lights or out on a balcony.
There are LED grow lights now which run quite economically.
Best I've found are Barrina brand on Amazon. I like the full spectrum white ones.

Hydroponic is usually not organic (could be but difficult) but much easier to do with positive beginner results more likely.

Lettuce and micro dwarf tomatoes are easily grown indoors.

Buy seed from quality suppliers. A few suggestions:

Johnny's
True Leaf Market
Baker Creek
Tomato Growers Supply
Southern Exposure
Burrell
Harris
Seeds and Such
Individual sellers on Ebay and Etsy with just a few things offered. Avoid the big sellers.
Avoid the seed racks in stores, poor quality seed.
That's the short list, there are other good ones out there.

Seed definitely acclimates to local geography so the closer your source is to you the better.

Read Steve Solomon's Gardening When it Counts. If I had to pick one book for a beginner this would be it.
This also covers less than optimal conditions, drought, etc.  and what to do then.
Also soil prep.

My usual routine on soil prep is to broadfork the bed then a few inches of compost and whatever fertilizer on top. If you dig the compost in here (sand) it disappears too quickly.

I'm experimenting with using transplants into beds that were covered in wood chips and that looks good so far.
I plant into a post hole digger hole with a couple shovel fulls of compost mixed in with the soil and ferts on top and the soil around the hole loosened up with a fork after digging the hole but before planting.  

The idea is to cut down on labor required and being able to prep and plant in increments instead of having to prep an entire bed first. I think in the end I'll plant and lay down wood chips at the same time, gradually moving through the bed.
Keep the wood chips on top of the soil or they'll rob nitrogen decomposing and disappear more quickly.

Microorganisms are a big help.  Compost tea or some of the JADAM simpler liquid ferts like the one with forest mold and a potato ferment are good for this.

Be thinking about ways to make it easier on yourself.

If you're considering fruit trees/shrubs Tree Crops by J. Russel Smith is a good place to start.

https://archive.org/details/TreeCrops-J.RussellSmith

Always check how many chill hours will be required. This was one of my early big mistakes.

Try to find a good nursery close by and take note of what they don't carry or ask for advice.

My classic mistake along these lines was planting a row of pomegranates not knowing they will never bring fruit to ripe here due to a local virus taking them out, no exceptions so far.  A highly skilled nurseryman was kind enough to point this out to me. This saved me years of wondering why no fruit ever making it to being ripe.

I might suggest starting with figs and mulberries. They grow easily and are easy to propagate more from cuttings. There are even midget varieties of both. Look up Mojo Mulberry and Fignominal Fig.

Like the seeds, buy the trees as close to home as possible. Same reason as the seeds, local stuff will grow faster/better. When you're looking at 3 - 5 years until fruit this makes a big difference.

Ask the old timers if you can find them.

Classic examples of that nearly forgotten here are that you're not safe from freeze until after Easter.

And....

Watch the hickory or pecan trees for leafing out if you're trying to beat the clock on putting in frost sensitive stuff. If those trees are beginning to leaf it will be a very rare event that you get frost after that.

My advice for beginning gardeners:
do not try to do everything all alone and based on information from books, internet, a.a. Get in contact with others who are more experienced (permaculture) gardeners, so they can help you. If you start volunteering in a permaculture project getting help and giving help go hand in hand.

Enthusiasm and work ethic are a good replacement for experience and knowledge. (Applies to a lot more than gardening, of course).

Hmmm good question. My knee jerk response is just do it. You learn more from doing. But... I know a person where I work who didn't manage to get anything to grow. I tried to help her, but it was clear she didn't want to do it the way I do, and I didn't want to be pushy.
I think you can get a lot out of the Internet, and YouTube. The key is try to find someone you enjoy that is close to where you live, or at least a similar climate.  In addition to this I always recommend talking to people who grow what you want to grow. Most gardeners love to talk about gardening, and what works for them.  Start small, but try a few different veggies, fruit, herbs and flowers. Most importantly remember to not take it personally if something doesn't work. We all have failures. It's part of the challenge that keeps gardening interesting. Sometimes it's the gardeners fault, maybe they forgot to water, or planted at the wrong time, sometimes it's something not in our control, like weather, or pests, or lots of other things. Enjoy your success, and learn from your fails, and most importantly have fun.