Comments on: Gardening for Beginners: How to Start a Garden in 8 Simple Steps

By: Angela Judd

Angela Judd — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 23:26:28 +0000

In reply to Delia. Hi Delia, Congrats on all your hard work! You can put the soil directly on the wood chips. It will break down over time. You may need to add a little balanced fertilizer to the soil the first season to help get things going.

By: Delia

Delia — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 22:13:40 +0000

Hello Angela,
Your book, calendar and various articles have inspired my family to turn half of my backyard into a garden. We’ve received a huge chip drop of mulch and have spread it out over the area. We have also purchased a few raised beds from garden in minutes as we love the watering grids. I am also reading Plant Partners to implement companion planting to assist in pest control. My question is: do we put the soil (your mixture from Arizona Worm Farm) on top of the mulch in our beds, or place cardboard on top of the mulch under the soil? I’m not sure if by placing the soil directly on the mulch if we will negatively affect nitrogen levels ( and I am no where near equipped with remediating that situation). Your guidance is greatly appreciated.

By: Angela Judd

Angela Judd — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 06:01:22 +0000

In reply to Danette. Adding some fertilizer before the first season is not a bad idea. This helps get things going.

By: Angela Judd

Angela Judd — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 06:00:29 +0000

In reply to dat. That's frustrating! Barrier methods are the most effective. Line them with hardware cloth if they are coming up through the beds. Otherwise, you may need to put some sort of structure/barrier around your garden.

By: Danette

Danette — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 22:02:55 +0000

I bought the raised bed mix from Arizona Worm Farm. I haven’t planted anything yet. Do I need to amend the soil with the Plant-Tone Fertilizer you recommend in this article, or is the Raised Garden Mix ready to go from the start?

By: dat

dat — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 17:14:49 +0000

How do we keep critters out of the garden. They eat everything as soon as it comes up.

By: Angela Judd

Angela Judd — Sat, 09 Jul 2022 18:40:54 +0000

In reply to Pamela Fair. Sounds like you're off to a good start. Best of luck to you.

By: Pamela Fair

Pamela Fair — Fri, 08 Jul 2022 05:48:47 +0000

I live in Mesa, AZ. I am starting my garden in the ground. My “association” doesn’t allow raised beds. I have put in topsoil that is very rich, not from a bag. I will put mulch on top of that. Thank you for your information and help. Good information for this gardening zone is sparse. I’m going through all your information. Thank you for being there.

By: Angela Judd

Angela Judd — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 16:10:16 +0000

In reply to Lea V. You absolutely can do that as well. Most of my experience has been in raised beds for growing vegetables. That is the simplest way to begin in many areas without good soil for vegetable gardens.

By: Lea V

Lea V — Sun, 26 Dec 2021 00:55:50 +0000

What about gardening in ground without a garden bed?

By: Erika Brady

Erika Brady — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 15:26:39 +0000

My mom’s always struggled with starting a garden since she’s always been taking care of me and my siblings. Since my youngest sister started college this year, my mom should finally have time to create a garden where she can grow her vegetables and any other plants she wants. I’m glad that you mention choosing a convenient spot that you can easily see and that also gets the right amount of sun. This would be helpful for her, and maybe it would even help her to find a local garden center to purchase the plants from.

By: Landscaping Tauranga

Landscaping Tauranga — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 13:32:59 +0000

These are some great things about the gardening for beginners and how to start a garden in 8 simple steps. I really loved it and thank you very much for sharing this with us. You have a great visualization and you have really presented this content in a really good manner.

By: Angela Judd

Angela Judd — Sun, 09 Aug 2020 02:23:31 +0000

In reply to Miriam Stewart.

Hi Miriam, I got the compost for my soil from Arizona Worm Farm. Beginning September 1st Arizona Worm Farm will have a “Growing in the Garden” blend – our own Mel’s Mix for Arizona. It will be available by the bag and by the yard. They are mixing it on site.

By: Miriam Stewart

Miriam Stewart — Sun, 09 Aug 2020 02:06:29 +0000

Hi Angela where in arizona did you get your soil from? I want to start a big garden but buying by the bag at the store is expensive.

By: Angela Judd

Angela Judd — Sun, 09 Aug 2020 00:53:24 +0000

In reply to Maria A. Hi. As long as the water drains into the brick pathway and doesn't puddle up you should be fine. You could put cardboard down, but you don't have to unless there are issues with weeds in the brick area.