Is this your first year with a yard? Perhaps you just moved into your first house, and you’re not sure how to go about your first season as a gardener. Here is some advice from Sharon Yiesla, plant knowledge specialist in the Plant Clinic at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle.
Set priorities. Make a list of the things you need to do for routine maintenance — such as mowing an existing lawn or removing dead shrubs — and make a separate list of what you’d like to do, such as starting a vegetable garden or planting a tree. “Focus first on the required minimum maintenance,” Yiesla said.
Identify the plants you have. If you have moved into an older home with an established landscape, the first step is to understand what is already there. During the first growing season, watch what comes up and see what blooms. Take photos and samples from trees and shrubs so that the Plant Clinic or other authorities can help you put names to them and learn about them. “Then you can know how to care for them, and you can make informed decisions about what to keep and what to get rid of,” she said.
Learn about your yard’s growing conditions. Different kinds of plants need different amounts of daily sunlight and have varying preferences for soil and soil moisture. Watch the sunlight as it falls on your yard through this season, and note places that get at least six to eight hours of daily sunlight, which is defined as full sun. “Look for plants that don’t seem to be doing well,” Yiesla said. “If you can identify what species they are, you may be able to figure out why. They may not be suited for the conditions.”
Live with your yard for a while. Your first full year of spending time in a new space will help clarify what changes you might want to make. You might discover that overgrown shrubs outside the window darken the rooms inside, or that lawn grass won’t grow well because it’s too shady. “Think about how you want to use the yard, not just what it looks like,” Yiesla said. You may decide that your first priority is a place for the kids to play, that you need a better place to sit outdoors, or that you really want more color through the season.
Start small. Wait a year or more to make big changes, such as installing a large vegetable garden or planting a tree that will grow large. “You don’t know enough about your yard yet, and you don’t know how much gardening you can handle,” she said.
Consider containers. Planting a few large pots with tomatoes, herbs or salad greens can give you a taste of edible gardening, but you will still be able to move them if you discover there’s better sunlight somewhere else in the yard. Pots or hanging baskets of annual flowers can add color without commitment while you get to know your landscape.
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Take a class. Build your confidence by learning more about plants and gardening at the same time that you are learning about your new yard. The Arboretum offers a wide variety of gardening classes (see mortonarb.org/ed-gardening), as do other public gardens, community colleges and some independent garden centers.
Don’t rush. Even after you know enough to make plans, “you don’t have to do everything all at once,” Yiesla said. When she moved to a new house, she made a five-year plan for the garden, with phases of changes. “The plan can always be revised as you discover more about your yard, or you learn more about plants and gardening, or your family changes,” she said.
For tree and plant advice, contact the Plant Clinic at The Morton Arboretum (630-719-2424, mortonarb.org/plant-clinic, or [email protected]). Beth Botts is a staff writer at the Arboretum.