Garden planning made simple: Start small, Have fun & Grow over time

Here in Ohio, as soon as any sun starts shining and the temperature hits above 60°, soon-to-be-gardeners are ready to plant! If this is your first year of planning a garden - flower, vegetable or otherwise -allow me to share my gardening journey in the shortest version possible:

When I was in high school, my mom allowed me to start a small vegetable garden in the backyard and one of the things I chose to grow was potatoes. That may not be exciting, but it sure was when it was time to dig them up! Digging for potatoes is like finding a buried treasure, just less compensation. In the following years, my gardening adventures fell silent until around 15 years ago. The short of it is, I have a real love of being outside, plants, insects, nature and growing things. That's the super condensed version. We (my husband and me) have taken our typical suburban lot (0.21 acres), wiped out 70% of the lawn and replaced it with raised garden beds, pollinator gardens, habitats, ponds, a chicken coop and edible landscaping. Whew; I think that covers most of it!

Why am I sharing this? Because, that last bit is usually the headline of most blog posts and social media videos. Nothing wrong with that, other than we all compare what they've done vs what we can do/have done. So here's the real scoop on how we achieved all that:

• I'm not gonna lie, I have a lot of energy!

• I'm divorced, so every other weekend, we were kid free. That makes a HUGE difference on how much time you have to spend on your gardening goals

• I had a partner who liked helping me. Also very helpful.

• And, I made it a goal to get certain things done, because it was important to me.

I have always worked full time, as does my husband. There were some years, especially during the traveling club sports period, that I didn't do as much as I wanted. We did what we could, when we could.

I'm sharing all this because I'd like to start the points of this article by saying that my pace isn't your pace and the other folks online with the AH-mazing gardens may not be your pace, either. Some of those stellar gardeners and landscapers may do the social media & gardening thing full time, which is much different than you doing it on the weekend.

First point is: Don't compare yourself to other gardeners, just take what info and inspiration you can and go from there.

small pollinator garden with native plants

Raised garden bed with vegetables

Backyard habitat with native plants landscaping

Raised garden bed with vegetables

Native plant pollinator garden in suburban setting

Pollinator garden in suburban setting

Woman with kale in her mouth in backyard garden

Raised bed garden in backyard

Raised bed garden

Raised bed garden with vegetable trellis

Raised bed garden with chicken coop

Greenhouse with pollinator garden and zinnias

Second Point: Gardening should be fun! Maybe weeding isn't at the top of the list of the MOST fun, but hopefully you find some therapeutic benefits in your gardening journey, which are actually well documented.

Third point: START SMALL. Like, for real. If you want this to be remotely fun, don't overwhelm yourself with six raised garden beds in your first year! If you want to start growing your own vegetables, I'd recommend (1) 16 ft² raised bed and see how that goes. You can always add more (and more and more!) later. "Later" is the next season for those of us in the Northeast, sadly. Same thing goes for starting a pollinator garden or rewilding/landscaping your yard: pick ONE area to focus on, plant, grow and then move on to the next area. Pretty soon, you can connect each area and all of a sudden, you have transformed your whole yard!

Fourth Point: Make it your own! With the exception of folks stuck with an overbearing HOA, your garden and landscaping should reflect YOU. Again, I'd use social media posts as inspiration and ideas, not the be-all-end-all of how your garden should be. The old (in my opinion) idea that a landscape design should have repetitive plants and a "matchy matchy" design? Not for me. I like mimicking nature, but with a little side of structure. Do what is aesthetically pleasing to you.

Last Point: Now let it grow... a garden ebbs and flows, kinda like life! I laugh at how many times I think I'm "done" only to remove three bushes, add another and move five clumps of native flowers. Be patient, let your garden grow and soak in the fruits of your labor.