Written and edited by Tammy 19h January 2023
There's nothing better than walking into a beautiful nursery full of fresh plants, but if you're a 'newbie' to the world of gardening it can be a bit daunting not knowing where to begin.
So I'm going to give you a few tips that will be really helpful to you.
Firstly, do a little bit of homework before you go, have a few notes jotted down in your phone or in a notebook about the part of your garden you're wanting to plant out.
a) Is it a sunny or shady spot? and what percentage of the day is sunny or shady?
b) Is your soil heavy black soil, sticky or hard clay or non-wetting sand?
c) How much room do you actually have to work with? For example, 2 meters by 6 meters. You can even have a picture already drawn that you can pencil ideas into.
Most garden centres are set out 'user friendly' with signage to point you to their different sections. there'll be designated areas for edibles such as fruit trees and vegetable seedlings, Australian natives, shade loving plants and more.
Take your time and study the description on the back of the plant identification tags as you wander around amongst the plants. Look at the example I've included above for a strawberry plant, at the top you'll find the common name, the name that you will most likely be familiar with, and beneath this will be the botanical name, kind of like the scientific name. (We'll go a little bit more into depth on plant names another day).
Beneath the name you'll find a detailed section about the requirements of the plant. It'll tell you if the plant needs full sun or shade, and how big it is going to grow.
Just a tip though, don't take the height and width as gospel, it really is just a guide. In other words, in an ideal situation it could potentially reach......
With this information you might be able to have a go at working out how many of this particular plant you can fit comfortably within your space.
The tag will also tell you if the plant needs to be kept moist and requires a lot of water, or if it's drought hardly and happy with minimal water. Some tags such as the strawberry one above, will even go into a bit more detail about, how to plant it, what type of soil it likes, and even what type of fertilizer to use and how often.
You don't have to rush and walk out with hundreds of dollars' worth of plants that same day, take your time, take some photos of the plants you like and the back of the tags too, or if you prefer to write down the details on your notebook so you can make a few more decisions at home.
And if you're really unsure, don't be afraid to approach the nursery staff, if you explain to them what you'd like to achieve and describe to them a bit more about you garden, the notes we discussed earlier, they should be able to help you. They are trained in this, it's what they do. (What I myself pride myself on being qualified to do 😜)
So there we have it, I hope this has enlightened you a little as to how much information is right there within your reach next time you go to the nursery.
Happy gardening.
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