Flowers Frankie - Get growing: an everyday guide to high-impact, low-fuss gardens

So you want to be a gardener. Or maybe youve bought your first home and now you have to be a gardener! Either way, this book is designed just for you: Get Growing will show you exactly how to create a beautiful garden with a minimum of fuss. It will take you from being a dirt-stained putterer to the envy of your neighbourhood!

My grandfather came to Canada in 1956 and eventually bought a tract of farmland. Thats him with my father (above right) looks like Dad didnt share my early love of farms!

My great-uncle had his hands full with me as a baby (top). But as soon as I was old enough to dig, I was helping out at our familys garden centre.

My dad helped open Bradford Greenhouses in 1975 (above left), and you can still find him there today! The business is one of the largest grower-retailers in central Ontario.

I f youre feeling intimidated, dont worryIll be there to guide you along the way. Ive been gardening since the age of two. My first home, in Bradford, Ontario, was connected to a greenhouse. My grandfather came to Canada in 1956 and found work in the Holland Marsh, an agricultural community north of Toronto. He and my father, Tony, later purchased their own land in the area, and in 1975 they opened Bradford Greenhouses, which is now one of the largest grower-retailers in central Ontario. I often joke that my family believed in child labour: the greenhouse was my afterschool program, my Sunday school, and my summer vacation, and I loved every minute of it. With countless customers asking questions and thousands of plant problems to solvenot to mention owning four different homes over the yearsIve come to know a bit about gardening, and I want to share that with you.

A sandwich always tastes better when the tomatoes are fresh from your garden.

N ow to the realities of gardening. Its hard workthere is no such thing as a maintenance-free garden or plant. Youll get dirty. Youll kill some plants (I still do). But its a hobby with a huge payoff. Sure, a garden will add curb appeal and raise the value of your home, but if thats all you want, you can hire someone to do the gardening for you. For me the pleasures are more intangible: sitting on the deck and enjoying a yard full of blooms, creating a centrepiece with cut flowers I grew myself, slicing a fresh tomato from my garden. Nothing else compares.

Gardening is not rocket science, but it does require some practical knowledge and common sense. Theres also a learning curve that everyone has to follow. I often compare it to cooking: you might start off with instant mac and cheese, move on to pasta with sauce from a jar, and then graduate to making your own sauce from scratch. Eventually, youll be ready to de-bone and stuff a chicken! In the same way, your confidence will grow, along with the plants in your garden. Like cookingand life in generalgardening involves a lot of trial and error. Ill do my best to help you keep those errors to a minimum: throughout the book, Ill break things down into easy steps, and that will remove much of the guesswork.

Before you get started on your journey, take some time to get to know your gardenand yourself. Start by reflecting on these questions:

Any time you start a gardening project, think about your specific goals. are you looking to completely overhaul your landscape or simply maintain the existing look? Do you want to grow vegetables or just flowers? Do you want to improve the propertys curb appeal or just create a place to relax? Do you need a space for children to play? Do you want to block your neighbours view into the backyard?

Depending on your ambition, a garden can take an hour a week or it can take over your life! Be realistic: if you have a full-time job, kids, a dog, and a busy volunteer schedule, then installing a huge vegetable garden is not a good idea. Youre far more likely to enjoy your hobby if you keep your plans manageable. If youve moved into a new home, ask yourself if you can maintain what the previous owner began. If the property includes just a few shrubs and some sorry-looking daisies, you can probably start digging new beds. But if you bought your home from a retired green thumb with no children except his prized azaleas, then your first job may be to scale down the existing gardens.

I suggest creating a garden budget every year. Believe me, once you get hooked on gardening, youll find yourself wanting to purchase every plant, ornament, and tool you see, and the costs add up quickly. You may want to leave your wallet at home during your first trip to the garden centre: just take some time to look at the prices of perennials, shrubs, soil, mulch, and tools. Make note of these prices and use them to create a budget. If youre doing a major garden reno, I recommend hiring a Certified Landscape Designer, who can create a complete plan and give you cost estimates, whether youll be doing the work yourself or hiring professionals.

Select good-quality tools, but dont get carried away by buying every garden gadget you see.

I ts important to know your property before getting down and dirty. I find it helpful to take a piece of graph paper and make a sketch. Start by plotting out your lot, including your house, driveway, walkways, deck, shed, and pool. These are known as hardscape.