10+ Gardening Skills To Learn

Do you have some free time, or do you just want to better at gardening? Here are 10+ gardening skills you should learn.

No matter how long I garden, I am always learning new things. Growing plants can be complex which also makes it fun.

I enjoy taking more control over my garden whether that’s making my own fertilizer or starting my own seedlings.

Having more knowledge about plants will help you become better and better at gardening.

Where I live we have long winters so that is when I like to do all my reading about gardening. Winter is really the perfect time to learn a new skill, but anytime of the year works.

Here are some gardening skills you should learn this year.

Seed Saving

Seed saving is great because it saves money and you get better seeds. If you continue saving your own seeds they will even become acclimated to your climate.

If you haven’t ever saved seeds I recommend learning just one plant type to save seeds from. You can get great information about seeds saving on my blog here.

If you want to learn more advanced seed saving topics I suggest you buy this book. This book goes into genetics and really teaches the in-depth concepts of how plants reproduce.

Pruning

Pruning is really an art/skill! It is also plant specific because apples and blackberries both need to be pruned differently.

If you just want to learn best practices for healthier pruning this is a great post. For each individual plant you will have to research how to prune it.

The thing about pruning, is that besides the best practices, there are many different pruning techniques. One interesting technique that I would love to try is espalier pruning.

Growing Seedlings

Home grown seedlings just produce better than those you find at big box stores. Learning to grow your own seedlings does take time and is a learning curve.

I quickly learned that to grow seedlings you need grow lights, heat mats, and the proper soil. I recommend starting with just a few easy varieties before you try harder plants like herbs.

Tomatoes, peppers, and basil are all plants that are easy to start. This post is a great beginner guide to growing your own seedlings.

Plant Propagation

It sounds too good to be true, but you can literally multiply plants for almost nothing! Have a single sage plant but want five more? Then you need to learn about propagation.

Propagation is when you take a cutting from a plant, root it, and care for it until it’s a whole new plant.

These herbs are a great place to start when learning propagation. Each plant may have different propagation requirements so make sure to research each variety.

Composting

Turning waste into the best fertilizer ever is a skill I think every gardener should learn. Composting is also great if you raising animals because you can use their soiled bedding.

This is a great guide to composting and it talks about the different techniques.

Making Your Own Potting Soil

Before making my own potting soil my plant starts weren’t as healthy as I wanted them to be. I have since researched and experimented with different potting soil formulas.

I have made what I think is the best potting soil recipe and it uses all natural ingredients. You can get my DIY soil recipe right here.

I also link to each ingredient you need so you can use the exact same brands I am using. You can even tweak my formula for a specific plant need.

Growing Perennials From Seed

Perennial plants are expensive, but they also grow year after year. One great way to save on perennial plant costs is by growing your own from seed.

While this may sound easy, perennial plants are much more difficult to start and take longer to mature. I have started perennial plants like echinacea with good success though.

Some plant require vernilization or scarcification which are just fancy terms for seed treatments like freezing or abrasion.

To learn this skill I recommend choosing some perennial plants for your zone and then doing research on starting them from seed. Here is a post on doing this with echinacea (AKA coneflower).

Companion Planting

Some gardeners swear by it and others say it’s just an old wives tale. Personally, I think some companion planting advice is good, but some of it is probably an old wives tale.

It is true that some plants just thrive when planted together like the three sisters planting of corn, squash, and beans.

This book is the standard on companion planting advice and I love it. To really learn companion planting I think observation in your garden is the best teacher.

Try some companion planting and see how your plants grow.

Garden Planning

Each year I lay my garden out on paper as a guide for spring planting. Garden planning helps you to think about your garden and plan for your family’s food needs.

Being a good garden planner can help you have a more efficient and space saving garden.

Botanical Terms

Stamen, stigma, anther. Do you know what any of these terms mean?

Knowing botanical terms can help you out when reading gardening books. It also allows you to read more science oriented books without going huh… what does that mean.

One of the best ways to do this is simply by looking the terms up when you come across one you don’t know. Here are a few to start with; open pollinated, perfect flower, dicot/monocot, biennial, and photosynthesis.

Plant Identification

One mistake that new gardeners make is pulling up vegetable plants they thought were weeds. Not knowing what plants look like can lead to big issues in the garden.

Again basic observation in the garden goes a long way, but you can also read plant identification books.

A good thing to remember is that the plants first leaves (cotyledons, for those that enjoy botanical terms.) and mature leaves look different.

Plant Problem Solving

Knowing why a plant’s leaves are yellowing or why you have a certain insect issue is great knowledge to have.

This helps to know whether you need to water more, add a nutrient, or move a plant out of full sun.

Record Keeping

I will admit this is one area I am not great at. While I do plan my garden, when the gardening season really gets going I forget to take notes on my plants.

When you write something down you retain it better than if you just try and remember it. Keeping records on how your plants grow can help you better fine tune your growing techniques.

Tool Maintenance

Taking care of your tools so they last a long time is a long lost skill. Today we just go buy a new item when something doesn’t work.

Learning to maintain your garden tools is a great skill to have and it can save you money in the long run. Here is a great beginner guide to maintaining garden tools.

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