Gardening is a pastime that young and old alike can participate in. There are many different gardening books, magazines and websites available to give the beginning gardener some gardening ideas, as well as forums for the avid gardener to share ideas and get feedback on any problems or concerns that he or she might have. There are many different types of gardens to choose from so that practically every taste can be matched to a particular garden, such as decorative gardens, rose gardens, vegetable gardens and even fruit gardens.

Getting Started

There are a few basic tools that every gardener needs in order to get started in gardening, whether it is a traditional outside garden or a container garden that can be maintained inside. One item is a small shovel that can be used to dig holes to plant young seedlings or to loosen the earth around more mature plants to give them some air. Another item is some clippers or pruning shears in order to trim off old or diseased branches for the health of the plant. Traditional gardening also requires a larger shovel and a hoe in order to till the soil before planting in preparation for the garden.

In addition to these tools there are other supplies that are useful to gardeners as different times during the gardening process. One item is fertilizer which can be bought at any gardening supply store. There are different types of fertilizers, from organic mulch which is all natural, to fertilizers that are fortified with different vitamins and minerals that specific plants might need depending on the soil that they are planted in.

Besides fertilizer, gardening also requires that some sort of pesticide be kept on hand in case of insect problems during the growing process. There are also different types of insect control methods, from using fine netting that keeps out insects and is placed over plants, to pesticides that are made organically, to more traditional pesticides that can be specialized to the type of insect problem that the gardener is facing. There are also books and other resources that explain how to utilize the 'good' insects more effectively and even attract them to the garden so that they can protect the plants by eating the harmful insects.

The fun part of the gardening process is choosing the types of plants for the garden and to finally get to work, planting and watering, digging in the earth and otherwise enjoying the gardening process. As the plants grow up, either blooming or producing fruit, or even just growing to maturity as ground cover, the gardening process is rewarding to the gardener as the fruit of her hands prospers.