Well, now is the perfect time. You might have some questions on where to start, but don't worry, the article below will help with lots of useful information. This article includes a few tips and tricks that can help you begin gardening. It may be helpful to let your plants begin their life in a pot and to transfer them to your garden when they're seedlings. Doing this will increase the survival rate of all your outdoor plants. Seeds can't always thrive in gardens, and are often eaten by birds. As soon as the mature plants are removed, you can replace them with fresh seedlings. The handles of your tools can double as clever rulers. You can convert any large handle tool, such as a hoe, shovel, or rake into a measuring tool. Just lay your tool down on the floor then lay a yardstick beside the handle. Mark your distances with a permanent marker. When you are gardening next, you'll have a ruler beside you at all times. Starting off your garden with healthy soil can be the best defense against those pesky garden bugs. Healthy and well-nourished plants will be hardier and therefore better able to prevent pests from taking hold. So if you want your garden to provide plants that are as healthy as possible, you need a good quality soil that contains few chemicals and that can accumulate salts over time. When winter arrives, you can save some plants by placing them in your home. It's a good idea to save any expensive plants or those that will thrive in indoor heat. Dig around roots carefully before transferring to a pot. If you are gardening, be wary of stink bugs in your garden, especially in the autumn. Stink bugs like to reside in tomatoes, beans, and pepper plants, as well as many fruits. If left uncontrolled, they can cause substantial damage in your garden, so make plans for how to protect your plants from these pests. Your vegetable garden should get at least six hours of sun daily. This allows the vegetables to grow quickly and healthily. Some flowers are especially sun-loving as well. Keep your garden fertilized. Manure is very effective in helping plants grow, although it is important to use a commercially composted product to minimize the risk of pathogens. There are many fertilization methods out there; the type is not quite as important as actually using something. Purchase a wheelbarrow, and a kneeling stool to use in your garden. Spending a lot of time near the ground working is very hard on the knees, so a lightweight and portable garden stool will make gardening more comfortable. There is also a lot of heavy lifting involved with gardening, so a good wheelbarrow is a great tool to have around. If you want the best tasting vegetables, learn about the optimum time to harvest them. Every veggie variety has an ideal time frame for picking, so it's important to catch them when their flavors peak. For instance, zucchini and baby peas will taste a lot better if you pick them when they are young. Tomatoes, though, are tastiest when they have been allowed to ripen on the vine as long as possible. So, find out the best time to harvest your vegetables. Use only pesticides designed to kill the specific type of pest in your garden, and avoid the broad-spectrum kind. While broad-spectrum pesticides will kill most pests, they will also kill helpful insects. Bugs that provide a benefit to your garden are more easily killed by these broad-spectrum pesticides, you may simply end up with a bigger pest problem. As a result, gardeners often have to resort to using more toxic pesticides to get rid of garden pests. Avoid damage from the sun by dressing correctly when you garden. Clothing should keep your skin covered, and don't forget to wear a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen. Protecting yourself from the sun is the best way to prevent sunburns and skin cancer. Heather can be planted to attract useful insects. Bees like heather, and they get their nectar from it early in the spring. Beds of heather are largely undisturbed and make a perfect living space for spiders, beetles and a variety of other beneficial tenants. With this knowledge at hand, it is in your best interest to wear gloves when tending the heather. If you choose to use organic methods to care for your houseplants, you should bear in mind that certain plants require more sunlight than others. If you are living in a place that does not have a lot of natural sunlight, think about cultivating plants that do well in lower lighting situations. You can also get special lamps if you want a different kind of plants. After reading this article, you should be well on your way to growing a fantastic garden. Even if you thought you knew how to grow a garden properly, you definitely do now. The tips above were meant to give you a little guidance to aid in your gardening endeavors so you can go out and have some real fun!