About Gardening 101

You have read a hundred of these

You’re right to be sceptical. Most gardening advice is either too vague to help or too rigid to trust. We’ve all seen the ‘plant this in full sun’ advice that ruins a perfectly good tomato plant because the writer never accounted for your local climate or soil.

The truth is, gardening is part science, part patience, and a whole lot of trial and error. We don’t pretend there’s a one-size-fits-all solution—because there isn’t.

What we *do* offer is the messy, honest details of what actually works in real gardens, not just the polished version sold in seed catalogues.

If you’re looking for a quick fix or a magic bullet, this isn’t the place. But if you’re willing to roll up your sleeves and learn why some things fail—and how to make them work—then stick around.

We’re not here to sell you dreams; we’re here to share the gritty, rewarding parts of growing things.

Anyone can write that they test things

Every tip here comes from at least three growing seasons of real-world testing. That means planting the same crop in different soils, tracking how long it takes to germinate in a cold frame versus direct sowing, and yes, watching entire batches of seedlings die before we figure out why.

We’ve lost count of the pansies that rotted in soggy soil, the basil that bolted before it even flowered, and the zucchini plants that mysteriously wilted despite our best efforts.

The numbers aren’t pretty: over 20 failed compost batches before we nailed the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, and that’s just the ones we bothered to document.

We don’t cherry-pick the successes. If a method works 80% of the time but fails spectacularly the other 20%, we’ll tell you that—and how to spot the warning signs before it happens. That’s the difference between a blog post and something worth your time.

You won’t find us pretending that gardening is foolproof, because it isn’t. But you *will* find out what actually happens when you follow the advice, warts and all.

About the author

Lionel Delgado is the founder and editor of *Gardening 101*, and he’s spent more years pulling weeds than he’d care to admit.

Breaking one of these rules usually means a lesson learned the hard way. Like the time I ignored the ‘no shortcuts’ rule and rushed a transplant into the ground too early—only to watch it bolt before it even set fruit.

Or when I skipped measuring the sunlight and ended up with a sad, leggy herb garden. The plants don’t care about my rules; they just grow (or don’t). The rules exist to keep me honest, not to sound impressive.

This will not be right for everyone

If you’re looking for a quick, effortless way to fill your garden with flowers or vegetables, close this page now.

This site is for people who enjoy the process as much as the result—who don’t mind getting their hands dirty, who see wilting leaves as a puzzle to solve, not a failure to hide.

It’s not for those who want to skip the learning curve or who treat gardening like a chore to be outsourced.

If you’d rather buy pre-grown plants from a nursery or follow a rigid schedule of what to plant when, there are plenty of other resources out there. We’re here for the rest: the tinkerers, the experimenters, and the people who still get excited when a seed finally sprouts.

If that’s not you, no hard feelings. But if it is? Welcome.

You could just be told what you want to hear

We could say things like ‘everyone loves our advice’ or ‘our methods are scientifically proven,’ but those aren’t the truths that help you. Instead, we’ll tell you when a tip is a gamble, when a tool is overrated, or when a plant is more trouble than it’s worth.

The things worth writing about are the ones that save you time, money, or frustration—like how to fix a yellowing leaf before it spreads, or why your soil might be killing your peppers.