No matter what your main gardening interest -- be it growing vegetables, making your yard colorful with flowers, picking out just the right tree, or aspiring to have the most gorgeous roses on the block -- chances are that you care most about the plants. Sure, gardening can also involve landscaping and lawn care , or being able to grow your own food , or just having a great excuse to play in the dirt , but for most people, the plants make everything worthwhile.
Of course, keeping your plants alive and making them look their best involves a lot of preparation. This blog contains information on caring for your garden plants throughout, but you should especially read through the first few chapters if you really want your plants to grow, thrive, and look their absolute best.
Okay, yeah, I know, you already know you need to plan and prepare your soil to get your garden going, but you really just want to read about plants right now, right? In that case, the rest of this chapter is devoted to the most basic explanations of the kinds of plants you may encounter in the world of gardening. Later chapters in this book go into much more detail about the various types of plants, trees, bushes, and vines, but here I help you get a sense of how plants are similar and different -- the first step in turning a brown thumb green. First, though, I explain a bit about names.
