Local business shares tips and tricks for first-time gardeners

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)- It seems like every day it gets a little warmer, and that means it’s time to start sprucing up the yard.

The folks at the Lowes Garden Center say there are a few things you might want to think about if you’re new to the landscaping scene or maybe your thumb isn’t so green.

Employees at Lowes said their Spring Garden Center sales are almost as big as their Black Friday Christmas sales.

With the new spring flowers comes a new wave of first-time Landscapers.

“One common question that reoccurs is ‘what can I buy that I can’t kill,’ and I usually send them in the direction of perennials. A perennial is really hard to kill. You can get it out. You can play with it a little bit, and then if you think you didn’t do it right, it will pop out, it will go away, but it will still come back. It’s something that keeps turning over year after year after year,” said Jennifer Stinson.

Stinson is the Live Nursery Specialist, and she said there’s a new trend for the “low-maintenance” gardener.

“A lot of people come in looking for the succulents, looking for the cacti, looking for those things because a lot of people are into making the inside of their home brighter as well. Everybody knows a cactus is really really really hard to kill because it survives off of water, but it retains water as well,” said Stinson.

She said one common mistake first-time planters make is putting indoor plants outside.

“They are not designed to go outside. They are designed for in the house… That’s the biggest mistake you can do because by the time you put it out there, they’re not going to make it. Either the sun is going to beat down and kill them, or the cold is going to come and wipe them out,” said Stinson.

She said when you re-pot a plant, you may want to think ahead.

“I always try to advise them, if you buy a rose, you want to look at the size of the rose and you want to buy a pot. If you are going to it in a pot, it needs to be twice the size of what it’s already in because you have to look at it. It’s already been planted in a pot, so it’s already grown in that pot. You want to give it extra room so the roots can sprout and grow out and things of that nature,” said Stinson.

Stinson also said the most important thing for new landscapers to do is to ask for help.

“Always look for the red vest because we are here and we are ready to help you guys and get you on your way with anything you need to do and then once you get the hand of it– graduate to something bigger,” said Stinson.

Employees said it’s also important for first-time gardeners to look for a sale and start out small.