Melbourne

Observation, look at gardens and look at people doing gardening.

Practice and start easy.

Books, read lots of books.

I would start with herbs, they are really tough and you can eat them. Nasturtiums and radishes are great for planting from seed, really easy.

MONEY. Gardening takes money. Money for tools and seed and fertiliser.

Remember when you are looking at other people's gardens you are looking at their successes, you haven't seen how many plant they have killed!

Like any other hobby. Slowly. Learn information online, tv shows, asking people who are good gardeners. Trial and error. Be observant during the trial and error, and then check what went wrong and how to do it better next time.

As for insects, you will encounter them. I wear gloves while gardening. I’ve been gardening a long time and never been bitten by a spider. So it might be a matter of small steps and maybe start with pot plants where there is a very low chance of insects and move up to outdoor gardening when you feel ready. Maybe reading up on the different kinds would help to feel better? Many insects are not only super beneficial to a successful garden, but absolutely essential. For example bees and worms. Good luck! Gardening is a fun and peaceful hobby. Oh and almost forgot, Gardening Australia on ABC is an excellent show with very good information and inspiration.

My mum was a fabulous gardener, and one bit of advice she gave me was to check out what is in the local gardens around you. You can tell what plants are suited to the environment that way, and those will be more likely to survive.

Not a huge gardening person, but I know that like it's nice being able to grow your own stuff, even if it's just spring onions. It gives them more life, and saves money too. Though I can't comment on the spiders, because I too cry whenever I see them.

Only thing I would add to the topics covered below (which I largely agree with), is that gardening is mostly a matter of attention to details. I find I need to spend about 10-15 minutes a day just checking on things plus time spent watering, feeding and cosseting plants. Make it part of your daily routine and it's easy. And very relaxing.

I would definitely invest in gardening gloves (cheap at Aldi) if you are nervous about bugs etc. Please don't spray poison on them - there are so many good bugs that actively help you grow things and these really shouldn't to be poisoned. Ordinary rubber gloves are good for physically squashing pests like caterpillars and cherry slugs. And believe me, once you've seen your hard work eaten by caterpillars, one becomes quite murderous where they are concerned.

Something to start with that's edible and easy (at least in summer) is peanuts. Recommend having a go at these for a starter plant in a pot as it's so easy to grow. It's a pretty plant too - very decorative and largely free from pests. They are delightfully weird too as the nuts grow on the end of the branches, just underground. And really fresh peanuts are hard to find in shops and absolutely delicious. Get the seed peanuts from Diggers or similar - ordinary supermarket ones are treated with chemicals or roasted and probably won't germinate. You will only need one or two seeds to start a plant.

Not sure about the spiders and bugs, they are pretty much part and parcel with being outside.

In regards to learning to garden, I learned most things through books and constantly reading about it, combined with continual practice. Things will continually die, fail to sprout, bolt to seed before you can eat them, get infested with pests and eaten by wildlife. The trick it to keep working at it and improve the percentage that is successful.

I would recommend you start with an actual book or two - there is tons of information on the internet, but a decent book has been structured to provide all of the basic information you need in a coherent order. Some of the info online is also of somewhat dubious accuracy.

Oh and I forgot to mention. See if there’s a seed library in your area. Sometimes they’re run by the council or a library. You can ‘borrow’ seeds by taking some, planting them and letting some of your plants go to seed to ‘return’ them. Or you can donate remaining unused seeds from a packet that you bought.

Some even have gardening groups or community gardens to help you learn.

(They tend to deal with heirloom seeds though, because those are better for seed saving. If you see anything on a seed packet saying F1, or F2, or F3 then those are hybrids.

Generally with hybrids the results of the first planting will breed ‘true’ and give the best results of the mixed parent genes, but saving the seeds from that and planting again will give you mixed and kind of crappy results.

It’s up to you which you use, both heirlooms and hybrids have their good points, but just something to remember if you want to save the seeds.)

You can also buy kits from shops but they might not be amazing

Edit: This is making me wish Woolies still did those little seed giveaways rather than whatever junk they have now. They’re price gouging so I try to avoid them when possible and not all the plants were cat safe but man… it’s the only time I’ve ever been interested in the giveaways

I’ll chime in. Try container gardening! You can do a few things in pots.

I’m very much an amateur that’s dabbled with simple herbs my entire life but a few years ago I was growing spinach. Because there wasn’t room in the pot to let the plants get full size I harvested the leaves early as baby spinach.

There are guides but basically I put potting mix in a standard window box, mixed in some slow release fertiliser (Osmocote or whatever brand of granules) and planted some of the spinach seeds. Then I kept planting more seeds at intervals so more would keep coming, while gently picking the bigger leaves so the existing plants would keep producing more. (This may not get you a whole big crop but is very good to constantly get a small amount of fresh leaves ie. for a sandwich.)

This is called a few things like continuous sowing, succession planting etc. The plants ended up a little crowded but they really didn’t mind. The roots are shallow so they’re good for containers.

Some things to remember - spinach seeds need darkness to sprout, and then the seedlings need light to thrive. They tend to be a cooler weather crop. Some types are more heat resistant and resistant to bolting (going to seed) but they will bolt fast if they get too hot or dry. Don’t worry, they do that. They’re temporary plants.

Once planted they hate being moved - mix in fertiliser to the soil first before planting or use liquid, or water it in. Then sow seed straight into where you want them. If you don’t use slow release fertiliser they might want a little more when they start growing to a certain stage (was it when they get their second set of leaves?) They’re hungry bois.

Another option is to get a cutting of rosemary, strip the leaves off the bottom half, and sit it in a glass of water until roots appear. You remove the leaves from where the stem sits in water so they don’t go rotten. If you remember to water it you can plant it in an old yogurt pot. Putting it in gradually bigger pots as it outgrows them means the rosemary will get bigger and start to bush out. Pinch off the very tips sometimes so it gets nice and bushy.

If you see mint you can get a sprig and put it in a pot. It goes wild. DO NOT plant it in the ground, even if the roots are in a pot. It grows tendrils above ground and spreads like crazy. Consider a hanging pot even.

Another choice is radishes. They grow incredibly fast.