When my husband and I bought our first home in Chandigarh a few years back, we were excited about cultivating a new flower garden. But we were no experts, so we were discouraged when after a planting a lovely flower shrub, no leaves appeared during springtime. We thought the plant hadn’t survived the winter, so we dug it up. But a couple of days later we spotted a tiny, hopeful green bud at the bottom of the discarded bush. So we took a closer look at the roots and noticed that there are signs of life. With a new resolve, we got to work untangling the snarl of roots that had been so crammed into the nursery pot that the plant had nearly strangled itself to death.

Ten years later we know to check for choking roots before planting our nursery purchases. And over a time we’re surprised ourselves by becoming seasoned gardeners, but not before making a compost heap of mistakes. The main thing we learnt is that you don’t need a PhD in botany to have a fabulous garden. All you need is passion and these simple guidelines:

• Before discovering the miracle of mulch, I wasted many afternoons rooting out the grasses and weeds that crowded my garden. Now I know that when laid between plants as ground cover, mulch wipes out weeds and locks in moisture. It also moderates root temperature and enriches soil. So pile on at least four centimeters of mulch, grass clippings, wood chips, leaves or bark will do.

• Proper soil preparation is the key, says a garden expert. He recommends mixing in organic matter. Top up your garden with triple mix, a blend of soil, loam and manure available at your local nursery.

• Lighten the load by investing in good garden gadgets. A quality, adjustable sprinkler will do the watering while you take care of other tasks. Trowels, kneeling pads and clippers all make my job easier and faster. My favorite tools are a sharp spade, a hard rake for smoothing soil and a steel leaf rake.

• We’ve learned to ignore exotic, fussy flowers that look great in the nursery but want more attention than our own child. Native plants are usually more resistant to pests, drought and extreme weather.

• Plants labels include key advice, so follow it. Space your selections as recommended, consider their full grown height when choosing a plot and make sure they’re going to get sun or shade they crave.

• Start small, because big flower beds demands lots of seeding and weeding, as a colleague of mine discovered. She says, it just keeps growing and it has robbed me of the joys of gardening.

• Make a point of connecting with friends or neighbors who like digging in the dirt as much as you do.

Think of gardening as a great way to spend time outdoors, not as a chore. It’s called a hobby for a reason, so enjoy the ride. To me, gardening’s greatest pleasure has everything to do with relaxing in a lawn chair and watching the nature’s beauty, which has its own charm.