You kill everything
Even the plants that are meant to be easy.
Courses
Start with three things you can do today
How to start a garden for beginners
Grow something for the first time and keep it alive.
A course for complete beginners with a patch, a balcony or a windowsill. It covers what plants need and why they die, how to read your own space and climate, what to grow first for an easy win, and how to get through the first season with something to show for it.
Open Cadence on the App Store, type the sentence when it asks what you want to learn, and answer a few setup questions. Free to start. Android testers can request early access.
Type this when Cadence asks what you want to learn
I want to start a garden for the first time and I know nothing. Teach me what plants actually need, what to grow first where I live, and how to keep things alive through the first season.
Change any word so it fits your situation. The course is built from what you type and a few setup questions.
Start today
Three things you can do before the course exists.
Useful on their own. The course is for when you want the whole skill, not just the first move.
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Watch the sun on your space for one day
Note which spots get six hours and which get two. Most plant deaths are a sun plant in shade or the reverse.
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Start with herbs, salad leaves and one tomato in pots
They forgive beginners, grow fast, and you eat the result. Success in the first month is what makes a gardener.
-
Water less often and more deeply
Push a finger into the soil; water only when the top inch is dry. Overwatering kills more beginner plants than drought.
- Best for
- Environment & climate
- Prerequisites
- None. Bring the situation you have.
- Course length
- 7 to 30 lessons, sized to your goal
- Lesson pace
- About 10 minutes a day
- Format
- Read it, or play the audio
- Access
- Available on the App Store, with early features and Android testing access
Before the course is built
Setup asks about your situation first.
Lesson 1 opens on the moment you describe, and the examples use your role. For this request, expect questions like these.
- What space do you have: a garden, a balcony, pots, or a windowsill?
- What do you want to grow: vegetables, herbs, flowers, or anything that lives?
- What is your climate like, roughly, and how much sun does the space get?
Right for now
If any of this sounds familiar, start here.
You have space and no idea
A patch of ground and a lot of questions.
You want to grow food
Herbs, salad, tomatoes, and to eat something you grew.
Course arc
Where the course goes, in order.
Cadence writes the lessons for you, so the exact path follows your answers. This is the ground a course built from this sentence covers.
01 / 06Why plants die
The four needs and the usual failures.
Your space
Sun, soil, containers and what they mean for choice.
First plants
Easy wins by space and season.
Soil and water
Getting both right, and the overwatering trap.
Pests, problems and patience
What is normal, what is not, and what to do.
The season
A simple calendar, and what to do when it ends.
What changes
What you will be able to do, and what you will stop believing.
You will be able to
Understand what plants need
Light, water, soil and warmth, and how to tell what is missing.
Read your space
Sun, shade, wind and soil, and what will thrive there.
Choose first plants
The ones that forgive beginners, for your space and season.
Get through a season
Watering, feeding, pests and the calendar.
Ideas this course corrects
Some people have green fingers
Some people have learned what plants need. Everyone else is guessing at the watering can.
More water and more feed means more growth
Too much water or fertiliser can harm plants too. Needs depend on the species, soil and conditions.
Course questions
What to know before you start.
How to start a garden for beginners: what can I do today?
Watch the sun on your space for one day. Note which spots get six hours and which get two. Most plant deaths are a sun plant in shade or the reverse. Start with herbs, salad leaves and one tomato in pots. They forgive beginners, grow fast, and you eat the result. Success in the first month is what makes a gardener. Water less often and more deeply. Push a finger into the soil; water only when the top inch is dry. Overwatering kills more beginner plants than drought.
Is this a fixed course?
No. Cadence builds the course when you type the sentence and answer a few setup questions, so the lessons follow your situation. This page describes what a course built from this request covers. You see the whole path before Lesson 1.
Who is this course for?
A course for complete beginners with a patch, a balcony or a windowsill. It covers what plants need and why they die, how to read your own space and climate, what to grow first for an easy win, and how to get through the first season with something to show for it. It sits under Environment & climate in the Ideas & discovery part of the library.
Do I need any prior experience?
No. Setup asks what you already know and where you want to use it, and the course starts from there. Bring a real situation if you have one; the examples are built around it.
How long does it take?
Courses run 7 to 30 lessons of about 10 minutes, sized to what you asked for. One lesson a day is the intended pace, and you can go faster. Lessons can be read or played as audio.
Does this course award a certificate or degree?
No. Cadence is for practical self-learning and does not award accredited degrees or professional certification.
Start today
Type it, answer a few questions, open Lesson 1.
The sentence to type
I want to start a garden for the first time and I know nothing. Teach me what plants actually need, what to grow first where I live, and how to keep things alive through the first season.
Open Cadence on the App Store, type the sentence when it asks what you want to learn, and answer a few setup questions. Free to start. Android testers can request early access.