Ooh! Ooh! This sounds fun. I put some time into this when I should have been working, so I hope it helps.

1) Pruners - $20.49

This will be your most used tool. Eventually, you can upgrade into Felcos or Bahcos, but right now just get these Coronas. They're honestly a better size for hobby gardeners (fit right in your pocket), and the're very high quality for the price.

2) Your First Gardening Book - $17.06

Gardening Without Work by Ruth Stout. It's simple and gives you a general plan that really does work very well. It's a must for beginning gardeners, imho. You can find just about any other information you need on the internet (for now). Very little maintenance required, including fertilizing, weeding, applying pesticides, etc. (In a nutshell, the main step involves putting down an 8" layer of mulch...).

If you want to go with a more traditional raised bed setup, you should buy Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening. It's a fantastic back yard gardening book, as well, but the methods are kind of pricey and less sustainable. Still, it's a great system for growing a lot of food in limited space and it was the first book I used.

3) Indestructible Garden Trowel - $15.99

This will be your second most used tool. This particular model is about as indestructible as it gets short of this bad boy. You'll use it for digging holes for transplanting, mostly. Don't buy a cheap one or it will bend or break or both.

4) Fertilizer - $7.83 + $11.06 = $24.26

I chose cottonseed meal because that's what Ruth Stout recommends using (the rest of the nutrients in her system come from the giant mounds of mulch). Apply as she indicates.

I also added some Fish Emulsion Liquid Fertilizer because I love the stuff. It's a great way to add some extra nitrogen (and just a little P & K) mid season to your veggies or even to your compost pile when it gets carbon heavy. The stuff I have right now stinks, but the plants love it and it's easy to apply if you have a watering can.

Make sure you tailor your fertilizer to whatever system you're using, though. Don't fertilize like Ruth if you're not using her mulch based system. If you're using Square Foot Gardening, you won't be fertilizing at all, but you will be using lots of peat, vermiculite, and (different kinds of) compost. Etc, etc, etc.

5) Work Gloves - $10.97

These are specifically for women, but there's a button to switch to men's if that's you. You won't wear them all the time, but you'll be happy you have them when you need them. Notice that this comes with 6 pairs of gloves. I misplace gloves all the time, so having several is handy (hehe).

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Total: $88.77

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Notes:

• Save the rest for now. You're inevitably going to become enamored with something like earthworm casings, azomite, or a nozzle for your gardening hose down the line. Your future self will thank you for having some extra cash to buy it with, and this is plenty to get you started on your way to being a badass backyard gardener.
  
  
• The two above methods claim to be mostly pest free. In my experience, nothing is pest free, and you just need to grow enough quantity to weather the storm when it does randomly come. I would just concentrate on growing healthy plants first and foremost and then let the chips fall where they may. You might turn to pesticides later, and that's fine, but hold off on buying any until you know what is nibbling on your plants. Most pesticides are specific to the pest.
  
  
• Notice that I don't include any seeds. Your first year of gardening, I'd honestly recommend just buying live plants from your local nursery (and sticking to plants bred to survive in your region). Growing from seed can be hard, and your entire crop of seedlings dying is a humbling experience, I can assure you.
  
  The other reason there are no seeds on my list is because I don't recommend buying them on Amazon. I've had bad experiences every time I've tried it. If you need seeds, go with a good seed dealer, like Johnny's Selected Seeds, Burpee, etc, or find a good nursery in your area.
  
  
• If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.
  
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  TL;DR: Pruners, a book to get you started, a durable trowel, fertilizer that is specific to your growing plan, and some gloves. Enjoy!

Michael Pollan is best known for omnivores dilemma but I love his book about gardens. Relevant.

https://www.amazon.com/Second-Nature-Gardeners-Michael-Pollan/dp/0802140114/

One plant psychic interviewed a marijuana plant, and here is the plant's interesting reply: "We (the marijuana plants) are part of the new social order. One which is to be expanded not by governments but by ordinary people searching for their own truth... There will be an increasing demand for (us) and this will eventually turn the tide in one State after another until there is general acceptance... We find the future of the new world is not continued growth of corporations but a growth of small communities which will break up into other small communities. Each will be like tribes of Native Americans. Each individual will be answerable to his or her community so there will not be the corruption one finds when the larger producers and corporations lose sight of the fact that they are just as human as the ones they are producing for. This is what we see happening in the future and hemp will be a part of this as we are so prolific. We are a gift to you all in these times."

'Second Nature' by Michael Pollan is what you are looking for.

I don't have time to read all the comments but this book actually talks about this subject, especially as compared to the british way of yard care traditions: https://www.amazon.com/Second-Nature-Gardeners-Michael-Pollan/dp/0802140114

I can relate to your struggle and how much gardening has kept me going. I totally recommend a book called Deep-Rooted Wisdom: Skills and Stories from Generations of Gardeners. It has taught me about mindfulness in the garden through stories, practices, and know-how, and has helped me heal :).

Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's Natural Resources

Plowman's Folly

The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife

Garden Revolution: How Our Landscapes Can Be a Source of Environmental Change

I was at a bookstore and was looking around and found one of these mini bonsai kits and thought it would be a fun little thing to do. I absolutely realize that I have no idea what I am getting myself into, and as I fairly active redditor I wasn't surprised to find out that there was a subreddit on bonsai. I am currently in the process of getting the seeds to germinate and am going to start the stratification process later today. I have a few questions that I hope you wonderful people can answer for me.


The kit came with Jack Pine seeds and I was wondering how well these actually work for bonsai.


Did I mess up by starting this in late summer? I live in western Canada so the climate is pretty cold during fall/winter. Will this affect the seedlings at all and should I keep them outside or inside?


Do you have any tips for taking care of the little seedlings? How long should I wait until transplanting them into a proper pot?


That's all I can really think of for now, but any other general knowledge or helpful links would be greatly appreciated. For now I will be looking at the sidebar links.

I'm not 100% sure what kind of tree it is. My wife bought it for me as a gift. It was one of those bonsai kits from Barns and Nobel. The instructions didn't say what kind of tree of is. Though the box said Mini Merry Berry Bonsai Kit.

Here is a link to the product on Amazon, I'm not sure if it's much help though.

https://www.amazon.ca/Mini-Merry-Berry-Bonsai-Kit/dp/0762427086

Dinosaurs in the Attic, my all-time favorite non-fiction. It's about the history of some of the big acquisitions in the American Museum of Natural History. Also, The Earth Knows My Name, which is about ethnic gardening in America. Sounds dull, but is really interesting and inspiring!

Communicating with natural things like trees, animals and even geologic features like mountains and rocks may be abnormal in Western society, but the ability becomes more evident as you continue to meditate - unless you hold your "woo woo" or "pseudoskeptic" button firmly down and dismiss any data you receive from other than the physical senses.

The issue here is not so much talking as it is listening and recognizing the response as independent of your own conditioning. The practice of remote viewing is especially good for developing this ability by the way. Talks with Trees by Zavier Leslie Cabarga is a stimulating read as well.

People meditate for years to obtain the kind of shift that you seem to have experienced. You are dealing with changes, whether they came about from meditation or not. I don't think you need to "see a doctor" but if you are really uncomfortable with what you believe are the results of meditation, then reduce, change or stop your practices.