Dig out your shovels, brush the cobwebs off your gardening gloves and prepare to plant — now is the ideal time to begin planning those long-anticipated gardens.

Gardening isn’t completely out of college students’ reach. Whether you’re looking to plant in a full garden, a pot or a windowsill box, there are easy methods to follow and key steps in producing a successful garden.

Scott Bradham, manager of Earl May Nursery & Garden Center, 1601 S. Kellogg St., says right now a popular method of planting is container gardening, which involves mixing and matching flowers in a pot. This allows you to blend flowers of different sizes and colors.

The rule of thumb when container gardening is to put taller plants in the back, keeping a pyramid look, Bradham says.

“You want something visually that will stand up,” he says.

When planting flowers in a pot, Bradham says there are three main preparation steps: determine the size of pot you will need, the type and amount of soil you will use and the type of look you want.

For college students who don’t necessarily want to put a lot of time and effort into gardening but still want to spruce up their yards, front steps or porches, there are low maintenance plants such as phlox, coral bells or sedum, Bradham says. These are perennials, which are plants that survive for many years without having to be replanted.

For those willing to take on a larger project, like a whole garden, Bradham says there is an easy method of preparation.

“If you’re designing a garden, what I recommend is taking a hose and marking it,” he says.

Doing this gives you a visual of the garden, so you’re not just trying to picture it in your head, Bradham says. Also, after marking out the space, you can go to a garden center and they can tell you how many plants will fit.

Windowsill gardens are another option for people who do not want to have to go out and work in the garden, Bradham says.

“It’s a pretty easy task,” he says. “We got a lot of college students who do windowsill gardens by seed.”

If you’re curious about the types of flowers that will grow best in a certain climate, you can use a zone hardiness map.

Aric Zimmer, lawn and garden department manager for Lowes, 120 Airport Road, says Ames is in zone four, which means its temperature can drop down to 20 or 30 degrees below zero.

Best suited for Ames’ climate would include perennials like the black-eyed Susan, phlox and sedum, Zimmer says.

If your main concern is matching colors and seasons, there are certain flowers that work best for each. For instance, plants for spring colors (purples, whites and reds) would be annuals — flowers that need to be replanted each year — like petunias or pansies.

Summer plants (blues, purples, whites, yellows or reds) would be perennials like sedum and hydrangea, and a good plant for early fall would be the Burning Bush (a shrub), which has foliage that is green in the summer but turns red in the fall, Zimmer says.

When planting a full garden, peat moss and mulch can be used to improve the soil by providing more air and keeping it moist, Zimmer says.

The main key, however, is remembering to water your plants.

“If it’s not raining much, you got to be out there with the hose,” Zimmer says. Zimmer and Bradham both say gardening doesn’t have to be time consuming or difficult. By following a few easy steps and learning some tips and hints, gardening will no longer be a task.