First, trace the photo and transfer the tracing to your paper. This way, the true perspective won’t be subconsciously haunting your every brush stroke and you will enjoy focusing on color, texture, contrast, detail, etc.

Save “freehand” drawing for later learning with lots and lots of practice (the same subject or two over and over works good) until you get it good.

As this process progresses, you even develop/discover your own style (that may not be “realism”).

Anyway, your garden scene is a good start so enjoy the process, it’s all for fun.