I would be looking more at flash guns as lighting outside in a garden at night is probably not just dark, but really bad for photography.
A f/1.8/lens in the 35-50mm bracket should be fine when paired with a flash. I wouldn’t rely on Tue cameras own flash if it has one though, a cheap hotshoe mounted flash will be a lot better.
I would 100% not recommend honing your skills with film. Just get any old DSLR. Second hand they can be had for almost nothing for an entry level DSLR. Then you can take 2000 photos in an afternoon and really start to learn the craft of photography and it’s cost you nothing.