First Time Garden? These tips are for you!

I started my first garden at 18 years old when I bought my first home. It has been a lot of trial and error over the years, but if 18 year old me can do it then SO CAN YOU!!

• Start Slow.

• First year? Try just one vegetable you love. Tomatoes are a favorite for many, but you could do lettuce, spinach, carrots, beets  - and the list goes on. But learning one type of food at a time is a great way to ease into it.

• You Don't need a big plot of land - or even a yard.

• You can grow everything you need for fresh salads on your back deck. 
• find some pots and potting soil and grab your favorite salad ingredients in seed or plant form. Be sure they have plenty of water and sunlight (and enough room in the pot to grow) And you will be eating fresh salad before you know it.

• Not a salad person? Grow some herbs! 
• Some herbs can be harvested year round, like Rosemary. 
• Others are seasonal and can be harvested throughout the summer and then frozen or dried for the winter months.
• Read this recipe for freezing herbs

• Plant things your family loves and will eat. 

• And add just 1 or 2 'new' vegetables to trial each year. I have found letting kids plant and grow their own vegetable is a great way to get them to try new foods and actually like them!! (squash soup anyone?)

• Track your progress (both success and failure)

• Buy a garden tracking book and keep track!
• Did your cucumbers thrive but your zucchini failed miserably? write down when they were planted, where, and what the weather was like this year.
• That way you are gaining knowledge for future years even if a few crops failed this year (and believe me they will)

• Most importantly: If at first you don't succeed. Try, try again.

Thank you for reading. 

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