Spring gardening is a busy time for all gardeners, but when you are a beginner, it’s even more important to have a spring gardening checklist to follow. Let’s go over the spring gardening tasks that you’ll want to make sure you do in order to have a thriving garden all year long.  If you are having a hard time keeping all your spring gardening tasks straight, or don’t even know what spring gardening tasks you need to do, you’ll love our Seasonal Task List. This task list will help you stay organized and will ensure you don’t miss an important gardening task. Before we begin, if you’d lik ..read more

What are the best and worst crops — aka easiest and most difficult — for beginning gardeners to grow? Of course, you want to grow what your family likes to eat, but you also want to consider crops that are fairly easy. That way, you can find success early and then venture into the crops that command a slightly steeper learning curve. Join me as I share my top ten best and worst crops for beginners and well as tips to grow these crops easily.  I’ll also share five crops that may not be as easy for beginners to master. That way, you can either skip them in the beginning or give yourself so ..read more

When it’s time to start planning your garden, you might think the main garden planning tasks are simply deciding when to plant and what to plant. But, this leaves out many significant garden planning tasks that must be completed to enjoy a flourishing garden.  In order to ease planting stress, let’s talk about other garden planning tasks that need to be considered during the planning process. Then we can also go over when you should complete them so that your actual planting process is smooth and simple.  Grab a pencil or the notes app on your phone and jot down these 12 garden plan ..read more

Have you ever wondered if it’s even possible to plan a year-long fresh food garden? And not only a fresh food garden, but one that utilizes a small space and requires little preserving, if any? I’m happy to inform you that it is possible and I can’t wait to show you how! While I spent the past 10 years gardening to produce for preservation, I’ve recently made a shift in my gardening plan to focus more on fresh food. This year is going to be a year where I focus on the seasons and grow crops for my family to enjoy fresh out of the garden. In addition, I’m going to do it in a smaller space than ..read more

Have you ever wondered what to plant first in your garden? A lot of first-time gardeners make the mistake of thinking that as soon as the last frost has come and gone, it’s safe to plant everything at once. What beginners don’t realize is that while you can plant everything, your garden will have limited success and it might discourage you from trying again next year. Not only that, but if you plant all at once, you are only taking advantage of one third of the potential of your garden.  Join me today as we dive into what are the best crops to plant first in your garden. We will also tal ..read more

Warm season seeds need to be grown in a different way than crops that prefer cool weather. As a beginner gardener, it’s important to learn which warm season seeds you can get a head start with and begin growing indoors and which seeds are better to sow directly in your garden.  Before we get to which crops I recommend NOT starting from seed indoors, let me sum up why: The plants don’t like their roots being disturbed during transplanting You may not have enough grow room (and grow light) space Most are easier to directly sow in your garden The same is also true for a few cool weather s ..read more

Learning how to prevent indoor seed starting problems before they start is one key to a successful garden if you choose to start your seeds indoors. Anytime you plant a seed it’s an act of faith, no matter how many years you have been gardening.  There is a sense of nervousness that comes when you plant a seed in the ground as you are waiting for it to sprout. Many times, beginning gardeners think this is the hardest part, just getting the seedling to break through the soil.   As a seasoned gardener, I can tell you that simply getting the seed to sprout is not the only problem y ..read more

Now that you have decided to try indoor seed starting, let’s talk about what you can expect in the process. Before you begin, I encourage you to take a moment and consider the entire process of starting your seeds indoors. This begins with preparing your equipment and goes through to the ultimate goal of planting the crops out into your garden. Keeping in mind the end goal will help you better understand each step of the process. Let me share with you some common seed starting problems that you may run into and how to avoid them, as well as what you can expect with indoor seed starting. If yo ..read more

It’s time to start dreaming about and planning your garden! Over the years I’ve learned that my garden’s success is tied to how well I plan ahead. But often, when we plan our gardens, we skip right to the “what am I going to plant” part. We’ll get there, but first, there are seven things I’d encourage you to consider that will help guide you to be more efficient and strategic before you dive into the nuts and bolts of garden planning. Before you place our seed order or start drawing your garden layout, make sure you read over these 7 things you must do before you start planning your garden, s ..read more

What is the difference between oregano and marjoram? These herbs look similar, and often recipes call for whichever you have on hand. But do they grow the same? Do they really taste the same in the kitchen? Short answer — no. Before you start planting oregano and marjoram, let’s learn the differences, medicinal benefits, and growing needs of oregano vs. marjoram. Plus, I’ll even share some culinary tips to enjoy the plants in the best way. For a more comprehensive discussion about the differences between oregano and marjoram, you can listen to this episode of the Beginner’s Garden Podcast belo ..read more