Start with a small plot and grow some peas or beans. They are easy to plant and grow, and usually produce a ton of food.
I LOVE "Food Grown Right, In Your Backyard: A Beginner's Guide to Growing Crops at Home". It's approachable, it talks about growing vegetables primarily, but it also talks about how to set up a bed, how to fertilize, etc. It's aimed at beginners and it is full of pictures.
The important part is that you can basically experiment with a small plot one year, and see what you like. I built one raised bed. Then the year later, I added two more. Now I have 6 raised beds plus a whole bunch of beds on the ground. I started with carrots and peas. Now I grow basically all the fruits and veggies. :D
After I got comfortable with my veggies, I started looking into French potager gardens and companion planting flowers in my vegetables. I pawed through a bunch of books and didn't find one I loved, but found a lot of blogs and things to search through.
If you're in the SF bay area, I strongly recommend Golden Gate Gardening [https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Gate-Gardening-3rd-Year-Round/...] because it's approachable if you read it from the beginning, but comprehensive and highly detailed in the various aspects of this diverse region. Nothing more frustrating than growing a mandarin tree only to find out that the fruit will likely not be too sweet!
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Can you suggest the best resources you've found for learning about gardening?
Start with a small plot and grow some peas or beans. They are easy to plant and grow, and usually produce a ton of food.
I LOVE "Food Grown Right, In Your Backyard: A Beginner's Guide to Growing Crops at Home". It's approachable, it talks about growing vegetables primarily, but it also talks about how to set up a bed, how to fertilize, etc. It's aimed at beginners and it is full of pictures.
The important part is that you can basically experiment with a small plot one year, and see what you like. I built one raised bed. Then the year later, I added two more. Now I have 6 raised beds plus a whole bunch of beds on the ground. I started with carrots and peas. Now I grow basically all the fruits and veggies. :D
After I got comfortable with my veggies, I started looking into French potager gardens and companion planting flowers in my vegetables. I pawed through a bunch of books and didn't find one I loved, but found a lot of blogs and things to search through.
If you're in the SF bay area, I strongly recommend Golden Gate Gardening [https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Gate-Gardening-3rd-Year-Round/...] because it's approachable if you read it from the beginning, but comprehensive and highly detailed in the various aspects of this diverse region. Nothing more frustrating than growing a mandarin tree only to find out that the fruit will likely not be too sweet!