Our garden is small this year. And by small I mean less than a half dozen plants, of those I think we may only get 5 tomatoes and a few handfuls of fresh herbs. Despite having a extremely productive garden for the past three years I was feeling very intimated this spring. Gardening in sunny SoCal is very different than north Idaho. Living in a completely new zone has its challenges, a short growing season being the main one. Not to mention all the woodland creatures who would love nothing more than to eat all the tops off our plants. I feel like I need to relearn how to garden! Many folks in our region have amazing gardens so I know it can be done. Like with anything worth doing it’s ok to start small. I think we can all get caught up in the comparison game and think we need an Instagram worthy raised bed garden in order to put our first seedling in the ground. This cannot be further from the truth. First off gardening should be affordable. There are jokes about growing a 60 dollar tomato, but home gardens have historically been about saving money and being more self reliant. Use what you have around the house, old milk jugs cut in half can work great as a planter for herbs. Luckily we have a lot of logs and old wood on the property so we built a couple low raised beds. The best way to start a garden is to just do it! Don’t overthink it, pick varieties you already like to eat, put those puppies in the ground and learn as you go. This winter I have some planning to do for the next growing season but for now I’m going to be proud of those 5 tomatoes and delicious herbs!