If you have been gardening for a few years now, maybe you picked it up in the pandemic and you've had some successes, maybe you've had some major failures, I think you all know if you've listened and watched what we've done here at Epic Gardening that I've certainly had my fair share of both.

You probably want to get better at gardening and we've talked a little bit about how to do so with Nansderman, who's our guest again this week. She's a garden expert, actually has three books, an online course, hosted TV show, so a wealth of experience in gardening and, you know, Nan, I'm sure you get this question all the time of like, how do I, how do I just get better at gardening? And it's, it's kind of a hard one to answer, isn't it?

I don't think it's hard to answer. I have a pretty easy way of answering.

Okay, okay, let's do it.

So let me start by saying, you know, people ask me this question all the time. So for example, somebody moves here and they're a gardener from back east and they arrive in our area and they go, oh my god, what is going on here?

These plants are different. This place looks different. I don't know what to do. Or they're a gardener locally and they are looking online for information and they do what they, you know, they find directions on how to grow this or that and they follow those directions and it fails.

What's wrong?

What's wrong is they haven't taken the time to look at where they are and figure out what works where they are.

Most of what you find online is very general information that applies, that does, that's fine if you're in Boston.

But if you're in New Mexico or Arizona or Utah or California or Nevada or any place that is not your typical temperate climate, most of that stuff doesn't apply.

And when people move here and they want to grow the plants that they grew back east or back home or wherever it is, that doesn't work.

It's much, so what I tell those people is, stop what you're doing and start looking around you.

Especially if you're new, you've just moved to this area. Don't do anything for a year or even if you've just moved into a new house and you've been here for a long time or wherever you are.

When you're moving to a new house, don't do anything for a year.

If you live in a plant development, it's a new construction, you're pressured to do something and if you're in that situation, just do the minimal.

Just do the minimal to meet whatever the requirements are for the first year because you need to spend that year noticing all kinds of things about your property.

What's the soil like? Do a drainage test.

Dig a hole, two feet deep, two feet wide if you can or as big as you can. Fill it with water. Let it drain out. Fill it with water again.

And notice how long it takes to drain. Now, in my garden, by the time I come back from turning off the faucet, the water is drained out. I have sand.

But if you have clay, that water can stand for two or three or four or five days. You need to know that because not all plants are going to tolerate that kind of soil.

And you need to know how to work with that soil to make it more hospital for plants. You need to know how the wind blows.

Are there parts of your garden that are really windy and maybe you need a windbreak of some sort?

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