Tips for new gardeners

• Consider fast-maturing vegetables that allow for two plantings per season. Called succession planting, this will let you gobble up an early crop of microgreens, spinach or basil, then plant and harvest again.

• Nip it in the bud. Sure, it's tough to tug out the shoots you cultivated so carefully, but if rows aren't thinned, they'll compete for sun, rain and nutrients, and yields will suffer.

• Small space? Go up, not out. Vertical gardening relies on a sunny spot where you can use a wall, stakes, string or trellises to support vines and tendrils of climbing plants.

• Tending a garden sometimes means leaving it alone. Overwatering can suffocate your produce and cause its roots and stems to rot.

KEVYN BURGER