It was sunrise when I discovered the gap in the fence and the soft brown eyes of a deer on the wrong side of it. What followed was a lesson every Nevada County gardener eventually learns — that keeping a garden going has less to do with perfect conditions and more to do with showing up anyway.

Getting things in the ground is the exciting part. Keeping them alive through a Sierra Foothills summer is where most gardens quietly succeed or fail. Here's what to do now — and the one watering mistake that looks responsible but isn't.

Companion planting isn't a planting chart to memorize. It's a way of thinking about your garden as a community — where every plant has neighbors that help it thrive, and where the bees, the soil, and the season all have a say. Here's why it works, and what it looks like in a Nevada County kitchen garden.