Earlier this year I attended a conference that revealed several nationwide trends in gardening. The president of a large seed company told the audience that the past two years have seen a huge increase in people planting vegetable gardens. Speakers at the conference gave several reasons for these trends. Most of the reasons came down to people wanting more locally grown food and a better idea of how their food is grown. What also caught my attention was that up to 20 percent of all new gardens are being planted by first-time gardeners. That's a big increase by inexperienced people …