Why grow your own? Maybe you’re a bit adventurous. Maybe you’re short on funds. Maybe you want to experience the pleasure of seeing this lovely plant grow and bloom from seeds you plant and tend all by yourself, taking control of your bud from start to smoke. Or you want to ensure you have a supply of specific strains. Whatever your reasons, our motto here will be a simple one:

Stay legal. Stay safe. Have fun.

Growing marijuana in Colorado can be all of these things, and I want to help you enjoy this hobby as much as I do. Who knows? Maybe someday you’ll move on to growing your own tomatoes.

Who am I?

First, I want to say that I am NOT a lawyer. I will show you the Colorado amendment as written and do my best to help you stay within the law, given my understanding of that law. But this book only offers my opinions, and does not constitute legal opinion or legal advice. If you are in need of legal counsel, please contact an actual lawyer.

I am a gardener and I have been for several decades (full disclosure: I turned 60 years old in 2013). Along with my personal experience with indoor and outdoor plants I studied biology, soils, and landscape ecology in college. I also had contact now and then with marijuana growing in my somewhat misspent youth. Once Colorado’s Amendment 64 allowed personal grows, I started with seeds and soil and pots and fertilizer and grew some bud of my own. At the time of this writing, I have finished three grows, the third one primarily for seed. I’ve verified with my own experience everything I’ll tell you here.

And while I think the bud I grow is pretty damn good, this is not a book about how to grow the strongest marijuana, or about advanced techniques in feminizing seeds and using hydroponics. I will include some references at the end for those of you who want to continue on to advanced topics. In this book we’ll cover the most basic gardening skills, with some tips on marijuana plants specifically and how to increase your yield of sinsemilla, the seed-free buds that provide the best smoking experience.

So, in accordance with our motto, let’s start with a look at Amendment 64 and start staying legal.