Getting started in Stardew Valley can seem a little daunting, to begin with. There are several NPCs, a multitude of different items, and many, many quests. There are plenty of opportunities to miss out on money if you don't know what to keep and what to sell. There's just so much to do that it can become overwhelming, and you may not be aware of the ways to make your time there a lot easier. Now it's our job to help you out, so we've compiled the best beginner tips to get you started right from your very first day!
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Sell the parsnips
On your first day in Stardew Valley, your first task will be 'Getting Started'. This quest will require you to grow a parsnip and harvest it. Seems simple enough, right?
Most players will take the starter seeds found in your house and plant them all immediately but, it's not actually worth it. Instead, take the seeds and plant just one of them. This way you'll be able to complete the quest, take the remaining seeds to Pierre and sell them.
With the money you get from the parsnip seeds, buy potato seeds. Potatoes will make you 15g more profit than parsnips, and as well as that there's a possibility for you to get two potatoes at a time. Whereas this isn't a feature with parsnips. This strategy won't make a world of difference to your money bank but it will put a little extra gold in your pocket in your first week or two.
click to enlarge
+ 33x3 plots
When it comes to organising a layout on your farm early on in the game, 3x3 plots will be your best friend. Firstly, it's a great way to keep things organised, and it also gives you the chance to grow a giant crop (if you're super lucky!). Using this format also means that you can add things in the centre like sprinklers or scarecrows if you wish to, which is why this is one of our best beginner tips. It's an easy way to grow, harvest, and replant seeds.
Sell crops
Selling crops can be a great way to make money, and it's a core mechanic of the farming RPG. You may need to wait a while to see any of them grow, but you'll be able to see the time frames for each crop when you hover your cursor over the seeds in your inventory. One of the most important beginner tips we have is to be mindful of these days! Because if you plant crops too close to a change of season, you may well miss out on their bountiful harvest. But once you do harvest them, you can sell them to Pierre for gold.
click to enlarge + 3Profitable crops
Each item that can be sold in Stardew Valley has a ranking system, which can be noted by the colour of the star beside their image. They can be unranked, silver, gold, or iridium (purple). We've compiled a list of available crops to sell for profit below, but these are just the base price for one individual profitable crop - there are some crops that don't sell for profit, but that's because you can use them as ingredients in cooking in Stardew Valley! So our list is only for those crops that mean gold in your pocket.
- Spring
- Parsnip - 35g
- Cauliflower - 175g
- Potato - 80g
- Kale - 110g
- Tulip - 30g
- Blue jazz - 50g
- Strawberry - 120g
- Rhubarb - 220g
- Garlic - 60g
- Summer
- Wheat - 25g
- Tomato - 60g
- Melon - 250g
- Radish - 90g
- Red cabbage - 260g
- Starfruit - 750g
- Poppy - 140g
- Summer spangle - 90
- Autumn
- Yam - 160g
- Beet - 100g
- Pumpkin - 320g
- Bok choy - 80g
- Eggplant - 60g
- Artichoke - 160g
- Amaranth - 150g
- Grape - 80g
- Fairy rose - 290g
And of course, you can't plant seeds in winter because the ice and cold make it impossible for things to grow. However, once you get to the point where you can fix the greenhouse then you can grow crops all year round for maximum profit!
Be mindful of community center bundles
There are several things that need upgrading and repairing in your first year in Stardew Valley. One of the most satisfying ways to go about these tasks is to repair the community center.
To do so, you need bundles of different items that can unlock certain things. With crops in mind, one of the best bundles to focus on is the greenhouse, because once that's repaired, you can still continue to farm and harvest crops even in the dead of winter!
A great beginner tip is to try to save at least 2 of every item you forage or farm to donate to the community center repairs.
Fix the beach bridge ASAP
On the right side of the beach, you'll notice a broken bridge. To fix this, you need to collect 300 wood so you can repair it. It's incredibly useful to do this as soon as you can as it opens up the Tidal Pools, which will spawn items like sea urchins and shells. These are forageable items (meaning they respawn at random) and can then be sold as is. So you'll make a profit by doing nothing but some wood chopping! This is why it's also so high on our list of beginner tips. You can either sell these foraged items to Willy the Fisherman or simply drop them in your shipping box if you forget to do so.
Level up your fishing
Fishing in Stardew Valley can be a gold mine. It's a great way to make some really quick profit, so one of our favourite beginner tips is to upgrade your fishing level. On Day 2 of your first year, you can head to the beach and pick up a fishing rod from Willy. But if you want to level up your fishing quicker, then we advise you to buy the training rod from Willy for only 25g.
This training rod will limit you to low-level fish but will set your fishing level to 5. Meaning you'll be able to catch fish pretty easily early on in the game, which means more money and more XP for you!
click to enlarge + 3Don't sell your ancient seed!
One of the best beginner tips we can give is you is to not sell, plant, or otherwise do away with the first ancient seed you find. You'll notice, however, that rather than being plantable straight away - like most other seeds - the ancient seed is classified as an artifact.
This tells you everything you need to know. When you first find an ancient seed, head straight to Gunther at the museum to donate it. In return, he'll reward you with a plantable pack of ancient seeds, and this now means you can grow ancient fruit! Ancient fruit can be sold for a hefty profit, but we'd advise you stick them into a seed maker and generate as many plantable ancient seeds as you can for maximum gold!
Upgrade your backpack
As soon as you can head to Pierre's shop and upgrade your backpack, it'll cost you 2,000g, but it will add an extra 12 slots to your inventory. This is a great beginner tip because it gives you a total of 24 inventory slots. Perfect if you're foraging or exploring the mines! The next backpack upgrade will set you back 10000g and will make the maximum amount of slots 36, and although it might seem like a lot of money, to begin with, its value is realised pretty early on.
So there we have it, that's our list of the most helpful beginner tips for your first year in Stardew Valley! There's plenty more to do with or without money, but it's always a good place to start.
If you want to make some friends - and maybe even romances - with the other NPCs in Pelican Town, we've compiled an extensive character hub that tells you everything you need to know. Additionally, if you want to farm with friends, we have a guide on how to set up a co-op multiplayer farm!
For more articles like this, take a look at our Guides and Stardew Valley page.