38 tips for Stardew Valley

Like, oh, most of the western and eastern hemispheres, I’ve been dabbling in a bit of Stardew Valley over the past two weeks. “Dabbling” is a good term, since I’ve only put in about three hours or so of mild farming, meandering mining, and random wandering all over the fictional town. I think it was certainly fun to come to the game more or less blind, but now I’m feeling as though I should get a grip on its basics so that I’m not overlooking important gameplay paths.

So I devoted some time to reading various Stardew Valley strategy guides and hints, and since I was going to bother with all of that, I figured I might as well condense some of the more helpful tips here for anyone playing who might not have it all figured out. Enjoy!

1. Turn on hit detection to see the tool hit location box for mining/watering/etc. It doesn’t look great but it’s very useful when interacting with the world.
2. Build a silo before cutting down grass, since that grass can become hay to store there (and that hay can feed your animals for free).
3. The scythe doesn’t use energy, nor does the sword.
4. Watch TV every morning for the weather report and for free tips/recipes.
5. When you get a message about the train coming, run to the tracks and you can get free stuff that falls off the train.
6. Make chests — they don’t take much wood and store a TON of stuff.
7. Spend 300 wood to build the bridge to the tide pools off the beach. There’s respawning coral there that nets some money on a semi-daily basis.
8. 2000 gold at Pierre’s can upgrade your backpack from 12 to 24 slots. Good early purchase.
9. Pierre’s seeds are cheaper than Jojamart.
10. Leave stumps when you cut down trees — they’ll grow back in 10 days for more wood/sap.
11. You can’t grow crops in winter — UNLESS you have a greenhouse or get winter veggie seeds from the wiggly worms in the ground.
12. Salmonberries are good for cheap, quick energy boosts.
13. Save one of any star (silver/gold) item to show off in the fall for an event.
14. Two sap makes one box of fertilizer for crops.
15. Plant squares of the same crops (at least 9 total) for a chance at a fairy showing up to make them all mature overnight or to create a supercrop.
16. Give residents gifts on their birthdays (the calendar outside Pierre’s has this).
17. Rainy days water crops automatically and cause rare fish and mining stuff to pop up.
18. After it rains there is new stuff on the beach.
19. Use the road to the left of your house to go to the mines, it’s faster.
20. Coffee is a good speed booster.
21. Use the watering can on your dog/cat bowl so they can drink.
22. Spouses can water your crops for you!
23. Grow corn at the start of summer — it’ll keep growing through the fall.
24. Cherry bombs can explode rocks.
25. Berries make for the most profitable crops in general.
26. Look for wiggly worms on the ground and use the hoe on them for extra goodies.
27. Donate items to the museum to eventually unlock the sewers.
28. Make crab pots to get easy fishing items.
29. Shift-click to buy stacks of five items.
30. Completing the crafts bundle for the community center will unlock the greenhouse for year-round planting.
31. The tooltip for the length of a plant’s growth doesn’t include the day you plant/water it.
32. You can get free stuff from trash cans but don’t let residents see you rooting in there.
33. Fix the minecart through the community center to get fast travel.
34. Visit spa once a day to replenish energy.
35. The Mayor’s shorts are in Marnie’s room.
36. Robin’s Lost Axe is near Marnie’s Ranch.
37. Go to sleep before midnight to get full energy back.
38. Berries replenish their growth over a season and don’t require replanting.

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