Why did the pilgrims have a difficult first winter in plymouth?

The first winter was difficult because they had not been accustomed to how cold it could become without a secured shelter. It was also hard because during the previous seasons when the came to America, they were at a large risk of getting diseases that would not show their symptoms until winter. Because of these two hardships they were unable to find enough food for that season. The next year they did much better because they had less people and knew what they had to accomplish to survive the next winter. Don't listen to that because it will get you mixed up. It was hard because they didn't know how to live off of the land, because where they came from (England) they didn't have to garden and plant, they just had stores and that's why. Squanto did show them how to plant, but that was later