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New to list...

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

Hi!  

Well, I stayed up way to late last night reading through the archives, and
decide to sign up!  I'm in Northern Michigan, and it is debatable whether
it is Zone 4 or 5.   We are pretty near Lake Michigan, (like less than 1/2
mile) and so that moderates our temps a little, but we are on a bluff
overlooking the lake, so it is very windy/cold.  I know it gets to at least
-20 here, but it may go lower, and my best guess at frost dates, gives me a
Memorial Day to Labor Day frost-free period, and then if I were prepared to
protect against the early lighter frosts, we could harvest well into October.  

I've only had one garden before, a teeny little patch in the yard of a
rented house...  maybe 10'x10'  and managed to grow some lovely cornstalks,
some itty bitty carrots, and some sunflowers...  hoping to do better with a
square foot garden with raised beds, this year.  We bought our house two
summers ago, the first summer, we didn't move in until Labor Day (working
on remodeling/rebuilding the house) and last summer I was too pregnant to
care!  I was given about 20 tomato plants that first summer, which I put in
and promptly neglected.  I didn't put them in until July, though, and so I
had tons of green tomatoes...    

So, this is THE summer!!  I've convince my dh to help with the heavy work,
and building the beds...  (we are having our own "vigorous fellowship" over
what to build the beds with...  I'd like to do cinderblocks, but he says
that they are too expensive, he wants to do cedar (talk about expensive!!)
so, for $-reasons, we may just do plain old 2x6's and then replace them a
little at a time, over  the next several years...  My problem is, I want to
start now!!  We have had at least a week of BEAUTIFUL weather... up to the
60's and 70's... but of course that was marred by freezing rain last
night...  so I know better than to put the garden out too soon, but I think
it's time to get started building the beds, anyhow...  I am going to let
the older kids (5 & 3) help me start some broccoli plants this afternoon...
we made newspaper starter boxes, and bought vermiculite, and now we are
going to get started, right after I find my Sqft gardening book...  (it got
misplaced in a cleaning spree over the weekend...)  Anyone with any tips,
I'd sure appreciate it...  I already feel like I've learned a ton, just
reading through the lists...  I was already planning on an Asparagus bed,
and a strawberry bed, now I may have to have a potato bed too!!  (I was
avoiding that, since they are grown commercially not far from here, and can
be had for little or nothing, same as corn (our neighbor is a farmer, and
has vegetables across the road from us, and corn along side and behind us!)
 so I just don't see much point in growing corn, but the above ground
potato bins sound like fun...  I'm probably making the mistake of every
newbie gardener and biting off more than I can chew, but, live and learn, I
guess....  I just don't want to do like I've done in the past... (ie 6
strawberry plants, producing about 1/4 cup of ripe strawberries at any
given time, not enough to do anything with, except share with the kids as a
snack...  1 or 2 each...)

Oh, well... It ought to be interesting!!

Dawn G.
Zone 4-5-ish, I think...  =D


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