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Re: new here, new gardener, need help!!!

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

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Dear Debra,

I'm glad for you that your husband is starting back to work! We went through
a time where we were having a lot of struggles related to our job
situations. What a relief to know he's starting back. I commend you for
wanting a garden (and for homeschooling your children!). My best advice
would be to go to the nearest library and check out Mel's book. I did that
before buying my own copy. It's a quick, easy read with all the information
you need inside.

Do you know what your growing zone is? Whether you'll get any tomatoes
really depends on how long your growing season is. Down here in Alabama if I
had tomatoes sprouting right now I'd have plenty of time to have fruit from
those tomatoes. If you lived in Michigan that might not be the case. It also
depends on the growing length of the particular type of tomato you are
growing. Some require much less time than others. The seed packet should say
how many days it takes for that particular variety to produce fruit. That
number starts the day you put those tomatoes in the garden itself, not
starting the seed in the peat pots.

In addition to Mel's book and this email list (Welcome, by the way!), a
really good resource I've found is www.gardenweb.com/forums and I go to the
vegetables forum. You can search for topics and see what's already been
written and you can post questions yourself. I think there is also a tomato
forum. I love this website!! The party forum is a great place to get some
laughs sometimes, too.

My garden is all in raised beds and pots. My pots are 5 gal buckets I got
for free from my local bakery, and pickle buckets from several delis around
here. My husband drilled holes in the bottom and I bought cheap soil from
Walmart. If you do that you need to make sure to fertilize regularly, since
bagged soil doesn't have many nutrients. An alternative is to see if you can
find someone who has horses or cows and would give you well-aged manure. (It
needs to have been sitting for 6 months to a year before putting it into
your garden, or it will burn the plants). My plants have been healthier each
year as I've added more and more manure. It really helps and it can be
free!!

If you have a tiller and want to go that route, try to find some aged manure
to till into the garden. If you can get a good layer of that, you may not
need any other preparation (other than removing rockes, etc., from the
garden area). I wouldn't buy any compost if you can find manure. Then, start
a compost pile of your own for next year, putting anything natural in it,
whenever you have it. I put scraps from any vegetables and fruits. Don't add
any fats or animal products at all because they attract pests and diseases,
and don't compost well. It helps things decompose if you alternate what type
of materials you put. This isn't as complicated as it sounds! For example, I
have a rotting tree stump near my compost pile. Every time I bring a bowl of
scraps out and dump it on the compost, I toss a shovelful of dirt from the
tree stump on top of the green stuff. This cuts down on flies, and it
alternates "greens" and "browns". You can learn more about composting on
gardenweb.com, too. The main thing is to start doing it so you have some
next year. :)

I hope this helps a little- if you can get a copy of the book, do so. I
found it SO helpful! I broke down and bought it ($16.95) even though we were
in the same boat you are now, because the more I read it the more I wanted
to make notes in the margins and highlight paragraphs! :)

Take care,
Leslie in Alabama


----- Original Message ----- >
> My name is Debra. I am a stay at home mom to 4 children whom I homeschool.
> This is our first year on property. Our garden space is 50" by 30". We
> were considering doing a lasagna garden, but after much calculation feel
> that it would cost us a arm and a leg to get it started. So that led me
> here.
> So many ?????'s
> 1. Am I going to have to go in debt to start my garden???
> 2. Do I have to use raised beds?
> 3. I planted tomatoes from seed about 3 weeks ago, already sprouting up, I
> have now heard that I may not get tomatoes from them, was it too late to
> plant from seed? I planted 36 peat pots. I sure hope I didn't waste them.
> 4. I don't have compost on hand, how much do I need to purchase for my
> size of garden?
> 5. Is there a grid that shows how much of each plant you can sow into each
> sq ft. ? I am sure it is in the book, but I don't have the book and cant
> afford right now to get it. So if there is a web site that has it I would
> appreciate knowing how to find it.
> 6. How do I get started... tilling, do we add anything to soil etc...? We
> will be tilling anyway as area is overcome with weeds.
>
> Please I am desperate for advice, I am overwhelmed but we need this
> garden. My husband has been out of work for some time now, and is finally
> going back on Tuesday. So this garden will be a much needed help for us
> and the grocery billl.
>
> Thank you all for you time and expertise.
> Blessings,debra
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________________
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