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Re: First time gardener

The Browns wrote:

> Hi everyone out there.
>
> I have a question....actually, a few.  But only one this time around.
> We just bought a new house and we want a garden.  I'm a first time
> gardener and have decided to use the Square Foot method.  One of the
> first things we did was rototill the area desired for our garden.  But
>
> one thing we've discovered is our ground is filled with rocks of all
> sizes.  We've pulled the big ones out.  But we were wondering if we
> needed to pull out all of the rocks, big and small.  This may sound
> like
> a stupid question to some.  But neither of us come from a family who
> gardens, so this is very very new.  I was hoping someone could help.
>
> Also, if anyone has any beginner advice, I'll be happy to hear.  For
> the
> record.  We live in Eastern Idaho  I think zone 4.  Thanks a lot.
>
> Amy
>

Amy,
    I live about 80 miles northwest of San Antonio on 10 acres. Our
ground is nearly solid rock. Even the Live Oak trees on our property are
starved for enough nourishment so they only grow 10 - 15 feet tall at
the most.
    I had a square-foot garden for the first time this past spring. I
did not even touch the ground underneath the beds  - just placed the
beds on top of it and did some praying that it would work.
    It did. We had a wonderful garden that produced all the vegetables
my wife and I needed to eat fresh and we even canned and froze enough
for the rest of the year.
    I made my beds out of three 1 x 6 boards.
    A 1 x 6 is actually 5.5 inches wide so 3 pieces made the sides of my
beds 16.5 inches high.
    This meant using a lot of dirt to fill them but for me it was worth
it because I wouldn't have to dig out the rocks.
    This was even deep enough for root crops such as beets, onions,
carrots, parsnips, and leeks.
    Of these, only the carrots didn't do well and I don't know why.
    The parsnips are still in the ground waiting for some cold weather.
This is the first year I've tried parsnips. I'm not sure what to expect.
I don't even know if we'll like them, we've never eaten them before.
    Hope this helps you,
Clark Womack

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