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Re: basic gardening 101

At 09:17 AM 3/5/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Hiya!
>
>I'm new here, as you may have guessed, and new to veggie gardening too. I 
>live outside of Baltimore, MD in a lil' town called Westminster. Anyway, 
>I've started some seedlings indoors and have transplanted my broccoli 
>into bigger pots (all indoors) and now my tomatoes are ready, too.
>
>My questions of the day are:
>
>Do I use plain old dirt? Or should I continue with the seedling mixture? 
>
>I have access to my neighbors manure pile...should I throw some of that 
>on, too?
>
>I have more questions, but don't want to be too much of a pest. Any 
>suggestions? I have a bunch of books, but haven't found too much on this 
>topic.
>
>Thanks,
>Michelle


Hi Michelle,

I to am brand new at this. I had a pretty successful herb garden last year
but this year will be the first time I have a full-tilt vegtetable garden.
I'm using the square foot method of gardening which hopefully will live up
to it's claims. 

I just wanted to make a quick comment on your fertilizer question. Composted
horse manure is great, manure tea (Which is exactly what it sounds like) is
also highly recommended. Green, or uncomposted fertilizer is not recommended
as it is too "hot" for a lot of plants to handle. They suggest adding fresh
fertilizer in the fall and letting it compost over the winter before adding
plants. My references are "Rodale's Guide to Organic Gardening," Mel
Bartholemew's book "Square Foot Gardening" and the magazine "Organic Gardening."

I was also wondering how you started your seedlings. I want to do the same,
but not sure what kind of lighjt I need and how much. I don't have $400 for
a gro-light rack set-up. How are you doing it? Thanks in advance for any help.

Mike in Sunset zone 6
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