Hi from DFW!

Hello again! Last year was my first attempt at gardening. In the Spring, regular old soil in raised beds...did not work. Found this site so in the Fall I tried SFG and I actually grew VEGGIES! Beds are all ready, went ahead and planted my tomato starters today. Will sow the seeds over the weekend hopefully! Looking forward to another season with y'all

Tracy in Grand Prairie

Hi Tracy

Just down the road from in Midlothian. Worked for the City of GP for 6 years. Lets hope we don't have a summer like we did last year. I have lettuce, spinach, onions, peas, carrots, broccolli and cauliflower in the ground now. Will be planting the rest of the garden over next couple weeks.

I'm not too far from yall. Here in Red Oak ( just south of Lancaster or DeSoto). I too am new to this. I have many things out in the garden as well. Today I got some tomatoes in the ground. Hopefully its not too early. Welcome to the forum! Erin

Hello neighbor! I live in GP, too.

I played around with the old SFG in the early 90's and loved it. Now, in a different house, we are just getting things going again. One of the beds is 4x4 and made of cinder blocks. The kids planted lettuce in the cinder block holes. We have snap peas, picklebush cucumbers, tomatoes, and carrots going in that bed. If it gets cold again, I'll just cover it for protection.

My husband just made the other bed out of...don't laugh...old closet bifold doors that I dug out of my neighbor's remodeling trash! Yes, my grandpa would be proud!

I need to fill the bed fast, but I've decided not to use peat moss in Mel's Mix after reading this sfg post from a local gardener
( https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t8719-sfg-in-100-degree-plus-temperatures )

North Haven Gardens in Dallas says this (linked in the above post):

http://growlively.typepad.com/growlively/2010/04/square-foot-gardening-soil-mixdo-i-think-it-works-for-texas.html

http://growlively.typepad.com/growlively/2009/12/question-2-what-is-the-best-raised-bed-soil-mix.html

I think I'm going to put some green sand in the new bed, too. No Shale, though, because dd loves growing carrots.

We are going today to get free mulch at the GP land fill to put in the compost pile. You may already know this, but just in case...Did you know that you can go to the landfill as often as you want and get the free mulch (made by shredding the tree limbs brought to the dump)? You just pull up to the window, tell them what you want /show your license or a water bill to prove you're a GP resident, then then pull over to the pile and load. The pile is to the left right before the office.

GP used to offer Master Composter classes (I took the first one in 95) and they gave you Red Wigglers, a small worm home, and a long compost thermometer. In order to speed things along in my compost pile and fill that new bed with better soil in the fall, we're building a Rolling Composter: http://www.instructables.com/id/Rolling-Compost-Drum/ and building a worm hotel. It's a lot to do right now, but hopefully by winter we won't have to buy all our lettuce and spinach from Sam's anymore! Yay for organic!

Well, I look forward to gardening with y'all! See y'all here and specifically in the Middle South forum (Staf's videos are great!)here at SFG! Middle South Forum

PS I sent y'all friend requests. I wanted to keep a list of local gardeners for networking purposes (ie I know of a Carrollton produce place that gives their clippings away free...maybe we could split a trailer load - my small trailer - or something.).

morganfam7 wrote:PS I sent y'all friend requests. I wanted to keep a list of local gardeners for networking purposes (ie I know of a Carrollton produce place that gives their clippings away free...maybe we could split a trailer load - my small trailer - or something.).

that is a good idea! I'm in Allen BTW

kb5won Look at the date stamp on the last post: by morganfam7 on 3/15/2012, 4:12 pm. It was back in March of this year (3/15/2012).
I won't say you will not get a responce but it could get "iffey" with this old a post. Below the Icon where my(and all of our) names are there is a box labled "PM" for private messages. The pm will probally get you better results on this old a post. This forum is full of helpful members. I hope this does not condesending, I surely do NOT mean it that way.
Those of us that have been on here a while do not get an e-mail about every thing we post, but most get one for "PM's".

Welcome KB5won. It is always good to get new people on the forum. Have you read the ALL NEW SQUAREFOOT GARDENING book? It is the how to manual most members of this forum use and the reference we refer to for building beds, making the soilless grow mix we use and lot s of other things. It makes gardening so much easier.
Please post what you are doing and how well it it going. We love pictures as well.

Kay

walshevak wrote: Have you read the ALL NEW SQUAREFOOT GARDENING book? Kay

Hi Kay, I have read both the ALL NEW edition and the old edition. (I actually prefer the old edition!)

I do have lots of pictures.... This forum doesn't let me post links because I'm new. I'll get a list ready though.