New here in Bristow Va.

I am new to the SFG concept. I like it so far. I have done the traditional row gardening ever since I was a boy and my Dad would make my punishment when I was bad to weed the garden. So I always relate weeding the garden to being punished. And most times now by mid summer I have let some of the weeds take over. Well hopefully those days are over. I look forward to reading more about everyone's success stories.

Todd

Welcome! I can relate with you on the punishment, that's why I don't like mowing the lawn and one reason why I enjoy trying to kill my rose bushes. SFG = super easy, you'll absolutely love it.

Todd

So nice to "meet" you. You will find that SFG is so different from row gardening. Once you have gone thru making the beds and the Mel's Mix, everything else is simple.

Have you had a chance to read the book ALL NEW SQUARE FOOT GARDENING? The instructions are so simple and they just make sense.

Please keep us posted as to your progress with your garden, and remember, we pictures.

Welcome to the forum, Todd.

I was also a row gardener from childhood through last year. Never again. After trying one box we quickly converted our entire garden area to SFG boxes and grid-topped raised beds. We just added a new 1' x 8' box next to the fence for more tomatoes this year.

Hubby never enjoyed gardening before - now it's something we both enjoy, and we spend most of our free time working on it together and spreading the word to friends and family.

The book answers most questions, but if you need help there are lots of people here happy to help in any way they can.

Thank you for the warm welcome. I am looking forward to planting when the weather gets right. My 6 year old daughter is really excited to plant as well. I will keep everyone up to date on how we do this year.

Todd

Hi Todd, welcome to the forum and to SFG!

We are neighbors. I am just north of you, in Manassas. I am starting over again in my back yard this year; last year was my first at SFG. Long before that, I grew up on a traditional small farm. SFG is a wonderful system and I'm really excited about it. If I can help you at all, please let me know. I'd be glad to share seed with you, too.

Hi Todd, welcome to the forum! I live in Orange, so we're neighbors too. My husband and I have been SFG'ing for three years and we love it. I had very little experience gardening beforehand, but my husband's family did traditional gardening and his mother canned and froze much of their produce. He frequently comments on how much less work SFG is. We've had wonderful bounties so far and I can't wait to get started on another great year.

If you're up for a beautiful drive there's a great farmer's market in Locust Grove where I get a lot of our plants. It starts up in mid-April and there are some wonderful vegetable plants available, as well as herbs. I start some things from seed, but I don't have a seed starting setup so I'll be buying plants this year as well as putting some seeds in the ground and seeing if getting a late start affects the harvest all that much. I'm hoping it doesn't

Hi Mii,
I know where Orange is, I do my other hobbie in that area. Which is civil war relic hunting. Thanks for the info on the Locust grove place. I may come down and check out there plants. And I hope that when you say late start that doesn't mean I should have my tomatoes in the ground now?

Todd

Nope, I was saying that I'm going to start some things from seed later than most people do so. Right now the only things that you could plant out is cool weather vegetables like lettuce, greens, broccoli, brussel sprouts, kohlrabi, and my favorite, peas. That's not an exhaustive list, those are just the ones I can think of. I haven't planted much besides peas yet, although over the weekend my son and I saw some little cabbage plants at the co-op and he talked me into buying a couple. I'm going to keep them under row cover in the hopes of keeping the dreaded cabbage moth from finding them.