Hi! Don't let the name worry you...

Hello from North Carolina!

Been doing SFG for many years now. I remember watching the shows on PBS and wondering why my parents would watch them with me, and then go row garden. (lol) It might have to do with all the free labor my brothers provided. I remember all the tomatoes going bad before we could eat them, and the massive amount of vegetables that were thrust upon neighbors. I knew there had to be a better way, and although we were looking at it, it was like the pink elephant in the room that no one could actually see.

I credit Mel with turning my brown thumb green. I'd been on the plant police's most wanted list for years. A friend gave me Mel's first book the same year my daughter was born. Our flower planters became so prolific that we shared them with all our neighbors. It was a wonderful turning point that I'm forever grateful for.

This year some friends were going to pull out the tillers and start some rows. Mel's new book became their detour sign to a better way and my chance to pay it forward. They're already thrilled about how much easier this has been than the "old ways".

Been hanging out here a few weeks to better prepare myself for the new things we'll learn as I make the jump from flowers in containers to vegetables in boxes. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to share their knowledge, commiserate, and congratulate. It's a better world for your efforts.

Mike aka Chopped Liver

Thank you for introducing yourself and for joining the forum. We are so happy to have you join us. I have read several of your posts, just because of the name. You are not 'chopped liver' to us! LOL! How did you come to choose that nickname? Did it have something to do with your brothers? I have/had four so know a bit about brothers!!

Bless you for converting your neighbours. SFG just makes so much sense. Keep joining in the conversations here and post pics too. We always like looking at pics.

Gwynn

Hello from western NC. Good to have ya!

Thumbs up for spreading the word and making converts. Since you've been SFG'ing for a long time I'm sure you have lots and lots of info to offer. Please don't be afraid to share your expertise. Also, if you have any questions please feel free to ask away.

Can you tell us some more about your SFG? How big is it? What are you growing this season? If you have pictures that would be great too.

Take care and happy gardening.

Welcome Mike! Feel free to ask many questions - we all learn a lot from each of them!

Gwynn,

I wear Chopped Liver as a proud badge of honor because of the friends that gave it to me. It's a really long story but here's the cliff notes. I was volunteering as a department head for a large convention (25K attendees). We were having a meeting with about 200 volunteers present and the convention chair skipped my department and went on to announcements. From the back of the room I loudly asked the chair what I looked like. In unison, 200 voices said "Chopped Liver". When I arrived to pickup my credentials my good friend Katheryn had changed my name to Chopped Liver and everyone played along. We worked long hours for little thanks and any kind of humor helped. Of course I became the reason when something didn't smell right, when things failed catastrophically... you get the idea. Since then I've used it in so many places, I've just accepted fate for what it is. I couldn't have asked for a better acceptance from a wonderful group of people. Of course understanding it was an honor rather than a poke is a much longer story.

So I guess I can't say I picked the name as much as it picked me.

Mike

I love it!

Gwynn

dizzygardener wrote:Can you tell us some more about your SFG? How big is it? What are you growing this season? If you have pictures that would be great too.

Hello Western NC from Central NC. Most of my past SFG was flowering containers and not as much on the vegetable side. A few years ago my daughter and I grew watermelons, pumpkins, tomatoes (up side down), and green beans in an "unofficial SFG". We used plastic planters instead of boxes and the old "mix supplementing of bagged potting soil" method. Everything grew crazy big. The next year we filled socks with the same mix and grew strawberries.

This year I'm working with friends and my daughter on a combination butterfly and vegetable garden. So far we have carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, corn field beans, and leaf and head lettuce. In the butterfly garden there's zinnias, lavender, a couple of types of milkweed, alyssum, cosmos, marigold, catmint (although I question the wisdom of this), and a couple of seed mixes to make sure there's good variety. There are three 3'x3' boxes, one 2'x2'x16" for the roots, several containers including some home built ones.

2'x2'x16" root box new this year


One of the new flower boxes I built this year


Seedlings taking a bath


Happy gardening!

CL

Thanks Ashort. No fear, I'll ask plenty of questions. I've learned a lot more reading the forums the last two weeks.

Great story, great photos and look at those babies.

Welcome to the forum! I am a fellow (although I am a gal) NCer.

I am looking forward to starting an abundance of flowers in containers. Do you recommend mel's mix for container's. My all-time favorite flowers are zinnias. I can hardly wait to start cutting!

Heidi

Heidi,

I can't say anything about the new mix for containers firsthand as we haven't made it that far yet. Until this year all of my containers used Mel's "old mix" and it was amazing. Really turned my brown thumb green! That said, everything a growing flower needs in in the new mix so they'll probably be okay. The one thing I've read on here is some folks are statementing with fertilizers for long term plants. I think flowers the bloom Spring to Fall would qualify. Instead of using a fertilizer you might just want to top dress with compost a few times a year, but that's untested advise so please seek the opinion of someone that's tried it.

Best of luck,

CL

Funny you are used to growing flowers and are branching out to include vegies, I am doing just the reverse. I was at ace buying compost for my MM and spotted a "bat-faced cuphea" and could not resist this strange and beautiful plant. I hope it lives up to the reputation I discovered on the internet it has for attracting bees and butterflies.

HPartin wrote:Welcome to the forum! I am a fellow (although I am a gal) NCer.

I am looking forward to starting an abundance of flowers in containers. Do you recommend mel's mix for container's. My all-time favorite flowers are zinnias. I can hardly wait to start cutting!

Heidi

Heidi,

I have grown quite a few flowers in containers filled with Mel's Mix. I have potted up Roses, Fuschias, Geraniums, Pinks, Verbena, Sweet Allysum, Petunias, Thunbergias(Black Eyed Susan Vine). I use Mel's Mix in hanging baskets too. It works really well. My porch looked pretty darn good this last summer.