Newcomer seeking local mentor in Vancouver, WA

Moderators, please let me know if this post is inappropriate or belongs somewhere else. I'm new to the forums and have been watching this Pacific Northwest one for a bit, and I'm hoping to draw out anybody on these forums that lives in Vancouver, WA and would be willing to chat with me on here and encourage me.

I purchased the All New Square Foot Gardening book a couple of months ago, read it quickly, and excitedly bought the products to build a 6" raised garden bed or two. Even picked up a couple of bags of vermiculite to start my Mel's Mix with. But everything is still in the garage. Part of the problem is the cold, wet spring we've been having. Part of the problem is my perfectionism keeping me from getting started because I'm afraid of failing.

Is there any point in trying to get it built now or is it just too late for summer vegetables? I know I could still have it ready in time for fall crops.

Thanks,
Gwen

Welcome!! Your in the right place. There are a lot of people in the Portland area that I've seen on here. I had a bit of procrastination for the same reason, I would suggest building your boxes so they are ready when you're ready to plant. You can cover your boxes with plastic until your ready. I'll leave the rest up to the locals.

Best of luck!

Gweniffer and we sure are glad to have you join us. It is marvelous that you have finished reading the book before starting to build and fill your boxes.

Don't panic over not having your bed up yet, there is still time to grow those warm weather veggies. But, you should get a move on and get started as soon as you can. I know the weather has not been great with the rain and cool temperatures, but, you do need to get started so the summer veggies will have a chance to mature while it is still warm.

You have the materials for your bed, and it really is easy to make.

Your vermiculite is a great start for the Mel's Mix, but you do need peat moss and a minimum of five types of compost.

Remember the peat moss may be in compressed bales, if so, it will expand to about twice the volumne listed on the bale. So, if you have a 2.2 cu ft bale, once it is fluffed up, you will have about 4 cu ft.

Some of our members have a little more difficulty finding enough types of compost that are not filled with peat moss or top soil, so get out there and find at least five. I will list the brands I bought as they may be available near you too. I am not saying they are the very best, but I looked over the list of ingredients carefully and they did not include fillers like peat moss or top soil. Just for reference, Whitney Farms as well as Gardner and Bloom both list the number of cubic feet in each bag. Other brands may list weight instead of volumne. A fifty lb bag contains approximately 1 Cu Ft.

Whitney Farms Steer manure
composted Chicken manure (forgot which brand)
Whitney Farms mushroom compost
Whitney Farms organic planting compost
Gardner and Bloom Organic Soil Building Compost

My Mel's Mix just got warm enough for my bush and pole beans this past weekend. My tomatoes are not planted outside yet, nor are my squash and cucumbers, but will be in the next couple of days.

Don't wait for Fall, get going now and enjoy those summer veggies.

Let us know where you need help and we will try out best.

gwennifer wrote:
I purchased the All New Square Foot Gardening book a couple of months ago, read it quickly, and excitedly bought the products to build a 6" raised garden bed or two. Even picked up a couple of bags of vermiculite to start my Mel's Mix with. But everything is still in the garage. Part of the problem is the cold, wet spring we've been having. Part of the problem is my perfectionism keeping me from getting started because I'm afraid of failing.

Is there any point in trying to get it built now or is it just too late for summer vegetables? I know I could still have it ready in time for fall crops.

Thanks,
Gwen

First of all, I never thought I would meet another Gwennifer. My name is Gwynneth but Gwynnifer is one of the things the guys at work call me. I had never been called that before but have been called worse things over the years so I don't mind. It is wonderful to meet you. Thank you for joining our forum. I am north of you in central British Columbia, Canada.

You say you are afraid you will fail. So what if you do? It is not the end of the world if you try to do something and it doesn't work out. That my dear, is how we learn things. If you try something and do it perfectly the first time, you really have not learned anything new. It is in trying and failing and trying again until we succeed that we actually learn a new skill. Ask yourself this question. "If I do this and I fail, what is the worst that can happen?" Will anyone laugh at me. Possibly but that is not the end of the world. Will anyone die? Most likely not. Will anyone get sick? Again, most likely not. You will have spent some money and put in some hard work and perhaps not gotten the results you hoped for. That is about all. Do NOT let fear of failure keep you from doing something. That is allowing fear to rule your life. And you are much stronger than fear.

Worse than having your garden fail, in my mind, is to buy the things you need and then not make the effort because you are afraid it won't work. That is real failure because it is giving up before you even try. (I hope you hear my heart in this as I do not mean to hurt your feelings or offend you in any way.)

Your garden may not turn out as good as you hope it will. News flash! Most of our gardens don't end up looking anything like what you see on the garden shows or in the seed catalogues or on the seed packets. But dang, there is nothing like eating a radish or a tomato that you grew yourself, even if you only get ONE sometimes. Weather, pests, and no end of other things conspire to make our gardens less than we would have them be, but it is the joy of TRYING along with the occasional success that keeps us going.

Get out there and get those beds made. Post on here and we will all help you to succeed. There are others in your area who will help you. From around the world we will all cry with you, laugh with you, and cheer you on. I kid you not. Post pics of your successes and your failures. Ask questions. But whatever you do.......get gardening. It is good for the soul ( and the stomach.) You can still plant lettuce and spinach and radishes and carrots to name a few.

Best of luck to you.

Gwynn (also know as Gwynnifer)

Thank you all for your kind welcome! I'm grateful that you weren't put off by my request for people local to my corner of the PNW. (Still hope to hear from some if any of you are lurking out there though...)

I recognize many of the brands of compost you listed Furbalsmom. I've been looking every time I go to a garden center. I'm still not confident I've found five different types, but I'm not worried about that right now because I know it can be done. My first priority is to build the boxes, so I will publicly make that my goal for this weekend! I have to attend a kids birthday party Saturday, but it's supposed to be a very nice day and if I can keep the kiddos playing outside, I should be able to work in the garage and keep an eye on them. I'm tired of the stuff being on the floor in there and the burden of another unfinished project.

And Old Hippie - that's funny about our names! I confess I created "gwennifer" myself. I use it for online usernames all of the time, but no one calls me that. Wish they did - I'd feel loved if people knew me well enough to give me a nickname. Thank you for your advice. You are absolutely right. I already felt like a failure for buying the stuff for the raised beds and then not getting them built in time for summer veggies. But giving up now and wasting the materials would be a much bigger failure.

oh my goodness......ask me about unfinished projects. I envy people who are so organized and focused that they start a project and see it through to the end before starting a new one. If only my husband and I were so disciplined. But, c'est la vie. Periodically, we do complete a project and there is always much rejoicing and hoopla when that happens. LOL!

Gwennifer, hang in there. Have you checked out the regional forums? There is one there for the Pacific Northwest. Of course we don't mind if you want to here from someone in your area. It makes sense to find out what others in your area are doing and growing and what suppliers they use.

Now don't worry if your boxes are not the prettiest on the block. The plants don't care. If the boxes stay together and hold your mix, that is what matters. It is nice to have them look beautiful, but sometimes that is not always possible. You can do this. Put on some music and start building and planting. Helen Reddy's "I am Woman! Hear me roar, in numbers too big to ignore....." Dang! You are probably too young to even know that song. LOL!

Go for it!! I am rooting for ya! We gots a connection you and me. We are the only Gwennifers/Gwynnifers around. ( I tell the guys at work they can only call me that as long as they don't tick me off. If they get on my bad side though it is no longer Gwynnifer but "Lady Gwynneth" and they have to bow too.)

Gwynn

Good luck on your box building this weekend, Gwynnifer. We are rooting for you! Let us know how it goes.

Welcome to the PNW group!
hugs
rose

Hallo Gwennifer and welcome to the madhouse to the forum.

Spare a thought for me with my wood and vermiculite on our dining room floor. We haven't got a garage. My other half touched one of the planks this week and all 6 of them fell over like dominoes. Anyway, enough was enough so as it was still raining we started sawing them to size in here. Needs must and all that. Although I'm not in Vancouver, not even in your country, we can still do it together so I'm going to publicly declare that I will have at least one bed made, outside and ready to fill by Sunday night (unless there is a dire emergency). Preferably two because I have just had 10 bare root strawberry plants delivered and they need a home.

Gwennifer, so glad to have another SFG newby here in the area. Though having row-gardened many years, this is my first experience with the square foot idea. So far, it's working! Don't worry about not having started your plants yet, the farmers' markets are FULL of great starts for cukes, squash, tomatoes, cabbages, kale--even lettuce. Don't let your perfectionism interfere, make it work for you. I'm too old to worry about looks, and have an all-et-up-ugly bed created with six ancient hay bales from the barn, formed into a rectangle, the center of which is half filled with a sandy loam, then a screen of hardware cloth, then filled to top with Mel's mix (MM). In this space, I planted two blocks of corn. In the corners and where the two side bales come together, there are winter squash plants in holes hollowed out and filled with MM. The corn has now sprouted, so I can interplant them with beans (the three sisters companion planting scheme). BTW, my skeptical husband planted two rows of corn in the empty part of the garden two days before I planted in the bale bed--his have not yet sprouted. In the Pacific NW, raised beds are definately the way to go. Welcome, and, like some other Northwesterner says: "Just do it." Nonna

Well, still no one here from my hometown on the forums, huh?

Not looking good for building this weekend so far, but I can't let my frustrations with not completing my goals for today keep me from trying. Thanks to all of you for your encouragement! If I'm sawing in the garage in the middle of the night, it'll be because I'm determined to get these done so I won't let you all down.

Barkie - sawing wood in the dining room huh? *LOL* Well, if I'd had to store it all inside and underfoot, I'd probably have had more motivation to git-r-done and out of the way! Post pics when you're done - I want to see!

~Gwen

gwennifer wrote:Well, still no one here from my hometown on the forums, huh?

Not looking good for building this weekend so far, but I can't let my frustrations with not completing my goals for today keep me from trying. Thanks to all of you for your encouragement! If I'm sawing in the garage in the middle of the night, it'll be because I'm determined to get these done so I won't let you all down.

Barkie - sawing wood in the dining room huh? *LOL* Well, if I'd had to store it all inside and underfoot, I'd probably have had more motivation to git-r-done and out of the way! Post pics when you're done - I want to see!

~Gwen

Building beds is just a part of my garden project so I do a bit at a time and I keep it in mind that one bit more done is another bit closer to completing the project. That's all you can do if you can't do your beds at one throw but just doing one bit reminds you that you are making progress. Yeah having it underfoot and sitting in a corner glowering accusingly at me is a good motivational tool. What really motivates me though is I know I can grow a whole years worth of herbs, fruit and veg for the cost of just one or two store bought packets. Plus it is fresh and having it right outside your door is priceless when you have a busy life, but the main reason I grow my own is it's just a huge pleasure. Won't be pretty beds but I'll post the pics.

HI I just joined today. I'm in Battle Ground, just a few minutes from Vancouver. I am the farthest thing from a garden expert though! I'm still learning and run to my garden guru friends for help frequently.

We're putting our beds together this week and planting. It's late, but we've planted this late once before and had good success. And with the cool wet spring we've had I have a lot of hope that we're still good on time. It might even still be too cool for some things. I transplanted a few starts from a friend a week ago and they're doing well, mostly. One turned *white*, oddly, and one died, but the rest are taking root.

Also, I figure if not much fruits because of late planting the only thing I'm out is a few cents for the seeds, and the beds will be ready to go for late summer planting/ fall crops!

JessieLove, don't know what I can help with, but we've been gardening close to where you are for over 30 years (St. Helens, OR, across Columbia River from Battleground). Just this spring we started converting the row garden to square foot gardening...for many reasons. The tomatoes are doing better than ever before, the beets are doing worse. Let me know if you have concerns, and I will try to help, based on what we've tried in the past, then what we're experiencing this year. Based on current tomato fruit set, raised beds hereabouts are vastly superior to the row plantings we've used for years before. We're contrasting corn results between traditional row plantings and a block planted in Mel's Mix in center of a rectangle made by six old hay bales. Bale corn sprouted two days before row plants, but had been planted two days AFTER the row planting. Everything points to an earlier maturation in the bale beds. Again, raised beds are superior here in the Western part of the Pacific Northwest. Hang in there, and let us know how you are doing. Nonna, St. Helens, OR

Jessielove

Another person from the PNW, how marvelous.

We're putting our beds together this week and planting. It's late, but we've planted this late once before and had good success. And with the cool wet spring we've had I have a lot of hope that we're still good on time. It might even still be too cool for some things. I transplanted a few starts from a friend a week ago and they're doing well, mostly. One turned *white*, oddly, and one died, but the rest are taking root.

Glad to hear the majority of transplants have taken hold and are taking root.

I just got most of my tomatoes (20 so far) in buckets during the past week. We finally started having 55 degree nights here along the coast. None of my tomatoes are in SFG beds, but all are in Mel's Mix.

There are still warm weather plants you can plant now such as transplants for peppers, tomatoes and eggplant (though you may be cutting it a bit tight on days to harvest). Herbs can still go in now too.

As far as seeds, I just planted several types of bush and pole beans as well as some cucumbers and squash.

Please keep us posted on your progress and share pictures, cause we love them.

Again, Welcome.

The three most important factors about gardening in the wet side of the PNW: 1. weather 2. weather 3. weather

We plant; we wait. Sometimes we are rewarded and sometimes not.

Nonna, I've never had such a bad year for beets and radishes.

Hi Jessie Welcome to the Forum!
My beets are doing horribly as well. Meh... on the other hand, carrots are doing great!

jessielove wrote:HI ...snip...We're putting our beds together this week and planting. It's late, but we've planted this late once before and had good success. And with the cool wet spring we've had I have a lot of hope that we're still good on time. ...snip.... if not much fruits because of late planting the only thing I'm out is a few cents for the seeds, and the beds will be ready to go for late summer planting/ fall crops!

Hello MsLove!
The awesome fact about summer in the PNW is that is doesn't come until sometime in July, usually just after the 4th of July. It is why we all giggle fondly when we see the commercial about blue-tarp camper. Washington is the state with the most running miles of beaches in the lower 48 but none of us are shocked that beach ware generally does not involve any exposed skin.

It is not too late to plant anything but:

• Peas....which you can plant in August for a winter/spring crop.
  
• Arugula
  
• Fava Beans
  
• Radishes
  
• Spinach
  

Actually, any of these (except radishes) can be good winter crops. It is late to start tomatoes, peppers and eggplant from seed but it is not too late for plants. In a year like the one we have this year, you might want to put a cloche or milk jug (bottom cut off of 1 gallon translucent plastic) over your transplants. We do get the occasional hot (room temp or better) day in the PNW. If so, remove the cloche/jug until it cools in the evening so that your cloche does not turn into an oven.

Besides transplants it is a good time to plant...

• Cucumbers, zucchini (or any squash), and pumpkins (which are actually a squash) All of these need room to roam or to climb.
  
• We are known for our sweet, homegrown lettuce, it is safe to plant in June but July might be too late. Start again in September under a clear plastic tent for fall salad.
  
• Beans (both snap and shelly)
  
• Corn (you are ahead of the game!)
  
• The cabbage family: Brussels sprouts (for fall), cabbage (fall), cauliflower (late summer) and broccoli (late summer)
  
• Onion sets (if you can still find them) but wait a month or two to put in onion seed (for spring onions) The same with garlic, wait a month or so.
  
• Basil seed (under a cloche, protected from gangs of slugs)
  
• Potatoes
  
• I have started Chard this late, I'm not a big beet fan (chard is related) and most of mine seem to be doing fine, but I have not pulled any. You can try other greens but most of them need cool weather for best flavor.
  
• Carrots (for fall)
  

Deborah...from Everett, Washington in mid June.

For a great list of what to plant throughout the summer for fall, winter and spring harvest here in the Northwest, Territorial Seed Company's Winter Catalog is out. Even though I have a good-sized locking plastic storage bin for seed packets, the contents are mostly for spring planting, and summer harvest. I shall need another, smaller, one for winter harvest seeds. Having the new raised beds will make it possible to extend our harvest through the winter--using hoop houses, heat tape in the bottom of a portable greenhouse bed, and sowing appropriate seeds throughout the summer and early fall. Big experiment, I know, but a good article in Mother Earth News' gardening special magazine by a family who market gardens year round has me pumped. Boffer, your June cauliflower harvest totally convinced me. Thanks.

No, No, No, don't let me get my hands on Territorial's Winter Catalog.

My husband already banned me from going into their store in Cottage Grove without adult supervision. I can't let him ban me from ordering from catalogs too

Just joking, I love their catalogs and seeds. I can find so many varieties there that are not available in my small town, or even the next town 15-20 miles away.

but my dh still won't let me go in the Territorial store without adult supervision

Furbalsmom, you mean Territorial hasn't already sent you the Winter Catalog? Or, did hubby pick up the mail?......Hmmmmm! So far, I want to order Cauliflower: Amazinhg and Maystar; Redbor kale; Bettollo beets; Dragon carrot (danvers type); Red Marble onion; yellow multiplier (potato) onion; Crisp Mint lettuce; Giant Winter spinach; Ching-Chiang pac choi; and some fava beans. Whew! Will also scavage through existing "summer" seeds for varieties that might make good plantings for winter. So, did you get the catalog? Nonna

@TSC winter wish book....I have not got one either (pouty face)

LavenderDebs, looking through your list of what NOT to plant right now, I see we SHOULD plant come August: Favas, radishes, spinach, arugula and, perhaps, some peas. I shall add to that purple sprouting broccoli, a second planting of dragon kale (nero di toscana), red chidori kale, and more lettuce under a hoop house. Home grown veggies, ain't they wondermous?

Uh, just now finally got a 4'x6' bed built. I was too ashamed to come back on here until it was done! Of course, I know you all wouldn't have been mean to me, but I wanted to come back on with good news. It took my mom coming for a visit and helping with the kiddos so I could get in the garage and use the saw. Thanks mom!!!

Guess what? My mom is going to SFG now! She asked to see my book after I explained to her why I wanted to build the bed. She started reading it and immediately decided she wanted to try it too. She's already ordered herself a copy of the book and it will be waiting for her when she gets back home. She lives in Las Vegas, so her gardening experiences will certainly be different from mine.

I spent part of today looking for composts and vermiculite (turns out I'd purchased medium grade instead of coarse). I came home empty-handed, but with a few ideas for some of the compost at least. I'll be searching the compost topics before logging off tonight.

JessieLove - Hi! Thanks for responding. I was in Battle Ground last weekend (daughter had a b-day party to attend at Rocky's on Main). Do you have suggestions on where to get stuff for my Mel's Mix? I called the WilCo farm store there in Battle Ground and they carry fine grade vermiculite, and what sounded like the same composts as everyone else (steer, chicken, mushroom). The mushroom compost I'm finding everywhere says "not for fertilizer use" and contains Gypsum. I'm supposing I can find people talking about that on the forums here.

Happy 4th of July weekend everyone!