Greetings from Nova Scotia

Hello all! I am a first time gardener, eager to put to practice all the knowledge I've gleaned from my well worn copy of Mel's book. I live in Nova Scotia, and for us, the planting season starts a bit later. Snow has been on the ground for quite some time, and it will most likely stay that way for at least another month so I have lots of time to pour over the forums and plan.

As a first timer, I am going to start small and plant one 4x4 grid. It is my goal to eventually involve my children as much as possible in the tending of the family garden. They are quite young, but I think a fast growing flower or vegetable in one square might really hold their interest. Not sure exactly what would fit that bill. I've read radishes are fast growing and easy for kids to handle, but neither the husband or I care for them. If someone has a suggestion, I'd love to hear it. Also, our property has several deer that like to stop by for a nibble, as well as pheasants, birds, and the usual neighborhood cats. Any tips on keeping our wildlife friends out of our garden would be greatly appreciated!

Welcome to the forums... you will have a great time here. Lots of wonderful information

Welcome from another long winter area, Maine USA, with a fresh 8.5" of snow on the ground yesterday. We, too, won't see our soil for weeks.

Tom Thumb Lettuce is another fast-growing crop your children might watch and enjoy along with some greens like Garden cress, different Mesclun mixes and Orach. Baby Russian Kale is harvested in 25 days. All can be sown from seed directly in the garden early in the spring. I hope you enjoy this type of garden experience. I started in 2009 and I love it.

Kristin and welcome to the Forum.

Since you mentioned a "well worn" copy of Mel's book, I just wanted to make sure you're using the All New Square Foot Gardening book from 2006. LOL although MY 2006 books could also be considered well worn.

Wow, I really wasn't expecting so many welcome this quickly!


I have both copies of Mel's book. Both have some great info but in my opinion, the raised bed method really makes more sense. I like the concept of starting your garden in weed free, pest free soil and really wish MM was available up here! But I've got a few more months to get my mix together.

Lettuce sounds like a good suggestion for the kids. I'll poke around my local seed catalogs and see what I can buy.

Kristin Crane wrote:Wow, I really wasn't expecting so many welcome this quickly!
...

Kristin. My reaction was the same when I joined!
Welcome to the forum.

Kristin, glad you were greeted promptly. This a a pretty great bunch of people who enjoy gardening the SFG way. Great that you have both books, for set up, I really like ALL NEW SQUARE FOOT GARDENING,but I think there is more information on plants in the older book, but I just can't do the double digging and amending anymore.

Baby bok choi is pretty fast (picked very small at 40 days) and so is baby swiss chard, picked when the leaves are only 6 to 8 inches. The color of the Neon or Bright Lights variety would be interesting to the kids.

Again, Welcome!

Just out of curiosity, what's the price of Nova Scotia peat moss up there?

Tom

Tom, I haven't started price shopping. Most people begin their soil prep in Mid April, so stores up here don't really have much selection yet. All I know is what my father-in-law, a Cape Breton gardener, has passed on to me; buy your peat moss from the Co-op as soon as you can. It's a hot commodity up here and always sells out.