Hello from Washington DC

Hi everyone,

I'm a mom of three in Washington DC, and we're starting our first SFG. The kids are excited to eat their own produce, and we've had such a bad time gardening the past few years that I'm hoping the SFG method will be successful. We have terrible soil and are at the bottom of a hill, so the water collects and it's swampy back there. We're starting with one 4x4 box, so I added the plywood base and raised it up on cinder blocks. I'm hoping our blizzard-y winter won't lead way to a stormy summer!

I'll be blogging our progress at my blog, Moneywise Moms, where I write about family finance and frugality. I hope you'll stop by! I'm glad to have this forum, and we've been enjoying seeing the photos of last year's gardens. We want to see that kind of growth!

Take care,

Gina

GinaVA3 wrote:Hi everyone,

I'm a mom of three in Washington DC, and we're starting our first SFG. The kids are excited to eat their own produce, and we've had such a bad time gardening the past few years that I'm hoping the SFG method will be successful. We have terrible soil and are at the bottom of a hill, so the water collects and it's swampy back there. We're starting with one 4x4 box, so I added the plywood base and raised it up on cinder blocks. I'm hoping our blizzard-y winter won't lead way to a stormy summer!

I'll be blogging our progress at my blog, Moneywise Moms, where I write about family finance and frugality. I hope you'll stop by! I'm glad to have this forum, and we've been enjoying seeing the photos of last year's gardens. We want to see that kind of growth!

Take care,

Gina

HI Gina and welcome to the SFG forum. You and the kids will have so much fun doing this method of gardening over the old row gardening. I too have SFG on blocks, and on purpose built frames as well.
When you put your plywood bottom in how many and what size drain holes did you put in? I used 1/4 inch holes every 12 inches and it seems to work fine.

Will you be growing any vine crops? Cukes and beans and such? Cukes and tomatoes are so good together.

I'm glad your children are eager to garden. It is such a learning experience for them. Many kids today only know that food comes from wal-mart and have no idea how to grow their own. Please be sure to post often as I so much want to know how your children and the garden are working out.

BTW the youngest SFG teacher is 15 years old and he taught his first full class on the 1st. He has been SFGing for 3 years now. Do a forum search on Josh and read his posts.

Again God Bless, Ward.

Gina - I think our wet winter is the "other shoe" after such a wet summer last year. Mother Nature won't do that to us again - I hope.

Best wishes!!

n.

GinaVA3 wrote:Hi everyone,

I'm a mom of three in Washington DC, and we're starting our first SFG.

Welcome to the forums! I've only been 'through' DC, but I'd love to visit there on vacation sometime. When you live in Orlando, the last thing you and the kids want to see is Disney.

The kids are excited to eat their own produce, and we've had such a bad time gardening the past few years that I'm hoping the SFG method will be successful.

You are definately not alone. This is my second year trying a full scale garden. Last year I felt a little like Job... the tomatoes got eaten by bugs, the peas shriveled up and died before getting very big, I only got one crop of beans (that which the ants didn't get to), and then the weeds took over..

We have terrible soil and are at the bottom of a hill, so the water collects and it's swampy back there. We're starting with one 4x4 box, so I added the plywood base and raised it up on cinder blocks. I'm hoping our blizzard-y winter won't lead way to a stormy summer!

Florida has a lot of bad soil, and a ton of weeds. Much of our soil tends to be really sandy. We just had a ton of rain in a short period, and it's still somewhat soggy.

Almost wish I had put a bottom on mine and raised it up.. but I haven't had the problem with water in several years (since Hurricane Wilma brought us a bunch of rain a couple of years ago.) Needless to say, I can sympathize with you.

I'll be blogging our progress at my blog, Moneywise Moms, where I write about family finance and frugality. I hope you'll stop by! I'm glad to have this forum, and we've been enjoying seeing the photos of last year's gardens. We want to see that kind of growth!

Take care,

Gina

Good luck! I look forward to seeing pictures of your successes..