Hello, newbie from North Florida

Hello! Not sure which regional board I should be part of, as I think I could possibly join either of 2. I'm not on a coast here; it takes nearly 2 hours to get to a beach and weather here is a bit different from nearby cities.

I read the original SFG book when I was taking a college course in organic gardening, and always wanted a spot to plant my own...but it never seemed to happen until finally my husband & I were able to buy a house last year. I purchased the New SFG last summer, but life conspired to keep me from trying it until now.

It looks like I'm rather late in the season for getting started, but we're giving it a go anyway. Since we have plenty of seeds and only 2 boxes, I will plant more in the fall when I can expect better results...but my boys and I really want to start now! So, we're getting it set up during spring break, and I'm muddling through figuring out what to plant now, what to wait on, and where in the box everything should go.

Here's hoping I can at least get some things to grow, so my boys don't lose heart and interest!

givvmistamps!

Please feel free to participate in whatever threads interest you. The regional threads are for those of us in the same general climate to discuss specifics to that climate like what we are planting and when...if you fit in more than one region, that's just dandy!

I'm in Illinois - but I get a LOT of how-tos out of the planting and progress videos that my friends in the PNW put up, for example...

I will let someone more familiar with your area respond to what to plant now...but we definitely look forward to hearing about your progress! Happy to have you here!

givvmistamps!
I am your neighbor St.Augustine Beach. You are in the coastal and tropical south region to be sure, but don't let that coastal thing confuse you much of the region is not coastal at all. We are blessed with a long growing season so there are still lots of things you can plant. I just planted pole beans the other day. There are some real heat lovers like blackeyed peas and okra that it is still kinda too early for. But right now my suggestions (if you like to eat them) are cucumbers, mellons, winter and summer squash, peppers and tomatoes from transplants not seeds, to begin with. Your local ag. office will have a complete list of what to plant and when to plant it.

Last year I planted a great heat loving tomato called Sun King at the end of April and they were the only toms that still set fruit when it was over 90 degrees plus they were prolific to boot. I think I got the transplants at Ace but it may have been home deopt sorry I don't remember.

Thanks for the welcome! It's so nice to have a place where I can confer with others on this; most of my friends (and sadly, my husband) have little interest in or time for gardening.

My husband pointed out last night that I have plenty of seeds and only two boxes plus a few planters, so I can go ahead and plant what I want. If it fails, I'll try again in the fall or next year! I'll definitely have seeds left over; I did try to select things that at least said "heat tolerant" if not "heat loving". I'm working on my plan now, and getting more excited to see how things turn out. Someone on one of the other boards mentioned plangarden.com, so I've been playing with that and things seem to be coming together now. It's so nice to have the visuals.

Shannon1, I will look for that tomato you mentioned; the transplants are something I was waiting to pick up until we got the boxes assembled (which will hopefully happen today). We have both Ace and Home Depot here, so if it's in town, I'll find it.

waiting until the boxes are ready may be a good idea

givvmistamps wrote:Hello! ... It looks like I'm rather late in the season for getting started, but we're giving it a go anyway. Since we have plenty of seeds and only 2 boxes, I will plant more in the fall when I can expect better results...but my boys and I really want to start now! So, we're getting it set up during spring break, and I'm muddling through figuring out what to plant now, what to wait on, and where in the box everything should go.

Here's hoping I can at least get some things to grow, so my boys don't lose heart and interest!

I'm in southern AL along the Gulf. You may be a bit late on starting many veggies from seed but you may get a small harvest from some plants. There are some flowers that will do fine. I'd recommend going to a gardening supply or farmers coop and buying plants. you can probably get a few tomato plants that are a little more mature than normal. They don't really take off until they are transplanted. They may not grow to 9 feet tall, but you will probably still get a harvest.

Hello from Ocala. I strongly recommend that you include a Cherry Tomato variety in your first try. They are 100% easier to grow and I wouldn't want you to get discouraged by relying only on the harder types. There are all sorts of problems you can run into with larger tomatoes (splitting no fruit etc etc). Cherry Tomatoes are pretty much guaranteed you will get tons of fruit. If you can find Burpee's "Sweet 100" those grow really good and taste great.

Thank you, everyone, for the welcome! It's great to see some advice from people in my growing region. I look forward to getting to know you all as the season progresses.

Well, I went out and found some plants...the Sun King tomatoes weren't anywhere to be found, but I found one called Heatmaster that looked promising. Nothing terribly mature that I could locate, so I'll do what I can. I posted a couple pics of my boxes (and my men doing the heavy work I can't do ) and a list of what I'm going to try here: https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t11322-my-1st-sfg-2012#109887

I know I'm being a bit ambitious about what I am going to start from seed, but I already have the seeds (I thought this garden was going to happen last year), I only have one square to devote to each plant, and I don't have much $$ left to invest after buying the boxes and the soil mix. (I was sick for the past month and so I haven't been able to work.) Since we have another growing season in the fall, I plan to replant things that don't do well this summer. After all, I already have the seeds, they're a year old already, and this is a learning experiment this year.