newbie

Hello All! I hope you’re reading this little post from someplace warm! I'm hoping to start a garden this year. I live with my Mom in her house. She's hesitant to let me start a veggie/herb patch. Also, I have allergies and asthma and the summer months can be rough (I'm very allergic to all grass pollen and penicillium mold). BUT, I love fresh veggies and I think that veggies are beautiful, just as pretty (if not more so) than flowers. I'm poorer than dirt (our soil has five finger or false strawberry grass) and I don't have a lot of building experience. I'm worried about building the boxes and getting the ground level to put the boxes on. Any advice on how to save money on the start-up of this garden would be greatly appreciated. If not, cheering me on works wonders!!!
Best Wishes to Everyone!!!
Beanzie's Kid aka Tracy

Welcome ,
It often seems daunting when setting up fro the first time.
See if you can get hold of the book quoted in my strap line it is our main line of attack in it there are lots of pictures and ideas to work with.

What sort of sized bed are you looking to start with ?

If you have access to a spade , rake and long handled hoe it shouldnt take too long if it is fairly flat and rock free to chip rake and scrape it even flatter. Weeds can be smothered with some weed blanket material but this is me saying things that may not be appropiate for the type of ground you have .

Bung up some info on the type of ground you have where you wan it etc

Have a good look at the bobbly knobs on the left side of your screen to pick up lots of free info .

When I came to the site I spent several 8 hr days reading as much of the site as I could , it's come in handy for I now have a better bigger picture of what it is all about.

welcome to SFG

new's papper and cardboard make a great weed block and they also break down feeding the worms but keeping the weeds out... if you can get a hold of some you can layer starting with the news paper first down and then wet it real good and then apply the cardboard....both of these you should be able to find for free...

you can use anything to create your veggie box....if you have some big box stores you might be able to find used pallets that they are throwing out....that you could then break down and use the lumber to build your SFG veggie box....again free....you could also go by job sites to see if they have any crates/pallets they are getting rid of or maybe even some scrap wood.....

for your mel's mix a 1/3 rd of the mix is compost.....you need to get at least five differnt composts.....check craigs lists for free animal manures.....take a ride around your town and see if you can find any farms or horse stalls that would be happy to have you take some of the animal manure off of their hands.....start now building your own compost so you in time can have your own compost......you can buy the compost but looking for free is cheaper

most of all get your hands on the all new square foot garden book.....check to see if your local library has it....again....free

happy gardening
rose

FamilyGardening wrote:welcome to SFG

new's papper and cardboard make a great weed block and they also break down feeding the worms but keeping the weeds out... if you can get a hold of some you can layer starting with the news paper first down and then wet it real good and then apply the cardboard....both of these you should be able to find for free...

you can use anything to create your veggie box....if you have some big box stores you might be able to find used pallets that they are throwing out....that you could then break down and use the lumber to build your SFG veggie box....again free....you could also go by job sites to see if they have any crates/pallets they are getting rid of or maybe even some scrap wood.....

for your mel's mix a 1/3 rd of the mix is compost.....you need to get at least five differnt composts.....check craigs lists for free animal manures.....take a ride around your town and see if you can find any farms or horse stalls that would be happy to have you take some of the animal manure off of their hands.....start now building your own compost so you in time can have your own compost......you can buy the compost but looking for free is cheaper

most of all get your hands on the all new square foot garden book.....check to see if your local library has it....again....free

happy gardening
rose

+1, and welcome to the forum!! Also llama and rabbit poo don't have to be composted, they can go straight to the garden!

cheyannarach wrote:

Also llama and rabbit poo don't have to be composted, they can go straight to the garden!

Goat pellets can go right in the garden as well.

Cheering you on! I'm a complete newbie as well, so I have nothing at all to offer in the way of advice but lots of enthusiasm for the project. I have the original SBG book, which I'm working through very slowly - dreaming of spring and looking forward to getting some seedlings started in my basement (first timer for that as well). We'll climb this steep learning curve together!

may I suggest you try and get the newer book ( see my strap line for details ) for there is a better explanation of the use and making of the MM soilless growth medium rather than focusing on using ammended mother natures own soil.