Newbie from southeast Kansas

Hi.
Im a newbie from southeast Kansas.
I love to TRY to raise my own vegetables, but the garden does'nt seem to care bout me, even though I spend many hours tilling and on hands and knees, my garden is only 60'x230',bout 14000 sq foot. we try to grow anything we can get seeds for. I have bought plants and last year I even started my own. The plants I managed to get started did seem to do better then the ones I bought . This year I once again have great hopes that things will get better, I did a soil test, found the ph is6.8 perfect, my phosphate was 2, very bad and my potassium was 47,bad. so i will be using 100 lbs of 8-24-24 fertilizer for that. I can't afford a green house, so i built a 3'x6' cold frame with scrap wood and 4ml plastic for the lid. I have cabbage, brussel sprouts, onions and marigolds seedlings started under the grow lights that I built from pvc and two 48" shop lights. I hope I can move those plants to the cold frame in about a week so I will have more room, on or bout Feb 11th I plan to start my peppers, then I plan on or about March 1st my tomatoes.
I seem to grow cantaloups and squash with out problems.But I need alot of help and advice on starting seed and the rest of the garden.

Have a great day. Kevin

Kevin!

roamingkevin wrote:I love to TRY to raise my own vegetables, but the garden does'nt seem to care bout me, even though I spend many hours tilling and on hands and knees, my garden is only 60'x230',bout 14000 sq foot...

ONLY?!?

Do you plant all in-ground or have you converted any of the garden over to SFG boxes? Do you have your own copy of ALL NEW SQUARE FOOT GARDENING book? Second edition has just come out, so this is the perfect time to get it if you do not have it.

That is alot of sq footage to convert, but the Mel's Mix would definitely solve your soil problem, only needing additional compost added after each square harvested.

Look forward to hearing more about your land mass!

GG

GG i plant all in ground. I have been thinking of planting potatoes in boxes covered with leafs. and no I don't have a copy of the book, never even herd of it, where do they sell them?

Hi Kevin! And WELCOME! Sounds like you have had your hands full with traditional gardening and are well experienced with some of the back-breaking work that it can entail. You will find many members here who have done just as you have and crossed over to the wonderful world of "All New Square Foot Gardening" (aka: SFG). You can find the book by Mel Bartholomew pretty much anywhere online and perhaps even in your local library (though it has so much great info that many end up getting their own anyway). SFG takes the labor out of constantly ammending your soil, tilling and weeding and allows you to grow more in less space with much more productive plants and a lot less work.
Please feel free to take a look around the forum and ask any questions. We're a friendly group that loves to help, learn and grow together! I look forward to hearing more about your gardening experiences.

Lemonie: Thanks for answering Kevin's question - I was trying but my computer keeps locking up!

Kevin: You will find in the pages of the ANSFG book the concept of Mel's Mix, a soilless mix that you make yourself (or purchased in some locations) and it will completely solve your soil issues listed above!

GG

Thanks for the advice, easier is always better. I never herd much on this so I will dig in alot more and read what you and others are doing, Thats why Im here.

Welcome to the foum. You can find many tips and ideas here for your garden. I hope you can switch to some raised beds to help you. No more tilling or double-digging in your future.

In our community garden, where there are no boxes, I 'raise' my beds by raking and hoeing the soil along the pathways into the center to raise the soil.

It certainly helps in sowing and weeding and caring for my particular beds. You could do the same. Don't walk over the raised sections so you don't compact it. You can add dried leaves to the beds each fall (the worms will come to aerate and leave castings) and fresh compost in the spring. You'll just need a rake and hoe for your big tools and your trowel and hand cultivator for your small ones.
Good luck.

roamingkevin
If you get your own copy of the book it has the info you need to grow a successful garden. The book is concise. It will be an easy read and get you off to a fast start. You'll refer to often so I would defin. own a copy.

If you go by the forum only, you could miss key points that result in disappointment. I've seen it happen around here a lot.

The author does recommend to start small, I think its great advice too. But of course do what you are comfortable with, as Quiltbea describes in the post above. (and below) sorry qb I must have postedthe same time as youBest Wishes and welcome.

For some reason I couldn't add more on my earlier post.

ReaminKevin......To continue.....Then you can slowly make your raised beds in boxes as you can manage them. Get them set up permanetly and start growing the easy way. In the meantime, you can still harvest lots of food in the rest of the garden which has been 'raised' into berms.
Turning your large parcel into boxes will take some doing but with time you'll have a productive and much easier growing system.

Welcome to the forum!! Sounds like you found the right place! If you convert to Square Foot Gardening it will solve a bunch of your issues! 100% of the harvest in 20% of the space, less watering, less weeding, less work, less seed waste!! Glad you found the forum!