Hello from the great white North!

Greetings from frigid North Dakota!

My name's Kaysie, and my partner, Trevor, and I are starting our first vegetable and medicinal plant garden this year.

I've always wanted a garden, but my gypsy lifestyle never allowed. Now that I've settled down a little, it's time to get growing! The cost of food in NoDak is outrageous compared to elsewhere. It's as expensive for food here as it was when I lived in Alaska, and I just can't justify spending money on food when I can grow it myself.

The growing season here is short and the winters are bitter. The summers are fast and furious, but warm and full of light (only a couple hours of dark!), and I'm hoping sunken beds will help counter the dry prairie winds. With all the factors against me, companion planting/SFG immediately jumped out as the best way to get as much as we can out of our garden.

Hopefully it all works out; I started my seeds, and then we got a foot of snow! Some days I feel like it's going to be winter forever. I'd love to hear from other northern gardeners!

Where are you in ND? I am in the far NE corner of SD. We just got nearly a foot of snow 2 days ago, and are forecast for another 6-10" tomorrow.

Food is expensive here as well, especially since I am not in a larger town.

GG

Thanks GG! I live near Minot.

I was on a road trip for the first 2 weeks of April to see family and friends out east (I'm originally from Michigan, but I've got peeps all over).

I came home just in time for more snow! Does it ever stop? lol

By July we should be good!! I'm in Custer SD getting snowed on as we speak! Do you have the All New Square Foot Gardening book? with the sunk beds it sounds like the original SFGing?

What's that ol' rhyme about corn? Ankle high by the 4th of July?

I don't have the book yet. I've been collecting gardening books all winter, but that one's still on the list! Hubs says I can't buy any more until I read the ones I have.

We're going to cut down some trees along our privacy fence; someone planted them too close together, so they're all kind of spindly. We're going to take out every other one, which will increase light in the garden. I'm going to use the boles as my bed borders, and the sturdy branches to build teepee trellises.

Well what hubby don't know won't hurt him If you are going to truly SFG you need that book! To grow that much food in such a small space you will need a special growing medium!! Get the book and sell the rest if need be, that's the one you need!! That is what this forum is all about! Trust me, once you go true SFG you'll never go back!