Hello from Tennessee

I've been interested in square foot gardening for years and have had several failed attempts...by my own hand. I'm getting my daughter involved this year and she's very excited.  Maybe the 2 of us can get it done!

Loriray, Welcome to the Forum!    Do you have a coy of All New Square Foot Gardening, 1st or 2nd Edition, by Mel Bartholomew? If, not make sure you get a copy and following his directions. It's when folks start to cut corners, that they start to run into problems. And how do I know?     You can find a ton of information through the Search box. And, we are here for you.

loriray wrote:I'm getting my daughter involved this year and she's very excited.  Maybe the 2 of us can get it done!

Of course you can! And welcome!

I strongly agree with sanderson -- don't cut corners on soil quality. Amending soil can be much more of a pain than putting good soil together in the first place.

Howdy, sorta-neighbor!

Agreed with above.  Last year was my first year with ANSFG, I've been a yardener for years with flowers, shrubs and trees.  Last year was my first with veggies.  And I LOVED it.  Had some failures, don't get me started on corn or eggplant -- waste of time for ME.  And turns out I didn't like raw tomatoes AT ALL, one plant would have been more than enough for soup and sauce, and I planted a half dozen.  But everything else, and there was a long looooong list, exceed my expectations by a mile.

Keys to my success were three-fold:
1) Make the Mel's Mix to the letter.  It's simple, you just have to source your ingredients.  And make enough of it, make extra, can't hurt and it does settle in the first few heavy rains.  (My beds were 2 boards high on the uphill side and 3 boards high on the downhill slope of compacted clay and gravel so NO HELP under the beds and each bed was 4x4 or 4x8 or 3x16.  I like the 4x8s best.)

2) Put your SFG where it gets as much SUN as possible.

3) Put your SFG where the water hoses reach and don't be afraid to use them in our sweltering summers.  Rainwater is great, and preferred, but I needed supplemental water from the hoses.  Sometimes daily.

Best of luck!  And this forum is great for asking questions.  Even ones you think are silly -- ask away.  We all have things to learn.

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