Hello from your Mid-South Host

Hi there!  My name is Marie.  I live north of Atlanta, GA with my DH (Dear Husband), Mike.  We have a 25' x 35' SFG in the NW corner of our 1/3 acre hilly plot of heaven.

I am the (new/official) Mid-South Host for the SFG Forum!

We grow pears, apples, peaches (well...  we have peach trees!), pecans, & blueberries along with our garden produce.  I'm hoping to put in black & raspberries next year along with 3 more SFG beds for perennials and more bush beans, etc. 

We both work from home as private instructors.  I am a Certified SFG Instructor.  (Was hoping to do the Master Gardener thing next spring, but it's going to have to wait...)  I also teach canning, dehydrating, & grains classes and we both teach "prepper" classes in alternative energy sources, how to make decisions on whether to run or stay and what info you need to have with you.  Among other things.

One of my neighbors has nick-named me Molly Mormon.  Her family is Mormon & she's always reminded of her mother's kitchen when she comes over for a visit.  I've always got something coming out of the oven or dehydrator or canner.  Her mother calls me Molly Non-Mormon since I don't belong to that faith. 

Our garden focuses on heirlooms since hybrids don't breed true.  We believe that everything we plant should have food, medicinal, or practical qualities, so we grow quite a few things.  We do get some hummingbirds and see lots of bees & wasps.  They really seemed to like my luffa gourd flowers this fall! 

You'll find I have quite a sense of humor.  I believe that you should be having fun or finding something else to do.  And like many of us, I'm a bit OCD.  (Maybe I should say I'm CDO - which is OCD in it's proper alphabetical order - the way it should be!  )

Please feel free to contact me via Private Message, email, or thru our website. I don't tweet or facebook.   

I look forward to being your host & having lots of fun with all of you!

All the best in your new job, Atlanta Marie.

Yay!!  We have a Middle South Host now!  I'm thrilled you have this new position Marie.  You are perfect for this sort of thing.  Wishing you all the best on you new job!  

Thanks, guys!  I'm looking forward to it!

Hi, Marie, How did I miss your post? Thank you for being the Mid-South Regional Host.

Thanks for volunteering for regional host.

I am new to the forum, well kinda-sorta,  , I actually joined last year I believe, anyway, this is my first post to this forum.  I am enjoying 2 days of sunshine this weekend and hope to get my squares up and ready to plant, I have everything I need except the plants to fill the squares! Now just have to get everything out of the garage and start the task of leveling (using concrete blocks with a base on top then the actual garden on top of that.  whew..     I live in Cleveland, GA area, out on the South side in a rural subdivision, we have an acre lot but only really use the area close to the house.  I'm getting off topic and I'm sorry, I tend to ramble, LOL.. I am 66 yrs young and I have most all of the arthritis family living with me , have 2 new knees and I'm finally ready to start gardening again!!  I just really wanted to introduce myself to you seeing that we are reasonably close neighbors, LOL.  I shop in Buford from time to time (I am fairly new to GA and haven't had much time to explore the state)  
Hope you have a great weekend, sunshine finally on our state!!! YAY!!

Hey there my "bestest buddy"! can't wait to see your garden.

Welcome Marianne.  I'm in Fayetteville, 20 mi south of Atlanta.  I also wrestle with some health problems.  We moved here from Los Angeles about 10 yrs ago.  I wanted to tell you to look into DeKalb World Farmers Market.  It is huge and well worth a visit.

Again, welcome neighbor!

Marianne, Welcome to the Forum from California!

Welcome from Brooks, Ga.  About 30 minutes south of the Atlanta Airport,

Hi Marianne.  I'm Marie, your Regional Host.  Welcome to a great forum!

I'm right down the road in Buford.  You're maybe 30-45 minutes away...

+1 on what Windmere says about the DeKalb Farmer's Mkt.  AWESOME place!  Used to live near it and was in there all the time.  (Don't go on a weekend - wayyyyy crowded...)

Where are you coming from?

Hi AtlantaMarie, and everyone else here in the MidSouth region,

I joined SFG today and said "hello" in the main Introduction section, but I wanted to drop a note and introduce myself here, too, after browsing the different regional sub-forums to find my SFG home.  

I look forward to sharing the journey with everyone here.  

AH!  THERE you are!  Okay, you can ignore my P.M. then... 

Welcome to the party!  Glad you've joined us.

It will take about a week for you to be able to post pictures, but we love pictures (hint, hint).  And to give (and get) advice.

Be sure to look thru the archives for all sorts of practical info.

Thanks, sanderson.  One thing I loved about this forum as opposed to others I considered is the willingness of the existing community to encourage research and self-education side-by-side with solid info, life experience, and good advice.  

I did read through all the how-to sections yesterday, and I'm pretty proficient with most basic online tasks.  It's just that AtlantaMarie's reply this morning said it would be later this week before I'd be able to share images directly, so I used the off-forum links as a workaround while time passes.


As for why my forum weblink isn't working, I've realized that privacy settings on a Google Collection can't be changed once you've created the Collection - and mine is set to My Circles Only.  As I don't want to lose all of my posts (they get auto-deleted if you delete a Collection then recreate one with the same name but Visible to Public), it's going to take me a few days to get my blog cleaned up so I can post them there for everyone, instead.

Sorry for the confusion, but...

You're permitted to upload pictures from your computer immediately after joining, by following the instructions that sanderson posted a link to.

The 7 day initial restriction is for linking to external sites; it helps slow down some spammers.

Rock on; thanks for the clarification, Boffer.  

I have been gardening off and on for 40 years. I grew up in California where I learned gardening from my parents and grandparents. Right now I have a small back yard with a huge shed in it. My husband wanted it to hold wood for wood working. He passed away last November and I am moving into a house next week on a 1/4 acre lot. I hope to grow all my own veggies, fruit and herbs. I am sure I will need a lot of help from you good folks. Thank you for letting me be a part of these discussions. Mel's Square Foot Gardening book is a favorite of mine.

Hi Barbara. Welcome to our party! We're here to help you all we can...

Is your move bringing you to the SE or are you staying in your current area?

I am staying in this area.

Hi Barbara, Welcome to the Forum from California. I'm sorry for the loss of your husband.

May I recommend that you read either the 2nd or 3rd Editions of ALL New Square Foot Gardening if you have one of the early editions. The original method involved amending dirt whereas the all new method involves raised beds. So much easier.

I just found you all. I moved here from Amherst NY ( Buffalo) to be near my son in Sandy Springs when I retired in summer 2019 at age 76. My late husband and I watched the first square foot garden program in 1976 when we lived in Palo Alto Calif. I also gardened in Texas in the middle to late 60 where I grew up. Since I have a small shady back yard my "square foot beds" are in 13" 7 gallon bags that I made . Same theory but in bags placed where I can in the front. I plan to eventually terrace some of my hilly front yard to have some proper beds. I have 15 Tomatoes , 20 Peppers, Kale, Swiss chard, Snow peas and beans. I'm just learning the climate and feel like I am starting over. 7B covers a lot of territory so I m glad to find this forum that really covers where I live. In Ny my yard had 100 year old maples and other trees so I have been gardening in bags since 2014. I just treat each bag a 1 square foot. They are 14" tall so there is plenty of soil amended with my own compost. The first thing I did in 2019 was start a compost pile.

Hi Hollysmac.  Welcome to the Atlanta area & to our party here.     

Good for you on the compost!  Sounds like you have a good plan going in.

We like pictures...

Hello Hollysmac.  Welcome to Georgia and SFG.