Hi from Kingman, Arizona!

Hi!  My 2015 SFGardening is off to a big bang (Bazinga!).  It's March 16 and my nasturtiums and radishes have their second leaves.  Home Depot had a sale on vegetable seedlings, 5 for $10 and I couldn't resist.  I bought 2 strawberry plants and 3 tomato varieties that I hadn't started indoors, Sunfire , Grape and Better Boy Bush.  I realized it's really too early for tomatoes (last frost March 31) but they were so far ahead of my seedlings and the weather has been so mild, I decided to chance it.  I can always cover them.  I'm usually a vegetable-girl, but a Ranunculus caught my eye and I ended up with 6 of them - white, cream, pink, red and yellow.  I'll post pictures from my home computer.  They are so beautiful and doing just great!  I also threw a handful (well, a few generous pinches) of wildflower mix over a couple of squares and covered them with vermiculite, patted them down and watered them; the only seeds that have sprouted so far are these little, tiny leaves that I have no idea what they are - yet!  The suspense!  As usual, having no luck with carrots but I will keep trying.  Any suggestions?  Nothing has sprouted from several sowings.  Oh!  I also planted two new flowers:  Superbells Cherry Star and Superbells Lemon Slice (calibrachoa) from Home Depot (provenwinners.com).  The second new-to-me, also from HD/provenwinners is Snowstorm Giant Snowflake (Bacopa).  So beautiful and doing so well, no transplant shock; they look like they've been in the ground forever.  I am probably going to replant them in hanging planters, or separate propagations (?) after doing a little research.  Didn't mean to go on and on but I'm really excited about this years SFG, as I had a friend build me two (so far, LOL) raised beds, 8' x 2' and a groundset 8" x 2' against a fence for support.  He did such a good job!  Wait 'til you see the pictures!

TinySpock! Sounds like you are off and running! Warning: SFG boxes beg for company - my 4 have turned into 9, and more are in the works for this season. Hope you have room for all the expansion plans that will be crowding your dreams!

Hi, Goosegirl!  I know!  I can't stop planting and seed-starting!  There are soooo many things I want to plant.  My raised beds (on legs at waist-high) are so beautiful that I'm having my guy build two more.  The each take 6 bags of Mel's Mix, at Home Depot.  I'm using string and nails are my grid, so far, so good.  Can't wait to get home and post the pictures. 

What's your SFG like?  What are your favorites?  Will you help me with my carrots?  I'd love to hear about your experiences.

TinySpock, Welcome to the Forum from California! Can't wait to see photos of your garden.

Hi TinySpock!  Welcome from Atlanta, GA!

As you've already found out, SFG is quite addictive...

Do you have a copy of the All New SFG book?

Welcome from the high desert in Colo. We can't wait to find out what we can plant next fall when we go to our new place (for us) in Casa Grande. We hope to have two gardening seasons. Will be there next month and hope to find out.

John, Are you moving to Casa Grande, AZ?

Welcome. Carrot can take up to 3 weeks to sprout and the top of the soil should stay moist the entire time. At least that's how I got my carrots to grow. Good luck to you and pictures please.

mschaef wrote:Welcome. Carrot can take up to 3 weeks to sprout and the top of the soil should stay moist the entire time. At least that's how I got my carrots to grow. Good luck to you and pictures please.

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Once spring hits here in NESD, we are in our rainy season until mid-July. The only time I have had problems with my carrots sprouting was last spring, when we had such a drenching the week after I planted my carrots that the seeds washed to the edges of my boxes. MM usually cannot be over-watered, but not so in a flash flood! Out of 216 seeds planted, harvested 13. Usually I have a bumper crop that I am still using out of my freezer during my next harvest! In fact, just 2 weeks ago I used the last bag from my 2013 season. Good thing I had them because there were NO replacements from 2014! Store-bought carrots for me now until this fall.

Sanderson, no just bought the place so we could enjoy some winter warmth. We like the area, it's an over 55 area with golf course, two pools, tennis and pickleball courts and many other activities. We know several others who also come here. We were going to get a new Motor home but decided that most of our travelling is to New England to visit grand kids and felt it was to far to drive.

A great big welcome from Maine TinySpock    I had a pen pal from Kingman many moons ago, in the 50s.  Have since lost touch with her.
You'll love the SFG method and all the home grown crops you'll get.  The flavor is so much better than store-bought.
Enjoy the experience and keep your carrot seeds moist.
I can't wait to see your pictures.

I tried to post pictures but am not having success.   Will you please point me towards the directions or just tell me how to do it.  I've tried "hosting an image" and "inserting an image," but no luck.  Thanks!

I have Windows8.1 and this is how I do it:
Host an Image
Browse
Find the picture on your computer and click on it
Host It
LEFT click on center line
DO NOT UPLOAD.
When the line turns blue, RIGHT click on that same center line
When the next window opens, click on "Copy"
Click on Preview below the opened window
When the posting area comes up, place your cursor where you want your picture to post in the posting box and RIGHT Click to open the next window.
Click on "Paste"
There you have it.


note:  I always resize my pictures thru picresizer.com in my computer albums so they are ready to post to other online sites that may require smaller pictures.  These are our family dogs, my son's golden, Daisy and my corgi Penny, having a run in snow after one of our storms this winter.

Spock, Just making sure you can still post photos.

TinySpock from Canada.

Please, never apologize for going on, we all love it when people do that.
Look forward to seeing your pictures.

Still no luck uploading pictures, but if you wouldn't mind, you can view my SFG efforts so far on my Facebook page.  The pictures are beautiful and I'd love to share them!

Today was beautiful, 76 degrees and clear sky - tonight it will go down to 43, according to my phone app.  I planted bush bean seeds, snapdragons, "spinach mustard" (whatever that is), and morning glories this morning.  I have (so far) three 2 x 8 ft. blocks and a 2 x 2 ft. block.  I can't help myself, I just love everything! I have two 2x8's completely filled and only 3 square free, in the 2x2 block.  My beds are really raised - 3 ft off the ground, LOL.  My ranunculus(es) are still going strong, although the bottom outer leaves are turning a light green - too much water, I think.  The Johny Jump-Ups are thriving!  My daffodils are starting to face, along with my hyacinth bulbs.  How should I treat them?  I've been dead-heading the Ran's and they keep flowering like crazy - red, pink, salmon, white and cream - so beautiful!  Oh, and yellow!  Now, those are gorgeous!  Of course, the tomato plants are just sitting they - they won't do much until the ground is warmer.  I am cutting off the flowers, I hope that's the right thing to do.  It's too soon for them to develop fruit, isn't it?  I'm not sure if I should cut the flowers off my determinate plant, after all, it's only going to grow a certain number of fruit.  Huh.  Help!  Advice needed!
Oh!  Goodie!  I just figured it out - thanks to Sanderson and Kelejan!!!

OK!  Now you'll be sorry you asked!  Here are more pictures!  Love my garden!!

My Garden Guardian - Bailey!

Love your garden its so colorful. Makes me happy to know that spring is coming

The TT's are beautiful, the sky is a beautiful blue.  And flowers   Love the garden guardian.

I'll leave addressing snipping flower off tomatoes for someone else.  As far as daffodils, I think you are to leave them alone, don't cut off the fading leaves.  They are still doing their work.  I used to carefully fold them in half and wrap with a couple of long leaves.  The bundle would eventually blow away.  In Fresno, I used to just mark where they were in the fall, and they came up each spring for near 30 years.  I would periodically dig them up and separate, relocate, in the late fall.

Great news!  My carrots ARE starting to sprout!  And it DID take 3 weeks.

Congratulations of the birth of your carrots, TinySpock.

Your flowers are lovely to see. I sometimes say that veggies are for your body and flowers are for your soul.

Beautiful little dog.

Neat garden. What is your ground cover; gravel?  Looks so neat and tidy.

My garden is like my house.  

Hi, Kelejan!  Yes, our front and back are round gravel.  Under it and under the black plastic weed barrier is desert ground - weeds, goat heads and tumbleweeds.  The gravel is so much easier to maintain.  I take the dogs to the grassy dog park each week so they can feel grass under their little feet and run around and roll in the dirt.  They do like to lay on the sun-warmed stones but it's not the best underfoot for them.  Thank goodness for Mel's Mix.  I don't have to worry about my soil or even bending over, lol!

Round gravel over desert sounds  sensible to me. Just needs a raking now and then like a Japanese garden.

TinySpock wrote:Thank goodness for Mel's Mix.  I don't have to worry about my soil or even bending over, lol!

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