Greetings from the Great White North

Hi

I'm Fred, a newbie to this method. I live in beautiful (and still snow covered) Bruce County on the east shore of Lake Huron. I live with my beautiful wife and our grandson (4) who we are raising. I used to have a large veggie garden, but work kept getting in the way of my gardening (and wood working, fishing, canoeing and everything else I enjoy). I'm cutting back a bit and expect to retire in about 3 years

As soon as the snow melts enough to get my trailer out I will be heading to Home Depot for some lumber to build my raised beds.  I hope to start my tomatoes and peppers by the end of the month. (Still waiting for my seed order). I have lots of questions, which I will post elsewhere.

(Clever signature line to follow)

FRED

Hi Fred!  That IS a clever sig line.  
from the Great White Northeast.  This forum is a lot of fun and also a great source of information.   And photos are always welcome!

So, you're going to start tomatoes and peppers from seed?  Are you thinking of growing anything else this year?    

CC

Hi Fred.  Welcome from Atlanta, GA!  Glad you've joined the party!

We like pictures and to give advice, so you'll fit right in.

I'd recommend reading thru some of the archives.  There's lots of good, hard-won advice there...

Thanks CC, I'm going to keep that for a bit.

And you've lead right to one of my questions.

My garden area is big enough for six 4x4 beds, an 3x3 bed for my grandson, an old tractor tire for some pumpkins (with room to spread) and a dedicated 2x8 foot cucumber bed along the north fence. It is surrounded by a 40" high fence on the north and west, with raspberries outside the west fence as part of the BIDS (beagle intrusion deterrent system), a five foot wood board & board fence on the east side (property line) and a chain link fence on the south that opens on to a playground (lots of sun). The whole yard is oriented about 10° east of north.

My grandson's garden will be used to grow all the ingredients for his own salsa.

I laid out the garden on paper, and realized that six 4x4 beds is a lot of plants. I have tomatoes (several varieties), sweet and hot peppers, carrots, beets, mixed greens, rutabagas, onions, shallots, basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary and sage, plus cut flowers and some marigolds for pest control.

Too much? I mean, I had a garden before, very conventional. I have made compost in the past as well (but I will be buying this year). Is six and three-quarters beds too much for a rookie SFG gardener?

AtlantaMarie: I am finding lots of good information on old posts. Where would the best place be to post a question about building the beds?

I started with 3 little kitchen cupboards placed backs down on the ground.  During that first year I added 2 more little cupboards, then 2 conventional 4x4's.  Over the following 2 yrs I added 2 more 4x4's, a 6x3 and have replaced the cupboards with odd shaped boxes.  

For me starting small was good, and then as Spirit moved me, the little SFG grew.  I think it's stopped growing....for now.    But I've moved 'outside the box' and planted fruit trees, grape vines, an asparagus bed... and on and on it goes.  Now it's crazy-land out there and I'm loving it!

I guess the moral of the story is, start out easy.  You can always make more.

CC

Fred from Kelejan, also from the Great White North but in British Columbia where we have had it easy with regard to the weather in the rest of Canada.

When you get time, come on over to the Canadian Region. This Forum is divided into Regions but you can post anywhere you like. The USA have several regions just because they have such a diverse range of climates and there is always some one there gardening throughout the year and teasing us with lovely colourful pictures while we are blanketed in snow.

Here in Canada we only have one Region as most of the country sleeps for half the year, as you well know.

The current thread is " CANADIAN REGION - What are you doing in March 2015."  Look for the latest post in the left column of this page.

Kelejan

FRED58 wrote:AtlantaMarie: I am finding lots of good information on old posts. Where would the best place be to post a question about building the beds?

You mentioned you were going to Home Depot for your lumber...  I get my lumber there because they will cut it for me for free.  I pick out some untreated 2x8x8's, have them cut the boards exactly in half.  Then all I do is take them home, drill 3 holes on one end of each board and screw them together.  It's as easy as putting together one of those kits, but a lot cheaper.  I think I spent about $18/box last time I built some.


Kate

Fred, Welcome to the Forum from California! Free wood is also good. My husband and I retrieved a lot of good 2" x 4" lumber from housing construction sites (with the job supervisor's permission). Just double stack the squares to make a 7" tall box. There are a lot of Topics regarding "wood" for boxes and building boxes you can find by using the search box.

One thing about having a lot of squares this year is that you can experiment growing different veggies and herbs and learn about the seasonal sun patterns.