Introduction

Hi there,  I am from SoCal and have done some minimal gardening.  I have a squarefoot garden of sorts.  It's made from a premade kit not exactly equal to the regular sfg.  I didn't plant anything this year, got kinda side tracked.  And last year my boxer Kara got in and dug up and ate everything she could.  I need to find a way to keep her out of it!!  I have been thinking of getting something going here soon if i can find the energy.  I will be looking for tips.  Thanks

Welcome to the forum, LemonGroveMamma!  Ohio here!  We are getting to the end of our season here, so we love it when you all-year-rounders can keep us going through the snow...glad you found us!  

Those pre-made kits are just fine, several folks here use them!  Did you make your Mel’s Mix?  Dang it all about the dog, need a barrier of some type...

Looking forward to hearing more, what do you like to eat?

Welcome to the forum LGM (your short form name   ) from Ottawa, Canada.

Feel free to ask questions and when you get things going please post some photos (we love to see photos).

Have you read the All New Square Foot Gardening book?

LemonGroveMamma wrote:Hi there,  I am from SoCal and have done some minimal gardening.  I have a squarefoot garden of sorts.  It's made from a premade kit not exactly equal to the regular sfg.  I didn't plant anything this year, got kinda side tracked.  And last year my boxer Kara got in and dug up and ate everything she could.  I need to find a way to keep her out of it!!  I have been thinking of getting something going here soon if i can find the energy.  I will be looking for tips.  Thanks

Welcome LemonGroveMamma! I am a Southern California gardener, too!

My dog was trained with a simple nylon fencing (Pest Fence from Gardener's Supply Co).  It was simple to put up and move around as my garden expanded. Occasionally, I use two brass dog pens connected together to block the dog or the chickens from going into my garden. 

It's seed sowing time now in SoCal; you can start those indoors.  But if your energy is low, transplants are also easy to plop into Mel's mix with an addition of compost.  Take small steps until you enthusiasm perks up your energy. 

Keep us posted with your progress.

Hi LGM, Welcome to the Forum from Fresno, CA! With your year-around gardening climate, this is a good time to get that box in order and plant something, even starts from a Nursery or garden center. How big is the box? How deep? What did you fill the box with? We will help you get going, again. Have you read the book, ALL NEW Square Foot Gardening? Try your library, a Kindle version or hard cover purchase. It is a wealth of information on SFG, which many folks swear by.

One more thing, I would like to see a city/state in your info square instead of a zip code. San Diego, CA would be close enough. It really helps folks to know where you live and your climate should you have questions. We love photos, so you can post photos of your SFG journey.

I did read the new book.  Although I need to reread it!  I had regular soil that i put lots of amendments it.  I am trying to do a compost bin.  I can't remember the sizes of my boxes.  But they are about 6" or so deep.  Maybe more not sure.  I had to put in hardware cloth in the bottom otherwise the gophers eat everything!!!

I will need to look for the pest stuff to keep the dogs out too.

Thanks!

LemonGroveMamma wrote:I did read the new book.  Although I need to reread it!  I had regular soil that i put lots of amendments it.  I am trying to do a compost bin.  I can't remember the sizes of my boxes.  But they are about 6" or so deep.  Maybe more not sure.  I had to put in hardware cloth in the bottom otherwise the gophers eat everything!!!

I will need to look for the pest stuff to keep the dogs out too.

Thanks!

I do old style SFG with amended soil in some of my raised beds and All New SFG with Mel's Mix in the other raised beds.

LemonGroveMamma wrote:Hi there,  I am from SoCal and have done some minimal gardening.  I have a squarefoot garden of sorts.  It's made from a premade kit not exactly equal to the regular sfg.  I didn't plant anything this year, got kinda side tracked.  And last year my boxer Kara got in and dug up and ate everything she could.  I need to find a way to keep her out of it!!  I have been thinking of getting something going here soon if i can find the energy.  I will be looking for tips.  Thanks

For the first two years of our dogs life he was never allowed to go out in the garden for a pee or pop even in the evilest of weathers unless he was on a short lead with either my wife or I . 
Any time he decided to try and walk on the grass or toward the veg beds he was gently tugged back & told to heel ... walk beside me. 

Now he'll  get our attention when he wants to go & be a clean dog. I open the door &  he walks alone in all weathers to his gravelled drained  loo area , does his business and comes back to sit next to me . He's never left outside on his own if the back door is closed .

Once in a while I'll slip the lead on him and accompany him to do his duties or for a walk around my gardens just to keep the control command reinforced in his head . 

 He loves carrots  . As a 10 week old  pup he managed to get out without being on a short lead and eat a whole row of them ...... so many that he up chuckied .  

That was when I decided I was going to have  garden and a dog ...... in that order & so took up the strict training regime . It's been worth while in so many ways .

There is nothing more beautiful than a well trained dog. [Unless it's a well trained cat like Sweetie was. Oh, wait, she made the choice to be a good cat. ]