Hello from Phoenix, AZ

Hello, it is good to be here. About 6 years ago my hubby built me a 3x6 bed with a 1/4 mesh cover/cage. It was the only way to protect it from all sorts of lovely desert creatures. My young kids had so much fun planting and harvesting a variety of fruits and veggies. After an injury, I could not reach down as I used to. I tried a table top garden but it did not work out because of the strong winds in our area. I do not have the energy to keep experimenting so I took a break. My kids never stopped asking to get our garden set-up again. I never realized how much of an impact that little garden has on them. It dawned on me that they are now old enough to manage on their own, and I will just be the helper. So here I am reading and catching up on SFG so we can revive our small plot. I am deeply saddened to have just found out that Mel has passed away. This is news to me and I am feeling the loss tremendously. That said, I am grateful for his friends and the SFG community for continuing his legacy.

Hi Gem, Welcome to the Forum from central California! How exciting that your children caught the gardening bug! Who knows, you may be adding more beds if they get really excited about it. What are their ages? The newest 3rd Edition of All New Square Foot Gardening has more info and photos. They may want to look at it, or read it, for more ideas. You may end up with several beds within a fenced area.

Yes, it was sad when Mel passed away. His son and daughter-in-law, Steve and Laura Bartholomew are now at the helm.

Hi Gem. Welcome from Atlanta, GA! We're glad you've joined us.

So what kinds of things do the kids want to grow?

You might want to look for Brainchasm's posts in the Search area (upper left corner) for some good information about planting in that area. He's had a lot of success as well.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you all come up with! ;-)

Gem. I'm also 9B -- Redding, CA. Looking forward to sharing hot-weather hints, although this year hasn't been too bad so far. Welcome to our friendly forum.

Thank you so much for the warm welcome! I will keep reading and reviewing. It seems we can wait a bit after August to plant and focus on rebuilding the bed. I will post updates. It will be fun to see progress.

p.s. our library has the 3rd edition, yay!

I forgot to add, my kids are 9 and 12. They have been a tremendous help taking charge of household recycling and composting (passive right now, just to keep compostables off the landfill). We also have small worm bin indoors. IMHO, SFG is very kid friendly. They are interested in salad and asian greens, carrots, cherry tomatoes, melons, cukes, and sweet peppers. We got seeds from our library.

At one point we had dwarf mandarin and peach, several berries and pomegranate, but those did not survive bouts of "neglect" when I had to be on bed rest. We will keep things easy for now.

The new book is nice, seems easier to read overall. The photos do help.

Thanks!

If your kids are 9 and 12, THEY should read the book and look at the pictures. FFA material right there!