Hello from West Virginia.

Or should I say West West Virginia? We're new to West Virginia and are right on the Ohio border.

I've been wanting to start SFGing for several years but we were always going to move so I never got started.

Well we finally moved last August and I am getting ready to start this year.

Yay.

This is a great forum.

hi! so glad you found this forum!! and i'm really excited that you're going to start a sfg this year - it's such fun!!!

can't wait to see what your garden looks like.

we're expanding our garden so we're having fun planning out what boxes and where to put them as well.

again, welcome!

Even without the newness of SFG, with our move to a totally different part of the country, I am having to learn all about gardening again.

This year will definitely be a trial and error.

Thanks for the welcome though.

because you're in a new area, i'd ask the neighbors who the smaller garden supply stores are - and also look in the phone book. the smaller places are my preferred place to shop for plants and help. they know more than most of the larger stores (such as walmart, lowes, home depot) - that's not always true, but usually the small dedicated garden stores are gonna lead you true.

that's what i did last year - i made alist of my favorite fruits and veggies to eat and purchase in the store and brought that list to the local nursery. they helped me pick out appropriate plants and seeds (I started in mid-end of May (zone 5ish)) - they also explained that certain things (like oranges, *grin*) are not real successful in Ohio so I should rethink citrus on my garden wish list *smile* (I wasn't kidding about being a new gardener last year!). Because of their assistance, I had a really successful garden. I spent a lot of time on garden forums - such as this one primarily to learn about what other folks were growing and when and why and how. . .and that's how i made my list of things to grow this year.

I do hope this is helpful to you.

BettyAnn

We went to a Nursery (Southern States) the other day and they do carry Vermiculite. I was excited when I found it.

So...I've got high hopes.