Hello everyone! New to SFG

I live in Elk Grove, California and I am new to SFG. Heck, I am new to gardening period! I am excited to go on this adventure and look forward to hearing about yours. I am at the beginning stages, building the box and deciding where to put it. I purchased the Mel's Mix at the Lowes in Sacramento. Here are some questions:

To line or not to line the box?
Oh and yeah, what zone am I in? I think 8a
What does well in this area and what should I stay away from?
Best place to buy seeds and transplants?

Absolutely any advise will help. Thanks

Hi there! Welcome from your neighbors just down the road from you in Modesto! We're having wonderful success with our SFG and community garden. Boffer gave us a great list of suggestions to plant so you might check with him, or just read the thread about Modesto, Central CA. Good luck and keep us all posted on your progress!

Hi there, and welcome to the forum!

According to http://www.garden.org/zipzone/index.php, you are correct: You're in 8A. What I did was search for Zip codes for Elk Grove and used the first one that came up. (What is funny is I searched first on Sacramento, and it is in 8B.)

It's been quite a while since I lived in California and I didn't do any "real" gardening there, but maybe this link will help you with some initial questions: http://www.garden.org/regional/report/current/3 We have a number of forum members in Cali and I'm sure they will have great ideas for you, too!

Best of luck with your new SFG! Please let us know how it's going... and we LOVE pictures!

It looks like you are in zone 14 per the Sunset Western Garden Guide They have a great vegetable planting guide in the book. It is my bible for our specific microclimates. Sunset zones can he found HERE.

I think this is why I was confused earlier. I have found that I am in Zone 14 and 8a depending on what site I am looking at. Is there a difference? Sorry for all the questions I am new to all this garden talk

I don't have a sunset zone :boohoo:

I don't have a sunset zone :boohoo:

lololololol the violin !!!!!!

Sunset has zones specific to western gardeners. 8a is a USDA climate zone map. Sunset is more specific to microclimates and USDA is more broad. Both are available to view online.

Welcome to the forums!

On the SFG website, we use the USDA zones. Your zone of 8a is very close to my climate (although something happened to our sun this summer!)

The terrific thing is you can plant year round! I am just learning about this but am getting ready to start my fall crops indoors. I also read that if we plant green beans now, we will get an early October or late September harvest.

Feel free to ask any questions that come up. The folks here are a great resource. I am also online at least every couple days and will help out whenever I can.

Best of luck to you!

Thank you all for the wonderful advice.

Hi. I'm nearby - in Roseville and new to SFG as well. My garden has been up & running for just a month. It's hard knowing what to plant - especially now. I can tell you that I seem to be doing well with my summer spinach, leaf lettuce, beets, beans, peppers and the reject tomatoes I bought. My summer romaine lettuce is definately not summer-happy, my carrots are stubborn (a good square is 1/2 growing of what I planted), and the swiss chard hasn't gone beyond sprouting. However, I just keep replanting squares in the hopes that something will happen. I'm sure it'll get better when we're not planting in the middle of summer & can focus on fall. I went by Green Acres today for some more seeds & the difference between the lettuce/swiss chard they were selling & my month-old crops was depressing! I started my broccoli/cauliflower & brussel sprouts a couple weeks ago and they seem to be doing well - hopefully will make it to replanting!

While Home Depot and Lowes seem to have the best prices for basic seeds, I'm happiest with Green Acres and Sierra Nursery for variety in seeds. Also, Green Acres and Sierra have some plants in for transplanting - swiss chard, lettuce varieties, broccoli, brussel sprouts and spinach. I didn't see any vege plants at Home Depot today.

Hope this helps and happy planting! Whenever you have questions throw them out to the board - I know I do!

My son, who introduced me to SFG, lives in Orangevale. I found this link: http://sacramentogardening.com/edible_gardening.html for Sac'to planting times.

Awesome info Chopper! Thanks!