Greetings from The Natural State

Greetings and salutations everyone!

I found this forum via a Google search. So glad to find that SFG has a forum.

I am a complete noob to SFG. Long story short, I moved to the country several years ago to take care of my mother (lost her eyesight) who had retired to my grandparents "old home place" where she grew up. I had attempted a garden once over a decade ago in Texas and it came out really well.

A few years ago I made an attempt at a row vegetable garden here and it was a huge debacle. Since then I had lost desire to mess with it. I came across a first edition(?) (copyright is 1981) of "Square Foot Gardening" in mom's library and thought Hmmmm, this might be the ticket :idea:

So.....here I am.

First question: I have ordered the newest edition of the book. Is it a complete rewrite? Or would it be beneficial to read the original and THEN the new book? Thanks in advance for any replies.

I look forward to learning and making some new friends here.

Welcome GardenZen!!

Personally I got everything I needed from the new book and will never put a seed in natural earth again!! My wife was skeptical last year especially when the cost of boxes and vermic and such came into play but after the first year of SFG gardening she is sold on it as well. I may even post my tiller on craigs list since I shouldnt ever need it again.

Hey Jay Bird (great handle) and thanks for the reply.

I have a tiller on the blink, been sitting idle last three years Good to know I will not have to pay get it running. And not having to read 2 books is a bonus as well I reckon.

welcome! so glad you found sfg forums!!!!

i would suggest reading BOTH books - both are awesome! the newest book is phenomenal in that you don't need to deal with fertilizers/amending the soil. just use compost (min of 5 different sources) and peat moss and coarse vermiculite. the hardest part is finding 5 diff sources, but if you're diligent and look in all sorts of places, i am optimistic you will find them.

you will love the new book so much!!! i really enjoy it and currently my copy is being lent out to a friend and man do i miss thumbing thru it right now!

happy gardening! cannot wait to hear of your fun adventures in sfg!

welcome again!!!

I found this forum a short while ago in the same way you did and am totally addicted! Also, I had found the old book in my library and am hoping that saving up my Swagbucks will get me the new book soon. In the mean time, I love learning all I can from the "pros" and other newbies here. I'm looking forward to starting my first SFG this spring and everyone here has been soooooo helpful!

Please keep us posted as you start your gardening plans!

GardenZen wrote:Greetings and salutations everyone!

I found this forum via a Google search. So glad to find that SFG has a forum.

I am a complete noob to SFG. Long story short, I moved to the country several years ago to take care of my mother (lost her eyesight) who had retired to my grandparents "old home place" where she grew up. I had attempted a garden once over a decade ago in Texas and it came out really well.

A few years ago I made an attempt at a row vegetable garden here and it was a huge debacle. Since then I had lost desire to mess with it. I came across a first edition(?) (copyright is 1981) of "Square Foot Gardening" in mom's library and thought Hmmmm, this might be the ticket :idea:

So.....here I am.

First question: I have ordered the newest edition of the book. Is it a complete rewrite? Or would it be beneficial to read the original and THEN the new book? Thanks in advance for any replies.

I look forward to learning and making some new friends here.

Howdy GardenZen:

This is a good place to meet new friends. This is a family oriented forum that anyone would be proud to have their friends, family and children visit and learn. Speaking of children - Square Foot Gardening is a wonderful way to get children involved in gardening. It is so easy that they don't get bord and if they "grow it, they will eat it". So if you have kids have them help you in the garden.

Please feel free to post any question that you may have and if you have an answer or a followup question to someone else's question jump right in. We love to talk gardening,

God Bless, Ward and Mary Barnes
Wake, VA Zone 7a

GardenZen, glad to have you here. I am sure you will find new friends as well as lots of ideas and information here.

First things first, READ THE BOOK! Even though the NEW SFG book is updated specifically with how to build your garden and the non-soil used to fill that garden, you will find a lot of helpful information in the older book. You will be glad you spent the time reading. Plus, it will give you something to do until your new book arrives.

Once you start making plans, be sure you keep us updated. Oh yeah!, we love pictures too.

Enjoy your new SFG.

Wow. for all the welcomes, feel at home already.

Ok then, first step is to read the original book. Then work on the composting for next year sounds like.

Thanks again to all that replied above.

Welcome, GardenZen!

I grew up on a traditional farm. This was my first year at SFG, and while I made a few mistakes, it was still wildly successful. If I can do it, you can! This is a wonderful community. Yes, it's a great knowledge base, but the people you will come to know here are just fantastic and for me, that's really what it's all about.

I hope you will spend many satisfying, happy hours here. Now is a great time to read up and plan/dream... and if you happen to be one of those super-lucky people in a 4-season growing area! then in that case I'd love to see some pictures!

Welcome, GardenZen. If you're in the Mid-South region don't forget to check out our regional thread for posts more specific to our growing area.

I had the original book from the 1980's, and I found this website in much the same way as you, it sounds. Although I learned a lot from both, it wasn't until I received the new book as an early Christmas gift from my daughter a few weeks ago that I discovered the source of a few problems I had this year - my first as a SFG'er. IMO the new book is a necessity, the old book is good supplemental reading.

I had row-gardened for decades. Never again. We have converted our entire garden to SFG boxes or raised beds which we plant SFG grid-style, and we plan on converting some of the remaining raised beds to SFG boxes as time and funds permit.

Our two biggest newbie mistakes this year were not buying enough different kinds of compost to make a rich enough blend, therefore causing us to have add amendments of blood meal, bone meal, and epsom salts to raise the fertility level (five different kinds doesn't mean five different brands, it means five kinds, such as composted cow manure, mushroom growing medium, chicken manure, etc.) Our other big mistake was missing the part that said that one 3.9 cu ft. compressed bale of peat moss expands to 8 cu ft. when fluffed. We wound up with twice as much peat moss in our mix as we should have which also greatly cut the fertility. Get your mix right to begin with to save a lot of headaches later.

So yes, get started on that compost pile right away. Your own mix, if made well, will likely be better than anything you can buy. Keep us posted on your progress over the winter. We also have a seed exchange thread if you have seeds to share and some that you need.