Hello from Des Moines, Iowa

Greetings to everyone -
This will be my first year SFGing. I have been researching quite a few topics on this site but would love to get some great tips about gardening in Iowa.
That 70 degree day we had last week sure made me antsy for spring!!!

Hello there, DStarr, and Welcome.

It's great that you have been poking about and checking out the various forums. Please, feel free to ask guestions if you can't locate the information you need. Even if you locate the info, you may still have questions, so ask away. We have lots of members who are so willing to help.

Those sunny and warm days throw us all into a serious case of Spring Fever. It seems most us us have caught that little bug.

Just so you know, we absolutely pictures, so please share.

Becky

dstarr wrote:Greetings to everyone -
This will be my first year SFGing. I have been researching quite a few topics on this site but would love to get some great tips about gardening in Iowa.
That 70 degree day we had last week sure made me antsy for spring!!!

dstar:

Welcome to the SFG family and forum. As with any new garden experience you will learn a lot in the first year, I know we did! We made our mistakes such as starting off with to many beds. Mel says to start off small and increase the size of the garden as you learn. gee...I wished we had. In our first year we had a lot of fun and grew a lot of veggies that had such a good taste. In our second year we downsized by several beds and relocated another 2. This year we are increasing our beds but not to the extent we had in our first year. Lots of fun in building the new beds and we have planted a few peas but nothing else as it is still a bit to cold here in Virginia.

So do tell, how many beds will you have, their sizes and what will you plant? Again, a big WELCOME and be sure to post any questions that you have and if you can help another gardener please do so. We learn from each question and each answer.

God Bless, Ward and Mary.

Welcome!

I'm not in Iowa but I am in Eastern Nebraska and the same zone as you I believe so I'll be happy to share my years (ok - 3) of experience with my SFG.

I so badly want to get out in the garden but it is supposed to snow today. Yippee. I'll be out there in two weeks planting peas even if I'm doing it in my winter coat and gloves!

Thank You to everyone for the warm welcome -

Mary and Ward,
I have started off with 3 3x3 beds this year. One of them is a deep bed. I plan on planting watermelon, peas, beans, spinach, carrot, onion, tomatoes, garlic, basil, broccoli, cilantro, cucumber, green pepper and jalapeno pepper. The onion, garlic and broccoli are new for me this year so, we'll see how they go. I am hopeing that this is a good start - not overly enthusiastic. If this year goes ok I will add 2 beds next year for strawberries and corn.
I am so excited to dig into this method of gardening. I stumbled upon Mel's book mid summer last year and wanted to convert my gardens right then!!!(my huge row garden was over grown with weeds at the time) I had to hold myself back from pulling up the whole garden and starting over.

Hope everyone has a great day,
Darcy