Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)!

sil_simi 3/6/2011, 8:08 am

Great ideea! I will try to follow the advices and I will post my first pictures with the boxes.
Silviu

Old Hippie 3/6/2011, 11:46 am

Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)! 396615

Hi Silviu. We are glad you joined us. Romania! How fantastic. We LOVE pictures. I am in Canada.

From your post, it sounds like you have been reading a lot on here. There is so much good information here, that it is hard to remember it all and keep track of everything, But people are very helpful, so just ask if you have any questions.

What do you plan to grow in your area? Are you able to start yet?

Gwynn

sil_simi 3/6/2011, 12:44 pm

Nice to meet you Gwynn!
Maybe my english is not good enough but I will try to be clear in my posts study

. My ideea is to start with 3-4 boxes, to grow just usual vegetables. The main challenge will be the "mix". In Romania is a little bit difficult to found vermiculite or compost. For this reason I will replace vermiculite with perlite and compost with chicken and cow manure. Let's hope that will work fine.
Do you have any ideea if are other peoples from Romania on this forum? This will be very helpfull for me to ask them about regional seeds store and about their experiences.

Old Hippie 3/6/2011, 1:12 pm

You are the first that I have seen on here from Romania, but maybe there are others who just haven't posted? I don't know.

Don't worry about your English. we will get along fine. I was excited to see you post on here because our Mennonite ancestors came from the Black Sea area although from over in the Ukraine to north and east of Romania. My husband got out our book that shows where they were to give me a better idea of where you are in relation to them.

About seeds.....if you can't find them in your area, are you able to order them by mail? We do have several people on here from Europe.... Netherlands, France, England, to name a few.

don't worry about not being able to BUY compost. Make your own! Using materials that you have is cheaper and does not waste a valuable resource. Composting with chicken and cow manure will be great! Just be sure to let it age for a while first so it does not burn your plants. Do you have a compost pile that you can add vegetable scraps, leaves and grass to? If so, that is a great place to add the manure. Mix it all up, turn it, add straw and bedding from the chickens and cows. Let it age. Turn it now and then. Once it is no longer giving off heat it is usually safe to put on the garden. I like to let manure age for about six months before I use it just to be on the safe side. That is like gold for your garden. Perlite is an acceptable substitute for the vermiculite from what I have read on here.

You are going to do fine. Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)! 311672

Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)! 311672

Gwynn

sil_simi 3/6/2011, 1:41 pm

Old Hippie wrote:You are the first that I have seen on here from Romania, but maybe there are others who just haven't posted? I don't know.

Don't worry about your English. we will get along fine. I was excited to see you post on here because our Mennonite ancestors came from the Black Sea area although from over in the Ukraine to north and east of Romania. My husband got out our book that shows where they were to give me a better idea of where you are in relation to them.

About seeds.....if you can't find them in your area, are you able to order them by mail? We do have several people on here from Europe.... Netherlands, France, England, to name a few.

don't worry about not being able to BUY compost. Make your own! Using materials that you have is cheaper and does not waste a valuable resource. Composting with chicken and cow manure will be great! Just be sure to let it age for a while first so it does not burn your plants. Do you have a compost pile that you can add vegetable scraps, leaves and grass to? If so, that is a great place to add the manure. Mix it all up, turn it, add straw and bedding from the chickens and cows. Let it age. Turn it now and then. Once it is no longer giving off heat it is usually safe to put on the garden. I like to let manure age for about six months before I use it just to be on the safe side. That is like gold for your garden. Perlite is an acceptable substitute for the vermiculite from what I have read on here.

You are going to do fine.

Gwynn

Amaizing! Tomorrow I will be for a week near the ukrainean border on the Danube Delta. Is a very beautiful area and is shared between Romania and Ukraine. If I will take pictures I will send also to you.
Discussing about the compost, the "adventure" will start this year. I told you that is my first experience in gardening. I'm less than a begginer but with the help from this forum I will became an expert Laughing

quiltbea 3/6/2011, 1:44 pm

Hi Silviu,
Welcome to this great gardening forum.

Don't worry too much about the 5 kinds of compost Mel suggests. When I began in spring 2009 I did not know about that at all. I filled my nine beds with good garden loam, added peat moss and composted cow manure by the bagsful, then a few amendments like limestone and greensand. Though I'm sure the 5 kinds would have been better, I still had a good garden that first year.
Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)! 4-28-012

Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)! 4-28-012

My raised beds with garden loam filling them at this point.

My garden was still very good that year considering we had so much rain many gardens in my state were lost because of them, but I still had a nice garden of great fresh foods.
Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)! 07-12-11

Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)! 07-12-11

Here are some of my beds on July 12th that year.

Just use what you have and add things as you go along. You want your garden experience to be enjoyable.

You can always side-dress your plants with more compost, which just means to add compost around each plant and scratch it into the top layer of soil with a small rake, cultivator or even a kitchen fork. There's also compost tea which is made from 4 parts water and 1 part compost and poured around your plants every 2-3 weeks if needed.

As for me, I'm going to be starting my 3rd spring at SFG and I'll also be hunting for some Mel's Mix to add to my beds besides adding my own garden compost and my own worm compost.

Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)! 08-27-11

Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)! 08-27-11

With little effort you can bring home tomatoes like these as I did my 1st summer.

You can learn more about everything on this forum. Just ask questions when you need an answer. Someone is sure to be able to answer you. Good luck and enjoy the new gardening experience.

Old Hippie 3/6/2011, 1:58 pm

sil_simi wrote:

Discussing about the compost, the "adventure" will start this year. I told you that is my first experience in gardening. I'm less than a begginer but with the help from this forum I will became an expert

You sure will. Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)! 833560

and pictures would be wonderful.

Gwynn

sil_simi 3/6/2011, 2:54 pm

Hello Quiltbea!

Thank you for your advices. Very nice pictures. I promise you that I will post here when will be ready my first box.

Lindacol 3/6/2011, 4:26 pm

Welcome.

My fathers family is from Romania. The village is Grosspold. I'm not sure what part of Romania that is but we still have relatives there.

I am new to this forum also and am working on my first raised beds. I am in southern California, USA. I already love this forum. Everyone is very helpful.

**Furbalsmom** 3/6/2011, 8:25 pm

Silviu

It is really nice for us to have a new member from Rumania, I have not seen another.

We hope you will keep us posted on your progress. Please feel free to ask questions, there are many members who would be glad to help when they can.

ander217 3/7/2011, 8:20 am

Welcome to the forum, Silviu. Don't worry about your English. Gardeners speak their own language, anyway, and we can usually understand each other just fine.

What is your climate like there? Do you have hot or cool summers? Is your weather dry or humid? How cold does it get in the winter?

Please keep us posted on how your garden grows, and don't hesitate to ask if you have questions.

Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)! 654548

Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)! 654548

Goosegirl 3/7/2011, 10:22 am

Welcome from the other side of the world! Here in South Dakota, USA we are still covered in several feet of snow and are only dreaming about gardening right now. What is your weather like right now and what are your plans? Remember to post pics when you can - we LOVE pics! I can't wait to see pics of a Romanian garden! sunny

TC

Weedless_ 3/7/2011, 1:51 pm

Hello, former neighbor!

I am originally from Odessa, Ukraine, which is on Black Sea coast as well. We probably had very similar climate and soil. I wish I was gardening back when I lived there! Smile

Welcome to the SFG world. Keep us posted on your progress.

sil_simi 3/13/2011, 10:48 am

ander217 wrote:Welcome to the forum, Silviu. Don't worry about your English. Gardeners speak their own language, anyway, and we can usually understand each other just fine.

What is your climate like there? Do you have hot or cool summers? Is your weather dry or humid? How cold does it get in the winter?

Please keep us posted on how your garden grows, and don't hesitate to ask if you have questions.

Sorry for my delay but I was very busy last week (actualy I left my town on Monday and I return back on saturday) for this reason I didn't answer.
My house is 150 meters near the sea and the climate is not very bad. The summers are wet and hot and winters not very cold but also not very much snow.
If you want to compare my climate with yours (and to give me some advice ) check on the internet my city: NAVODARI (CONSTANTA) ROMANIA. If you will visit my web page you will can see my house.
I plan to start my first wooden box on monday and I will buy the peat moss and perlite. It means that next week-end I will post first pictures.
I need your advice: tell me what to plant for the beginning?

BackyardBirdGardner 3/13/2011, 12:20 pm

Welcome aboard, sil_simi. Great to see someone from another corner of the world. We will likely learn as much from you as you do from us. As you by now know, we love to see pictures. I would also love to see pictures of your surrounding countryside, too. I am not familiar with your part of the world, and would love to learn more. Happy to have you here.

sil_simi 3/28/2011, 7:48 am

My first pictures! Finally I was able to build my boxes and to fill up with a very special mix (120 litters peat moss, 100 kg chicken and sheep manure, 6 bucket of sand). One box is with strawberries (4/square) and the second one is with onion, garlic, lettuce, dill, basil and parsley.

Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)! 5567838386

Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)! 5567838386

Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)! 5567252143

Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)! 5567835150

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61136120@N04/5567838386/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/61136120@N04/5567252143/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/61136120@N04/5567835150/

Goosegirl 3/28/2011, 7:50 am

Gorgeous boxes! My strawberries should arrive soon, and I hope my strawberry box will look that good!

TC - South Dakota, USA

**walshevak** 3/28/2011, 7:54 am

Looking good. Is your zone kept warmer because you are so close to the Black Sea. I did a search on the worldwide zone chart and it looks like there is a really thin line that is zone 7 and right away it goes to zones 5&6. Hard to tell because the map is not very detailed and I couldn't get it to expand.

Anyway, I hope you have a good year and keep up the pictures. Very Happy

Kay

**WardinWake** 3/28/2011, 9:13 am

sil_simi wrote:My first pictures! Finally I was able to build my boxes and to fill up with a very special mix (120 litters peat moss, 100 kg chicken and sheep manure, 6 bucket of sand). One box is with strawberries (4/square) and the second one is with onion, garlic, lettuce, dill, basil and parsley.

Howdy and again WELCOME to the Square Foot Gardening forum. I have added a note to your first picture to let folks know what they are looking at. I hope you get rave reviews on your garden this year.

God Bless, Ward and Mary.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61136120@N04/5567838386/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/61136120@N04/5567252143/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/61136120@N04/5567835150/

sil_simi 3/29/2011, 11:01 am

Why my pictures didn't appear? Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)! 601593

yosoypanadero 3/29/2011, 11:04 am

Please keep us updated.... I don't know any gardeners from Romania and I want to know more about what goes on over there!

ashort 3/29/2011, 11:26 am

sil_simi wrote:Why my pictures didn't appear?

Welcome to the SFG forum and welcome to the confusion that is picture posting on the site! lol!

I think the best part of the gardening experience so far is the ability to experiment a bit with different plants and see what happens. Good luck with it. If you are having trouble locating seeds, let us know and maybe we can rustle some up for you... I think postage to Romainia is less than a dollar...

sil_simi 3/30/2011, 11:20 am

Today is a very rainy day. Unfortunately I should stay inside and for the next couple of days is no any chance to go out and to built new boxes. Maybe tommorow I will go again to the garden shop for peat moss. I still have a lot of seeds (carrot, yellow watermelon, yellow beans, chive etc).
Also in my mind was appear an other ideea :idea: . How can I became a certificate SFG teacher? Actualy I want to learn first of all and after that to teach other friends of mine in order to spread this great technique.
I know that is imposible to follow a traditional course, because I am in an other part of the world, but maybe is an other way. Is just an idee (what else to do in a rainy-boring afternoon). Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)! 53366

Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)! 53366

:drunken:

sil_simi 3/30/2011, 1:09 pm

Is a new try to add pictures! I can't realize why the pictures are not visible in my post!!!

Hi from Black Sea Coast (Romania)! 5574144757

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61136120@N04/5574144757/

sil_simi 3/30/2011, 1:10 pm

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	Hello Guest! Welcome to the official Square Foot Gardening Forum. There's lots to learn here by reading as a guest. However, if you become a member (it's free, ad free and spam-free) you'll have access to our large vermiculite databases, our seed exchange spreadsheets, Mel's Mix calculator, and many more members' pictures in the Gallery. Enjoy.